, 1879-11-22
STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION.
4 Panic. .0.,Jy "a Serdfch ,rI,ere Scores m'yhs
L0rr bfcn Killed.

4 Panic. .0.,Jy "a SesdfcA 'rhere Scores might
hare been Killed
The Oregon Steam Navigation company
has th.sfau been taxed TO its utmost capa-
city in ea-,Savoring to meet the demands for
carrying both down and up freight. Sunday
last. at about ) l. NJ. the d. s. Baker, cap
tain Troupe, started FROM, the Dalles foI
Wallula over-loaded Besides the usual
large number of upperdeck passengers there
was crowded into small space, the only
place unoccupied by the freight and machia'
cry on the lower deck, l.5 soldiers, recently
enlisted in Ohio and New York states for
the regular army, In the rc-r OF ihe steamer
and pointed directly with thls narray space,
was the cylinder OF the engine which was
carrying an enormous pressure OF steam IN
order that the boat might lie run to Nalinia
that day. Were this cylinder an engine OF
deStructiOn-i Gattliag gun, a Howitzer,-
1t could not have been better placed 20 carry
death to nearly every soul below. Yet 10
one feared It Why should they-it was
only a cylinder Mea were IN crowds IN
front of it, chatting laughing, whiting,
doing up their blankets, polishing the but
tons on their coats, playing cards. At about
10 \ NJ, tie passengers on the upper deck
We're startled by sort Of dcadened boom,
anu tnen crash and tearing of timbers as
Though the boat had st.uc, a saarp Jagged
rock ana had becn forced over it tearing
Ggt. its bottom. immediately y, thereafter,
the soldiers came rushing above w!th the
report that the engue WAS bursting. Now,
one can't have the yatiQnce OF job even if
the prospect Is trip to tas noon on the
Wings OF steam as a rival e@peuitlen to Jules
Ncrnc's iaunt to that distant orb, arc, there
fore, after giving the engine as much time to
blow them up as it could reasonably expect
from an American crowd, few OF the most
inpatient of the passengers went below on a
tour Of inspection Many soldiers had re-
turned, and were earnestly talking OF the
accident and of their surprising escapes );
boxes and goods were scattered about, as
though knocked hither and thithcr by 4 bat-
terins ram, and here and there were decks Of
cards living around with so little regard to
orders as to show that the players had been
no more deSirous to stop and take the last
trick than those at Pompeii. The cause of
the noise and rapid exit of the soldiers, was
the Bursting out OF the cylinder head, which
measured about three feet III circumference
and to .. inches thick. Without the least
warning to anvone, it had shot out right at
the orowG,l aud, as by miracle, had passed
by soldier after soldier, it seems as though
it must have gone in and out IN wave lipe,
passed o~er .hc laps and between the Two
sets Of card players IS they i..c-l oa-h other,
went on its way crashing through the boxes
OF freight, and stopped-and bat one man
hurt. x soldier enlisting in New York from
Washington, D., C., had received a slight
bruse on his right leg just above the ankle;
1t raised lamp about as large as an egg
but the injury does not prevent. hiS getting
abont. Immediately after the explosion the
boat was run to the shore by the captain, to
prevent her drifting on rocks, and the pas
sensers and some Of the fast freight were, in
the COURSE of an hour, transferred to the
GateS, which was coming up half mile in
the rear