Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-01-18
THE LAST RIVER HORROR.
Burning of the Steamer Il. T..
McGill ON ShoO-Fly Bar.
Thirty People and About Eight
Hundred Tons of Freight
Lost.
A Night of Storm and Horror
on the Mississippi.
From the Memphis Appeal, Jan. is.

record in years. She left this port for
New Orleans on Wednesday night, after
taking on nearly one hundred bales of
cotton. She had nearly thousand tons
of freight and one hundred and fifteen
people on board-was loaded down to the
guards. She went slowly down the river
until reaching Shoe Fly bar, three miles
this side of the mouth of the ST. Francis
river, and between eighty and ninety
miles from this city. Here the boat had
to be ightened up in order to cross over.
Two hundred tons of her freight were
put out on the Mississippi side, and the
boat proceeded to cross the bar for the
purpose of putting off as much more on
the other side, in order to come back for
the first pile. In her attempt to cross in
this hghtened condition she grounded on
the bar, swinging around, and measures
had to be adopted with the derricks.
While working with the spars,
FIRE WAS DISCOVERED IN TEE FIRRMRN's
ROOM,
by some of the roustabouts, who OBJ
served it through knot-hole. A negro
whose attention was called to it, laughed
at the idea, and said "You's foolin' me
child. Can't get over me that way. Ise
an old chicken is" but presently the
door was bursted open, when it was found
that the fire. inside had made such pro-
gress that no one could approach it. A
dense volume of smoke and flame issued
forth the moment the air got to the burn
ing material, and the fire spread with
fr;0bffn1 raDiditu fret catoh;n,. eo,,,o box,
which it Tapped up with eager fury. The
hands had to go from it as fast as they
could go. The night was intensely cold,
the wind blowing gale, and snow drift
ing in small binding particles. 1t is
thought the firemen had little sheet-iron
stove in their apartment, which became
red-hot and set fire to the wood
work. A fireman who was sleeping
there at the time must certainly have
been burned up, as there is no account of
him. The fire mad caught through all the
stern of the boat, which was to wind
ward, in less than ten minutes, and the
roaring flames wrapped themselves round
every stick and box in q sort of mad fury.
So rapid and destructive was the cOnfa-
grafton that there was no such thing as
order or system thought of-every one
was for himself. Cotton bales and boxes
were thrown overload and men began to
take refuge on them; others, while at
tempting to throw out some buoyant OBJ
ject, got caught in the flames and had to
jump into the river to escape being
roasted alive. George Tresler, the chief
cook, tells fearful tale of his own per-
sonal experience. He was picked up
unconscious by the men of the st. Fran
els. He says he was up in the texas,
when he heard the shouts Of
"FIRE FIRE."
from below, and heard the tramping and
hustle of the people, and the believing
of the cattle on deck. He hurried down
and found the after part of the boat en-
tirely enveloped in smoke, but in a
minute or two flames broke through the
smoke and then he thought it was time to
save himself. The clerk, Mcfarland, had
come down the steps with him carrying a
book, before he reached the bottom of
the stairs he started back and Tresler saw
him no more.
Tresler jumped upon cotton bale
which he showed overheard and ap-
peared in fair way of getting off;
an aged negro made q jump for
his bale but fell short of it into the
river. He cried out piteously-"F
Gods sake, save ne!" the cook
hauled him upon the bale, where he
lay fiat and motionless for short time,
till another colored man jumped upon the
side of the bale and capsized it. They
al fell into the water; the two colOred
men were drowned. Tresler caught the
bale again and hung on to the side of it
as it drifted to the leeward guards of the
boat. He chung tenaciously to the bale,
his feet and most of his body in the
water and his head up, and subjected to
such a scorching heat that he was COM
PEELED to use one of his hands keeping
his head watered to preserve it from be-
coming cipder His efforts, combined
with the extraordinary heat and cold to-
gether, made him unconscious; he did
not recover his senses for three hours af-
terward, when he was ''brought to" on
board the st. Francis.
STATEMENT OF THE OHIRP ENGINEER.
Oliver Cottrill, the chief engineer, says
he was in the blacksmith's shop when the
alarm of fire was given. He rushed out
and Immediately attached the hose. The
crowd and confusion was so great that it
was impossible to do anything with it,
every one grabbing at the nozzle at once.
The FIRE continued to increase, and the
watering machine became absolutely use
less. Mr.. Cottrill then rushed to the
engines and opened the valves in order to
let the steam off, so that when the boiler
should become red hot there would be no
explosion. He then proceeded to roll off
cotton. He got on one of the bales and
reached shore, almost dead with the cold.
He came up on the St. Francis, and is
now getting along very well, though he
has his hands and face burned some and
his hair singed.
A SOME OF HORROR.
The A. J. White passed up the river
while the grounded boat was working to
get off, at about eight o'clock. She had
reached Henderson's landing and put off
Gen. Chalmers and rockaway, when the
horizon suddenly became illuminated;
lurid glare was thrown on the dark woods
of the shore, and the heavens above were
darkened; at the same time the St Francis
which was at o. K. landing discovered
the fire, both turned and reached the con-
flsgration at the same time. Their boats
were Immediately put out to do what
could be done in the way of saving life.
The sight at the moment they reached
the burning boat was such as no one ever
wishes to behold again; bales and
boxes were strewn around the river
in the vicinity of the McGAl,
covered with human beings who
we're praying for help; crowd of people
were gathered at the flagstaff, the farthest
point from the fire, while dozens unable
to bear the heat were down in the river
clinging on to the guards to keep them
from drowning. The wind blew high,
the flames swept over the leeward side of
the boat carrying sheet of flame out
fifteen feet over the river. One by one
the exhausted people dropped away from
their refuge at the guards and were lost,
while the yawls could not approach ta
succor them. They were told, besought,
to let go and swing themselves out to-
wards the boats, but they were afraid
until they became numbed and exhausted,
when they sank without hope. The boats
took all that could be got at, while a
number were so fortunate as to
reach the shore from which thew