Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-02

skill could do to render him comfortable was
done, until he was removed to his home at
Excelsior. The steamer Hattie May arrived
at the wharf shortly after the accident, and
carried some of the injured to Wayzetta,
when they took the train for Minneapolis
and st. Paul.
When the GLOBE reporter arrived at the
scene of the wreck, all that was left of the
| ill-fated steamer was the hull, which We s
sunk in from five to ten feet of water Ef-
| forts had been made to obtain the presence
of the coroner, but up to P. NJ yesterday,
| he had not put in an appearance. The bodies
of the victims had been prepared
| for burial by tender hands. News of the
| disaster had been telegraphed to the home of
young Plattenburgh at Canton, ILL.,, and
shortly thereafter, message was received
from the master of the Masonic lodge at that
| city, requesting that all proper attention be
paid to the remains, and that they be for
warded to Canton with the bill for expenses.
The remains of VIM. Chadwick, will be
| forwarded to Minneapolis for burial, where
| he has a wife and two children.
As fer as the reporter could learn, Q. A.
| Gaines, the head waiter of the hotel, was un-
married, and his remains will be buried near
where he met his untimely death.
John Steward, the pilot of the boat, was
| taken to his home at Excelsior, where he
has wife and three children. Up to late
hour yesterday afternoon, he was in an un-
concious state, and the physicians have but
| little hope of his recovery.
The GLOBE representative interviewed
several eye witnesses of the disaster, and
| from their several statements, the above
ia cts were cleaned, which are substantially
the truth as to the, result of the
explosion and the incidents which
preceded it. In the above they all agreed,
but as to the cause which led to the terrible
calamity opinions differ. In pursuing his in
quiries upon this point the GLOBE man first
encountered the fireman,
EDWIN s. PERKINS.
Mr.. Perkins account of the incidents which
preceded the explosion are given above in
substance. He said he fired up about A. M.
and when the steamer arrived at the Hotel st.
Louis she was carrying only sixty pounds OF,
steam, and there was over two gauges of water.
just as l was going ashore to cast off the head
line / spoke to Chadwick and asked him If
had not better put in more fire, as it was get
ting low. He said he would attend TO it, and
/ started to cast off the line. l was Just IN
the act of doing so when the explosion took
place. 1 think at the time that Chadwick
must have been putting on more fuel immedi-
ately in front of the furnace, and Mr.. Platten-
burg was standing on one side very near him.
The explosion was all forward, which accounts
for the ladies in the after
part of the boat escaping
uninjured. l caught sight of poor Bill (Ohad-
wick) going up with the wreck, and at the
same time was covered with ashes and steam.
was partially paralyzed and dazed, and felt a
burning sensation on the side of my head and
shoulder. A colored boy named Harry was
standing beside me at the time, and he was
blown about hundred feet into the lake, but
was afterwards rescued, with no other injury
than the fright. In regard to the cause of
the blow-up am utterly unable to give an
opinion. Iconsidered the Mary perfectly safe
boat. or would not have remained on her a
moment. Major Halstead, the owner, was of
the same opinion, as he frequently referred to
the outside reports concerning her safety, and
said if he thought there was any danger he
would not risk his own life on her every day.
1t was purely accidental that he was not on
board to-day, as we only intended to make the
morning train East and then return with an
excursion party from Minneapolis, and he was
waiting for that. / had been on the Mary
just fourteen days, and when / commenced
work made q thorough examination of
her boiler and machinery and considered her
perfectly safe. have spent most OF my life
firing on steamboats, and know something
about boilers and machinery l cannot inn
agine what caused the explosion. Major Hal
sted expected the government inspectors up
this week to inspect the boat and was wait
ing for them to come every day. Chad
wick was considered first class engineer. and
up to February last run Motor No. on the
Lyndale road. The Mary cost $4,000, and that
was what Major Halstead valued her at.
COL. HARRow's STATEMENT.
The GLOBE reporter next encountered Col,
Harrow. Col. Harrow stated that
he was on board the Hattie
Nav lust behind the Mary, and they
had just rounded a point and came in sight of
the Mary lying at the wharf, when the explo-
sion took place. He did not see any steam or
mist. There was just a crash, and the steamer
and portion of the deck was
complete wreck. Upon being asked
his opinion as to the cause of the explosion Col,
Harrow unhesitatingly laid it to the defective
boiler. The boiler is known as the "Ames
boiler" of the return hue fire box pattern.
Some four years ago three of these boilers
were brought to the Lake and placed in the
Katie May, May Queen and the Mary. All of
them have exploded with more or less loss of
life. Three years ago the Katie May exploded,
instantly killing Captain Mitchell, Engineer
Stoddard and painter on board named Albert
Seamons. On June 28th of last year the Sec
ond of these boilers on board the May Queen
exploded Just as she was leaving the dock on
RockwelIs Island. The Engineer, Haines
died from the injuries he received, and Cap
tain Rockwell and several others were seriously
injured. No wonder the third of these boilers
in the Mary was looked upon with suspicion.
Scarcely any of the old residents of the Lake
would patronize the boat and she did
but little business last year, and less
this Year from this cause. These
three disasters following each other in
succession have done much to damage lake
travel and interfere with the hotel business.
They are all three gone now, and I trust we
have had the last accident of the kind on this
lake.
JOHN D. HINDE, ESQ,
was next interviewed. Mr.. Kinds is the man.
ager of the hotel st. Louis, and at the time of
the accident was asleep in his room in the
hotel, some three hundred yards from the dock.
The explosion woke me and hastily dressing l
hurried to the dock. Met Mrs. Eginton and
Miss Pointer, who had just left the boat unin-
jured. Mr.. Plattenburg, of Canton, ILL.,. came
to the hotel on Tuesday last and spent most
of his time fishing. He was blown ashore and
terribly injured. He fingered about an hour
in great agony and expired. My head waiter,
Gaines, was blown out in the lake and his body
was found an hour or two afterwards at the
bottom of the lake. He was thirty-fve
years old and came from st
Louis. The engineer, Chadwick, had the top
Of his head blown off and looks horrible. He