Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-08-04
MEMPHIS, TENN. FRIDAY EVENING AUGUST A. 1871

blackened tongues. The doctor was
bending over an old woman on q
stretcher on the floor, who screamed
with agony at every touch and move
ment, and another woman sat in chair,
blackened and mutilated in a fearful
manner, begging for a cup of water.
Wounded men lay about the floor in
pools of their own blood, and the
fumes of the wine and brandy which had
been administered to them, mingled with
the sickening odor of charred flesh. A
boy lay upon a mattress, with both arms
stripped Of their skin, and as the doctor
applied cotton to them he drew them up
and clenched his fingers in agony. A
woman, kept conscious only by draughts
of brandy, was sitting in chair await
ing treatment, with round patches Of
skin scalded away from all parts of her
face. All about the room, as one turned
persons could be seen lying in frightful
helplessness, with arms or legs extended
in the vain effort to shield their dreadful
wounds from pressure. Kind men and
women were aiding the insufficient num-
Der Of doctors in every way and the
police, under Captain Ulman, were most
efficient in their efforts, but the groans
which, in spite of all, arose from this
room were more frightful than the dumb
ness of the paid dead in the next
Around the array of corpses in the
front room large crowd gathered, con-
stantly recruited from those who were
allowed to come in from outside in the
expectation of identifying friends. The
same Mortified silence prevailed among
them as in the crowd outside. Occa-
sionally policeman would raise his
voice to order away some morbid loiterer
who stayed long after he or she had had
time to see that no friend was lying
there, and again the bearers would come
stamping in with their stretcher and de-
posit another body. But for the most
part the crowd stood undisturbed, and
gazed solemnly upon the dead.
There they lay side by side-the wo-
man of threescore and ten, with curled
gray locks and anguished face, and the
boy of two summers, fair-haired little
fellow, dressed all in white, lying like a
snow-drop amid the dreadful scene, with
a smile on his lips as peaceful as if he
still lay on his mothers breast She was
slender and dark-haired, evidently sew
ing woman, and on her delicate hand
shone her plain wedding ring. Head
smashed" the doctor said,
and her arms, too, were bloody and
probably broken; but the baby had not
mark. His pretty little jacket and ruffled |
pants were dabbled with dirt and spotted |
with his mothers blood, but the round
white limbs and charming baby face were
rs free from blemish or bruise as if he |
lad spent the morning at home in his
cradle. The poor mother had folded |
lim TO her breast in the last fearful mo-
nent, and protected him with her body |
rom bruise or burn.
A man who lay next them, said to
iave been fireman, had the greater
part of his head blown away, and most |
If the bodies were horribly disfgured by
,urning about the face. Among the |
asst brought in was boy about four
1ears old, with both arms extended, as if
lie had died in the act of crying for
lelp. The policeman who brought him
n, as if he loved him, laid him gently
lown, and laid a hand upon his bare
,reast, but the heart had ceased to beat,
Ind the weeping woman who lifted the
scarlet, skinless hand and felt the wrist,
ound no pulse there. The little boy
lad evidently been in bad place, for
lis right leg was green, as if with the
contents of some brass chamber or
cylinder in the machinery, while a splin-
er Of iron from the boiler had cut |
through his velvet breeches and crushed |
he bones of his knee. He was stone
lead.
THE RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS.
The agony of those who did not find !
friends whom they knew had been on
he fatal boat was almost as intense as |
If those who knew the worst at once, |
md found them dead. ooh, my boy,
where is he?" one poor mother cried,
ushing from face to face, needless of
'ppositioni give me my boy A
beautiful girl of about fifteen came in
md took one look at the row of bodies,
md in tone that cut every man within
fearing like a knife, she cried to her
lister, Oh, Mary, there's grandmother
here, pointing to the gray-haired old
ady before mentioned. Many friends
# the dead now began to cone in and
he crowd wound up to fearful excite
lent. The whole gamut of human
gony seemed to be played upon at
nee. Two elderly women found in a
orpse utterly soaked in gore the brother
Tho had left them but three hours be-
lre, and a youth identified as his
weetheart a young German girl scalded
} death At one time over twenty !
ersons, chiefly women, were collected
! the room, weeping for their dead
lends. A scene pleasant by contrast
as afforded by a good-looking Irish wo-
ian who came rushing in with wild .
,oks, crying tor her little girl She had
erself been in the exploded boat and S
as badly hurt, but she gave no thought !
, herself, thinking only of the child she 4
ad lost at the time of the accident. !
Oh, doctor, where's my child?" she
lied; where's my little girl? | know
les dead. Is she here2" and she =
lshed distractedly to gaze in the face
each dead child What" says the
)ctor, a little girl, with green ribbons
! her straw bonnet2" Yes, yes for 4
e Virgin Mary's sake say, doctor, have
, seen her?" "Well, yes" says the
,ctor, i sent her up to the hospital ,
n minutes ago. She is burned a little, I
It not otherwise hurt, and she's doing II
I'll. The poor mother went her way p
ioicing.