The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-05-01
BURNING OF THE LEO.

THE CATASTROPHE DEcLARED TO BE THE Re-
SUIT OF cABELEssNEss- sTArEMRNTs OF
TWO or THE RESCUED YIREMEN.
The burning Il sea OF tho steamer Leo on the 18th
ul, involving tho loss Of three passsngers-two OF
them young iadies-thc chief engineer and
hremen and sailors, Is still fresh In the public mind
According 10 the statement or Captain Daniels, which
telcgraphed to tho HERALD Immediately upon the
rescued being landed at Savannah from pilot boat,
no one could conjecture tho of the fire. The
vessel sailed the 18th uil IRON Savannah for
Nassau. and tho following mornng before daylight
the Captain says, tho mate descended 10 SEQ tho
cargo affected by the pitching caused BY gale
which the vessel was then lying to, ana when the
matches were raised tho Gre was discovered. There
no hint in his statement to what tho cargo
sisted Of
4 STARTLING STATEMENT
Felix Shelby and Pierce Power, hremen employ ed
the steamship who were among the saved state that
the vessel burped and tho lives Of tho
aud sacrificed through the carecssn OF
tho Captain and onicerx The cargo, they say. con-
oil being slowed carefully below or secured the
upper deck, as IL Is customary 10 dispose Of such CON-
eustioe commodities were simply rolled n between
way, tho barrels naturally rolled about when the gallo
arose, and the head Of knocked IN by striking
the end 0f another In order TO The casks IN
some wny-their rolling aud pounding being PLAINLY
heard dcck--Ihs uate, u. W. Olsen, and two sail.
ors. named Robert Rankin and William Grey, went
below. In his hand tho mate carried a gloUe lamp
and by It's light tho floor was be Hooded ankle
deep with the escaped kin THIS contained large pcr.
ccntagc Of ALCOHOL the vxpor from which completely
filled the confined space
Tho party had scarcely entered the place whsn the
innammable vap0rs caught nrc IRON The lamp aud Tho
mate becoming alarmed threw II INTO tho liquor the
deck, and crying sFircr' rushed Tor the ladder 10
escape. u course tho deck became pool Of kissing
hamo instant and the sailors ned their lives
Rankin got away unhnrt, bat Grey's La nds ana lace
badly burned that hc stiil lies In the hospital
NJ Savannah and will emerge dwlgured for lite, his Ieit
car being completely burned or Tho mate himself
slightly burned about tho ankles before lie reached
few days after lhe disaster aud while lying there,
Shelby claims, told tho latter the foregoing story oi
the catastrophe. Shelby says, ALSO, that RankId told
him the same story both while they together on
tho raft and then several OCCASIONS Power,
too says that Rankin gave him the version III
Savannah.
ABOUT B0ArM
These men state thai Captain Daniels mistaken
when To declared that there were eight persons the
metallic ehoat alter IL was launched Pierce Power
says that he The held the painter OF the
boat, and That when swept away from his grasp
and lost out 0f sight In Tho only throe men had
desconaed into IL. They also state that the tho
boat launched tho vessel under way, and that
In conseQuo II WAS impossible to hold 10 the
leboak IL would have been comparatively easy they
assert have saved tho boat had the steamer been
stopped In time
The above statements sworn 10 by Power and
Shelby before notary public yesterday.