The Lincoln County herald., 1869-11-04
AWFUL CALAMITY.


VttuO 0t0oAOF DtOuSW
nundssd hna ssysntyknvs 1euls =
Beard, al not More lllan rifty Davedr
tTp~ The Missouri Rspss,is.s.l
i In seldom isdsed that journalists
havs To record sush 1 shoskini: eatastro
phs - that which startled the public yes.
terday (Oct. 2S), and which will send =
thrill Of horror through the whole land.
A ssesuer, the '6tonsws!l," plying be.
tween 81. Louis and New Orleans, caught
Gre while Il had Q living freight Of some
27S psrssos on board, of whom IL 10
feared eonpafatively few have escaped
90 astiusly death. t1 - d''ri
The beae rssched Nesisy's jsndlsg st .
quarter past 6 O'Clock On Wednesday
evsuing. A. this time ne warning cry
Of Ore wis given By one of'ths deck pas.
ssnes:s, Whe ran 70 che engine room asd
shsatsd te'Gsorge w. .Fultsn, the Art
engineer, Who vas then % duty. Dark.
ness had set in and the alarm came with
. terrible Significance. Here the beat
was at o point whdrS ikS :iver 10 one sbd
. half miles wide, with much that VA
combust:bla on board, and with no means
Of escape except what might be obtained
by running the vessel sgaisst the bank.
Tho alarm was given imnediatsly upon
the origin Of fhe 6.e, audit Was not un-
needed. Fulton rrsksd ont aud saw q
balo Of hay 10 the afs portion Of the boat
burning. So small was the 6re that It
could have been extingu;shed with one or
two buokets Of water If they had been at
hand, but they were net there. ~ tg'e70i
The hay was piled up TO the boiler
deck and the space ocer pied BY freight
vel! 6!led. The flames spread with great
danced from ba;s to bale Of hay,
communicated to the dry woodwork Of
the boat, and il was seen at q glance that
the Stonewall was doomed. The majority
OF The dock passengers were at the time
copyrighted aft, and a panic which ren.
dorcd them powsrless TO do anything to
prevent the impeading destruction ensued
amongst them. Fulton left bis engines,
and, unaijed, except BY one or two per /.
sons, essayed to prevent the spread Of the
devouring element. lie got the section
hose and vent over TO the donkey engine
to attach it. HIS efforts were, however,
fru;'less. The people had become fran.
tic, und moved rapidly in o dense stream
forward. Fulton found that he could
not advance aft one stop aud he gave It
up in despair. Previous 20 this no had
shouted through the speaking trumpet to
Fulkerson, the pilot, to land the boat as
soon as possible. Whea he could do
nothing with the hose he went back to
his engines and spoke again to the pilot
through the trum oct, telling him to run
the boat sgainst the bank Immediately.
The boat was rounding towards the Mis-.
rouri bank when it grounded on reef
called Tea Table bar, and remained i'm
movable some two hundred ya.ds from,
the shore with DEL water Intervening.
In Eve minn.es after The alarm tho flames
had extended over oil the aft portion, and
considerable part of the forward portion
Of the boat. The deck passengers rushed
toward the forecastei. evo-y inch Of which
was covered with shr.eking and dread.
fully affr:ghtsd mass Of humanity. To
complete the general CONSERVATION the
mules dashed among .ne people, tramp.
ling on and crushing them to death.
While this scene was trauspiring on
the main dock, what wero the cabin pas.
sengers doing? They had just sat down
to supper when terrible turmoil arose,
and they learned at once that the boat
was on fire. In that awful moment they
vaiply looked for . loophole to escape
from the fate which threatened them.
Below. aft and forward, there was 4
furnace Of untold ferceness, and on each
eide there was waste of waters, which
indeed offered preferable fate 70 The
other. The cabin passengers chose to
accept tho risk Of the milder fate, and
they jumped from the boiler deck into
The watsry ehasn, between land and be-
low. .... ..
The deck passengers also lsaped into
the river % thsy became more aud more
hotly pressed by the flames. In ten
minutes from the 6rst alarm, tho Stono-
wall vas euveloped in flames from stem
to stern, from maiu deck to pilot house
. vast funeral pyre. By this lime al who
could had jumped of The boat aud wssa
struR Cling Cor life 10 the rapid current
Very few were able TO save themselves
The great major..y we-o, it is feared,
drowned almost Immediately. .t -
While the deck passengers, and crew
huddled together oa the fo.scsstle, Il. p;
Watson, the carpenter Of the bon, cn.
deavored to get some Of them to assist
him in putting the stsgs plank overheard.
It would have Aoated, i was believed
100 persoos to the land, but the passen-
gers wero struck helpless by the prospect
Of tue horrible fate staring them in the
face end Called to launcS tho plank. Fif.
teen feet Of it was pushed over the side
About twenty person: got on il, some
we're pushed Of, and about sixteen mau.
aged to cling to it until they we're taken
of in skif which was sent from shore
by Mr.. Harris. ... .-,U,..!
,Eu1ton Tho onoinoor ate vo1 a. he n>.t