Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-06-29

was ICuuCCO W 0AtSA ihss"s
years of suffering and privation he was
obliged to become an applicant for pubic
clarity.
MANY LIVES LOST.
The Steamer Seawanhaka Burned to the
Waters Edge.
A Terrible Scene in the Surgins Waters OF
He'll Gate.
The Seawanhaka took fire at 4:3O o clock
yesterday afternoon. while Oft Randalls
island. East river, New York. The fire
was caused by an explosion in the engine
room, and the middle of the steamboat
was soon in flames. Pilot Charles Smith
remained at his post until he was nearly
burned to death and succeeded in beachinS
the vessel on the sunken meadow adJoln-
ing the island. Many persons sprang over
board and were drowned many others i'll
the stern of the vessel could not set off
and were burned to death.
OF five hundred persons supposed to he
on board fifty are believed to have per-
ished. The bodies of about thirty dead
were recovered. Only those of DeBeboise,
a wealthy gentleman, whose residence is
unknown, and of Mary Reed, young
woman, were identified. Among the per-
sons of prominence known to have been
on board were Charles A. Dana, the editor
OF the Sun S. L. NJ. Barlow, Ofthe World,
and r. II. Rochester, Of the Western
Union telegraph company, all OF whom
were saved. The vessel was burned to the
waters edge and will be total loss. The
steamer Granite State rescued thirteen
passengers and the Osseo large number,
who were taken to College Point.
An account from passenger says there
were $50 passengers on board. All went
well until the steamer had passed Hell
Gate, when the fire alarm rang out and
flames were discovered bursting through
the pilot house. The officers and crew u.s.
sured the passengers that there was no
danger and the boat was headed for Ran
dalls Island. She grounded on bar 200
feet from the shore. Those of the passen-
gers unprovided with life preservers were
saved by clinging to the guards, paddles
and other portions Of the steamer. The
body of Abe Skidmore, a member of an old
Long Island family, has been recovered
and brought to the Coleman house in New
York. This informant expresses the belief
that the loss of life is about 80.
| What Caused 1t.
Inc lfCIldu cAUldIIlS GlldU SOHiC VI OhO
small tubes of the boiler must have burst,
throwing the furnace door open and
scattering hot Goals, which set fire to the
vessel. Some of the passengers say that
there was strange lifting of the deck as
if by gentle pressure, followed by a
| kissing noise as if steam were escaping.
All agree, however, that few moments
afterward flames were seen in the neigh
borhood of the engine room. There
flames arose like magic, and quickly
formed an impassable barrier between the
fore and after parts of the boat.
Capt. Smith kept the boat headed to the
nearest point of the marsh The flames
were nearly under him. He heard the
shrieks of his passengers, but to his mind
there was but one duty. His pilot was
not Oh board, and he could leave the
| wheel to no one else. 1t was 4 critical
race with the progress of the fire, and the
fire. was gaining. The advance of the boat
drove heat, flames and smoke aft. This
forced most of those in the after part of
the boat to leap into the water. Some of
these swan to Wards island, which is
nearly opposite but 4 little above Hallett's
Point. Those who were in the fore part
of the boat were able to remain longer, and
most of these did not leap into the water
until the PROV of the burning vessel was
driven forty feet up on to Sunken Mead
ows. Then Capt. Smith, terribly burned.
hurried from the pilot house, and assisted
women and children down to the land, and
aided others who had leaped into the water
to reach the shore.
Mr.. Morris, the porter, saw child lying
on its back and was going to jump over
board to save it when a frantic woman
cutched his arm, saying, You are a
strong man and woman. without a
friend on board for Gods sake help me. "
The porter left the child to itself, and
saved the woman. The only one of the
Seawanhak:'s boats gotten out was one
which had a canvass fastened over it.
After the canvass was taken off, the body
of child about about two years old was
found lying in some water in the bottom
of the boat. Nobody seemed to know
how it got there. After got on Ran
dalrs Island | was almost exhaust
ed. A lady, who fell into the gang
way from ladder was saved with great
difficulty. Several persons jumped over
board foeward and were caught by the
wheel and drowned. About forty of the
| ill-fatcd passengers, some more or less
burned and scalded, were rescued by men,
bers of the Eastern Boulevard club and
taken to the club house opposite the scene
of the disaster.