The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-01-10
A Dreadful Tragedy OH the Sea.

A tale comes from the sea crowded
with tragic details rarely met with out
side the realms of fiction. The River
Eden, vessel of about 500 tons, be-
longing to Messrs. Hargrove, Fergus
son, Jackson & Co., of Liverpool, and
by one of the crew to be zone
of the best little vessels that ever man
put foot on,N sailed from London on
October 18th, for Valparaiso. She car
ried general cargo, made up in con-
siderable degree of c0mbustibles, $50
tons of gunpOwder being slowed in the
forehold. Her captain was q Water.
ford man, named Bowden, who, though
not of large stature, was very muscular
and strong. Nothing strange was
noticed in his conduct when he started
on the voyage, but after the vessel had
been at sea about three weeks symp-
toms of mental arrangement showed
themselves.
A week after the first appearance of
insanity the symptoms increased, and
he then declared his intention of blow
ing up the ship. One night--the ves-
sci being then in latitude II. Is. NJ
those of the crew who were asleep in
the cabin We're startled by ashout upon
deck, and going thither discovered
their captain in u very excited state,
armed with a revolver and threatening
to destroy the ship. He was, however,
temporarily. appeased, and made a
promise that he would go to sleep.
The crew returned to their hunks, but
shortly after. they found that the cap
tain's cabin was ON fire, and this
within short distance of the hold,
where the powder was stored. Conjec-
turing that the captain had at last car
ried out his Intention, the mate, the
and others made for the
cabin to secure him, while the Others
to extinguish the flames,
which increased the more rapidly, in
asmuch as the captain had profusely
saturated everything with parafine oil.
As the mate entered the cabin, Cap
tain Bowden fired at him with his re-
volver, and the bullet struck him in
the head, but not injuring him very Sc
riously. Finding all efforts to extin-
guish the flames futile, it was deter
mined to abandon the vessel; and an
attempt was made by two of the sea-
men, named Travers and Reams, to
get outl the. ships boat. and in this
they succeeded, Notwithstanding that
one of them was wounded by shot
from the captains revolver, and an
other one stabbed, it is said, with q
bayonet. His frenzy had increased to
such an extent that he undoubtedly
would have inflicted other injuriesupon
the crew but for one of them
dealing him n severe blow upon his
arm with handspike, disabling the
limb. He was then seized, and was
at length, though not without much
difficulty, got into the boat: and as
thefiames by this time had gained COM
plete mastery over the vessel, they
rowed away from her side as quickly as
possible. About break of day the fire
reached the powder which exploded
with n loud thud, throwing water up
wards to a considerable height. Moth
ing more, of conrse, was seen of the
vessel, and the occupants of the boat,
who had been unable to save anything
or to take away feed, found themselves
In mid ocean doomed to starvation limo
passing vessel could be fallen in With.
After several hours sail was sighted,
and the signals of distress exhibited;
being seen, the vessel, which proved
afterwards to be the Juanita, Captain
Harlock, of North Shields, bore down