Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-02-02
THE McGILL DISASTER.
Statements of the Engineer and Cap.
tain,
OLIVER CoTTREL's STATEMENT.


was engineer of the T. l.. McGill
The fire did not originate in the engine
room, as stated, but started back aft on
the star board quarter, and was caused,
I suppose, by the overheating of the
deck stove. 1t broke out about hall
past nine o'clock. The alarm was given
by some of the deck crew. ! was sit
ting in the blacksmith shop when l
heard the alarm. / ran out, on finding
the boat was on fire, and attached the
hose to the fire pump or doctor. Nelson
Brown, the second engineer, assisted
me in attaching the hose and starting
the doctor. jerry Lory, the assistant
engineer, brought the nozzle and rem
dered assistance. The doctor had just
got to work when word came that 1t
was useless to use the tire-pump, the
flames having got under full head
way. At this time the englne-room was
filed with fire and smoke.
/ ran up on the foot box and opened
the throttle valve to blow the steam out /;
in doing so my hair was singed, and
the side of my face was slightly scorched
nothing serious / was the last one to
leave the engine-room; in coming down
from the foot box, blinded and choked
by the smoke, I fell twice, and lost
my bearings-could not tell which way
to go, or where / was exactly in 60
ing abont [ got hold of the Stats along
side the boilers, and then l knew my
ocality; / went to the forecastle,
where crowd was collected !;
Capt. Thompkin and the first clerk,
Mr. McFarlane, was there; McFar-
lane had the books of the boat under
his arm the captain was throwing bar
res and cotton bales overheard for the
people to hold to. The pilots, Kelly
and Murray, were helping-pitching
overheard everything that would float
plank, barrels everything they could
lay hold of. Ijoined them and helped
throw out cotton bales, etc. There
were eleven bales of cotton on board,
and we heaved them all overheard
George Murray threw over hook
plank and jumped overheard on q bale
of cotton. The negroes knocked him
off and took possession of it. 1t was a
struggle for life--every man for him
aCil, "itilouo IcSdiu w io't, ooipi, u
previous condition Of servitude, as the
politicians say
| thought it about time to take care
OF No. /, and jumping on a bale Of cot
ION, called on Woodruff, the second
clerk, to Jump on. He jumped on like
a June bug; the bale careened, and [
rolled off into the water, and went
splashing under the guard. / found
cred around, and got hold of the bale
again, but had hard work to hold on,
being almost frozen. | held with my
hands as long as / could, when / lost
my grip from nlmbness. l seized the
bale with my teeth, and stuck to it like
grim death to defunct Ethiopian.
While holding by the teeth, bull dog
tried to restore the circula-
lation to my hands by pounding them
upon the bale. Can't tell how
long / was in the water--it seemed Il
century or two--certainly longer than
] would like again. 1t was the coolest
bah ! over took. The bale hoated
down, anu o..Ci. twenty-five feet from
the shore, yawl from the Henry G.
Yeager came along, and was hauled in,
like frozen turtle from n dead log. |
was us stiff as a poker, and they rolled
me into the yawl like coil Of cable,
my legs hanging over the sides. They
put me ashore and started off, and
Woodruff and another man helped me
crawl on board the Yeager, where |
procured dry clothing and had myself
thawed out. My fingers were frost
bitten, and / was as cold as turnip.
| was kindly treated on the Yaeger,
and, in fact, everywhere. ! live in st.
Louis, and feel thankful for my es-
cape.
CAPTAIN BowMAN's STATEMENT.