Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-06-28
The Statement OF a Survivor OF the
Mcdonald Disaster.

THE Rock Island Union of the 10Th
publishes the statement of Captain w. H.
Pierce, of Rock Island, relating to the
recent blowing up at McGregor, Iowa,
of the steam tug Mcdonald:
Captain Pierce was wakened out of
sleep by heavy concussion, followed
Immediately afterward by a second and
heavier one. Everything seemed to give
away. There was a rush of hot air, and
found myself going through the air.
Something struck me in the side and
broke my ribs. | knew in moment what
was the matter, and had all my senses
about me. 1t seems to me that | went up
a frightful distance. How far, of course,
| cannot tell. left the hot air that start.
ed with me, and struck cooler current.
| went up head first, and, as | stopped, l
turned over and came down head first.
The thought passed through my mind
that this was unfortunate, for | might
strike piece of the wreck and injure my
self Just then stick struck me and
whirled me over so that | struck the water
feet first The blow left mark on my
rigt leg about eight inches long, and Grip
pied it so that could not use it. took
in full breath of air as l touched the
water and soon began to rise. The
thought struck me, what if / come down
just in time to be hit by a falling timber I!
AS came up thrust up my hand over
my head to protect it, and caught it on a
piece of the roof, cutting it somewhat.
My theory is that it was a part of the
roof over me. l had followed it up and
beat it coming down. | looked around
and saw the wreck had already sunk,
The deck seemed to be attached in some
way to the wreck, for | floated away
from it, and began to look around for
something to cling to- 1 found mass of
timber, and as ! was trying to get together
enough to support my weight, Vol. Bige-
low cried out Cone here, Cap, I've got
raft : so l left my pile, and swan over
to him. The next person l saw was Bob
Solomon. He was close to the stern bulk
head, and was climbing on it. / asked
him and Bigelow If they were hurt Both
said not much, and we drifted away from
Solomon, and | saw no more of him.
"The appearance of the river was fright
full. saw five or six men come up to
the surface with blood streaming from
their wounds. Some of them would
struggle for few moments, shrek out,
and then go down. Others would give n
groan and drop back. One man, with
terrible cut, cried out oh, my
God, and sank Others cried, Il am
killed One poor fellow they called Little
Dan, came up and threw his arms over a
timber. He was cut nearly in two from
his navel to his backbone.
''As we tloated down l saw the Alama-
kee, tran sfer boat, and shouted to them
to come to our assistance They started
out but came so fast that | was afraid
they would do more harm than good. So
told them to hold on. By this time
skiffs were coming in every direction,
and before long eight of us were picked
up and put ON board the Alamakee.
There was no fire above deck and SO we
were taken near the engine room out of
the wind. Here poor little Dan soon
breathed his last.
81 think there were eighteen lost alto
gether but two or three of those saved
will die. Bob Solomon is not to blame
| am an old engineer, andI always listen
when any one tries the gauges. | can
tell at once whether they sound water or
steam. always make it a business to go
down and see for myself.
"There was no whisky on board. l
had not tasted a drop for months until
they gave me some after l was injured,
and am sure no one on board had any.
The cause of the explosion l cannot ac-
count for. have no theory in the mat
ter, but | am certain it was not the fault
of the officers.