The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1869-11-18
The StoneWall Horror.

Womans Scli-Posscssion-Th Drowning of
the Man who Proposed to Save lIer-The Cam
die that set the Fire-A Murder in the Strug-
gle for Life.
The Missouri Republican prints the
following account of the remarkable ex-
perience of Anna Gurney:
There was young lady on board of the
Stonowall, about seventeen years Of age,
with whom Anna was we'll acquainted, and
they kept together. On Wednesday even
ing, after supper, Anna invited her COM
panion to 90 down with her on the main
deck and sleep with her, as she haG a
comfortable berth. The women, being tired,
divested themselves of their outer cloth
ing aud went to bed. On the deck there
were several Italians who were drunk and
noisy one of whom had candle in his
hand, and carelessly placed it ON bale Of
hay, setting it on ere. Ti-s tlz75 -,,..s
Immediately given, and in a second the
boat was sheet of fame. Anna jumped
up in her night clothes to save herself.
All was confusion. She stood on the
guards of the boat as long as it was safe,
during which she felt perfectly calm and
self,possessed. A gentleman came up and
proposed that if she would jump off with
him into the water he would try and save
her. She said, ''no; try and save your
self I think | can save myself" He
jumped off, and she saw him drown. She
stayed ON the guards until she was forced
to jump into the river or burn to death,
as the boat in the quarter became nearly
enveloped in flames. She made the plung
and went to the bottom. When she came
up she caught hold of rope, and thought
it led to the boat, but it was rope attach
ed to the spar, which had tumpbled over
into the water She pulled herself along
by the rope until she came to the spar
that had drifted under the burning steam
er. While here a post of the burning
cabin overhead fell down, and a portion
struck her on the shoulders, injuring her
severely. By this time she got off the
spar, and while holding, her hand was
burned by drops of melted pitch, which
trickeled down. She being under the
guards, was saved from being crushed by
the falling spars and smoke pipe.
A gentleman at this time, who was
struggling in the water, managed also, to
get astride of the spar. At this time the
bursting of the coal oil cans covered the
water with liquid sheet of fire. AS she
expressed it, ''the water was on fire." She
and her companion held on to the spar
until boat came from Neeley's Landing
to their rescue, mile and half distant,
their safety being due to their position
under the guards.
AS near as can be estimated, there were
aboard the boat: cabin passengers 80,
deck passengers l65, officers Is, deck crew
SO, cabin crew 20-total 275.
A group of men i'll the water sought to
save themselves by the aid of a bale of
floating hay, which was too small to float
them all. A savage contest ensued for its
possession, all struggling to obtain lodg-
ment upon it, when one more desperate
than the rest was reused to demonac pas
sion, and drawing knife, plunged it in
to companions body, and the lifeless
form rolled over into the current, which
was reddened by his blood. The act of
fiendish impulse was speedily avenged, for
the whole party are believed to have been
drowned.