Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-06-29
THE EVENING STAR.
Another Terrible Disaster.
SOUND STEAMER BURNED AND FORTY no Frrr,


The steamer Seawanhaka was burned TO the
waters edge OF College Point, Long Island. at S
O'Clock Yesterday afternoon. The steamer osseo
or fifty were lost. The seawanhaSa plies 50 hs-
tween New York. Sands Point and Rosiyn She
Iook nre while on Randalls Island, East river
CINE ROOM and the middle or the steamboat WAS
soon In flames. Pilot ChaS. Smith remained at
ms post until he was nearly burned TO death.
and succeeded In Bleaching the veSSehon the
sunken meadow adjoining the island. MANY
persons sprang overheard and were drowned
Many others In the stern OF the vessel
could not get OH and were burned TO death or
900 persons supposed TO be on board tifty are
relieved TO have persisted. The bodies OF about
81 DEAD persons were recovered; only those OF
De Beoolse, wealthy gentleman whose rest
Cehce is unknown, and OF Mary Reed a Young
woman. were Identified Among the persons OF
prominence known 10 be on board We're Chas.
A. pana, tdltor or the S'tT: :. L. NJ. Barlow of
the World, and II. II. Rochester OF the Western
Mon Telegraph Company, all OF whom were
saved. Inc vessel was burned TO the waters
Granite State rescued Is passengers AMI Ihe
Osseo large number. who Were taken u Col
!ege Point The body or Abe Skidmore a mem.
covered
GRAPHIC ACCOUNT BY A FIREMAN.
Charles Abel, one OF thu firemen OF the boat
makes the following statement: I've made our
landing at the foot OF 3Sd street at 4:3l o'clock
and IL was about fifteen minutes later when W
reached Little He'll Gate. L was sitting In Tn
oilge pump, when heard noise, and on look.
ing around saw fire pouring out of the ire-room
got up and tried to make my way into the tira
DOM, but the flames were too much for me. We
were just OF RandaltS Island, and running for
ward | yelled to the captain. who was az the
Wheel.t o head for shore but he shouted pack that
ne could not. then ran into the cabins forward
aud urged the steward and passengers to save
themselves. They did not suspect that the
vessel was on fire then, as no smoke or lame
was blown In that direction. AT that time the
alAO,1t ha-
burning like finder, and the flames We're max
Ing their way towards both ends of the boat
There were probably about 800 persons on
eo1rd Men were jumping from the hurricane
deck into the water, and large mum Der OF ter
rllied children and women were huddled near
the stern OF the boat. | climbed over the rail-
jumped upon me beforeI took to thewater to save
NY SeL | found life-preServer floating near
me ana was going TO put II on when man
clutched it, aud /, knowing could swim, and
uinklng he could not, let him have it, and
swain for Wards Island. which | reach
ed and then helped TO man a boat
ana assisted In picking up passengers In the
water. The Seawanhaka was finaIly beached
On RandalrS Island, but she soon burned TO the
waters edge. Capt. ChaS. p. Smith was at the
wheel and stuck TO his post TO the last. His
face and body were badly burned. Sinai! boats
came TO the rescue from every direction, The
Steamboats, Granite State, bound for Hartford:
the OSseo, Mlnnehannock and Sylvan Glen had
boats manned and sent to our assist nce The
clothing of many children on board caught
lire. and some OF them were severely burned
a lamp, which | carried In my hand into the
darkroom, which is back of the fire room and
separated by board partition, where changed
my clothes, / brought back into the fire room
aud set II down. | am sure the fire could NOT
have originated from the lamp as the oil would
not explode nor burn without wick. You could
put some of the Oil in saucer and 1t would not
burn II you put match to it. Therefore | feel
certain Ii could not have caused the fire. and
cannot Imagine what did. Engineer Weeks nut
on full head OF steam, | am told, in response
to signal from the captain, and then climbed
up among the machinery, and was seen stand
Ing on the upper deck trying to raise the valves
so that the steam could escape and an explosion
be avoided We never carried over 81 pounds OF
steam"
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Engineer Weeks son was a fireman on the
boat, and at the time the fire started was watch
Ing the steam and water indicator. He says:
1.-The only members OF the crew | understand
missing are Josiah HaSbrouck, cook and his
grandson, Charles Hasbrouck, who was employ
ed on the boat. We had a crew of about four
n neh nanas one deck boy, engineer two lire
SUI er1ntendent'S clerk, porter, steward and
cook. The crew did their duty like men, and
few or them lost their presence OF mind. You
can imagine how cool they were, when the clerk,
VINO was collecting fares, as soon as he real
lied that the boat was on fire, returned to his
of,ice and secured all our money he had
Richard OGornan, two OF the Harper pub
fishers, and NUMBER Of other gentlemen, who
are in the habit OF going TO their homes on the
Lorg Island shore by our boat All of these,
l believe. escaped with their lives The yes
sci burned like powder after the flames
once started, and it was a terrible scene.
Shrieking women and children were huddled
aft until some OF their clothes caught fire. and
those On the forward part OF the boat were
men, some or whom had been cut off from
communicating with or going to the rescue OF
their female relatives and friends by the
flames, which burnt fieTceSt about the center
OF the boat. Mr.. Morris, our porter, saw
lI-fs, tic Ill
to Jump overheard to save it when a frantic
woman clutched his arm, saying. You are
str0ng man and woman without any friends
on board; for Gods sake help me- The porter
left the child to itself and saved the woman
The only one Of the Seawanhaka's boats gotten
out was one which had canvas fastened over
IL. AFTER the canvas was taken off the body OF
Child, 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 Randalls island was almost exhausted. A
lady who fell into the gangway from a ladder
was saved with great difficulty. Several per-
sons jumped overheard forward and were
caught by the wheel and drowned"
RESCUED.
About forty OF the Inflated passengers. some
more or less burned and Scalded were rescued
by members OF the Eastern Boulevard Club and
the disaster. At midnight twelve bodies-nine
adults, one child and two babeS-were Brought
TO the morgue at Bellevue Hospital by the hos
pital steamboat. Among the bodies is that OF
some OF the crew did not do their duty, but
Jumped into the river and swan ashore.
TWO UNHAPPY MOTHERS.
The New York Herald to-day says boat
man said. (and the story was confirmed by
others), that he rowed up to the wreck, or as
near as he could get to her for the heat and
saw mother at the guard rails with two chill
dren, one OF whom was about four years old and
the other was an Infant In arms. The mother
stood shr1ek1ng most piteously for help and
seeming to be entirely craZed She was
holding the youngest child to her breast
and the elder suspended over the water by
one hand. The boatman rowed up and caught
hold OF the older child and pulled her away from
her mother and saved her. She was burned
some, but he thought she was not dangerously
injured. He called to the mother TO lump over
with the other child, but she either did not I'M
derstand or was afraid to do so, and only left
the boat when she fell dead into the water An
other mother and Child were seen in almost ex-
actly the same position on another part of the
BOAT who met exactly the same fate. The
mother stood after her dress was all burned
away and her body burned, as 1t seemed TO
those who looked. almost to a crisp. Still she
beld her position and strove with outstretched
arms to keep her child clear from the flames. It
was vain effort, though, for the bodies OF both
were recovered, and both had persisted In the
flames.