Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-11-10
A sUNKEN sTH.:MER.
The War Eagle Runs Against the
Bridge mt keokuk, Iowa and Eight
Lives are Lost

Bridge Mt keokuk, Iowa and Eight
Lives are Lost
Again the press are called upon to
record II distressing river calamity.
But few days ago, the Jennie Gil
christ was wrecked at Davenport, and
hardly have all the bodies of the wreck
been recovered, when the War Eagle
at keokuk runs against the bridge, and
is completely demolished, and eight
lives lost. The following are the par.;c.
ulars of the accident:
Capt. A. NJ. Hutchinson, gen
eral manager of the st. Louis Il St.
ia3l packet company was interviewed
and said it would be impossible to esti-
mate anything ike accurately the
amount of damage done or the
amount of insurance. There is
an insurance of about SD, 900
on the boat, which is valued at SAC, 600
The cargo consisted of little of every
thing. She carried on an immense
traffic, and there was a large amount
of potatoes and grain aboard
The first Capt. Hutchinson knew of the
accident was when he heard the noise
at the levee. He jumped from the
table and hurried to the river, finding
that one span of the bridge
was gone and the War Eagle was
floating helplessly down the river
He ran to the Plough Boy with the in
t.ntion of saving the people who might
fall IN the river, but found she had no
steam The steamer Penguine had
twenty pounds of steam up and Charles
Hutchinson began at once preparing
to send her down after the War
Eagle. In a very short time
forty pounds of steam was gotten up
and the boat started down to the wreck
Finding that the W. ID. Smith had
reached the scene, and was holding in
the stern of the disabled boat, a fiat was
brought down and the baggage brought
to the city. The War Eagle is now
settled in about II feet of water on the
larboard side and Z feet on the star
board side, with her head down stream.
Cannot say as yet how badly she is
damaged. She is badly broken in two
places, especially where she struck the
piers. Don't think she is badly broken
aft, though leaking and one wheel en-
tirely gone. Think the hull is not badly
damaged, and the cabin is not injured.
The engines are also in good shape. a
fiat is now along and portion of the
cargo will be saved in good order, proba-
bly, one-thiro. Commodore Davidson
will be up on the Gem City, next Sun
day. The particulars of the damage
and insurance cannot be given for some
time.
Capt Jerry Wood, who was in COM
mand Of the War Eagle, said that he
was having her backed to get out of the
eddy, just above the bridge and the
current whirled her around against the
bridge. She came down to the bridge
all right, but got too far over il the ed
dy, and a strong effort was being made
to back her out when the boat
struck the bridge with terrific force,
breaking the larboard wheel and throw
ing one span of the bridge in the river.
Her hull struck the pier and cut hole
large enough to let the water rush
in very rapidly. | was on the hurricane
deck while she was swinging around
and the passengers were rushing fran
ticallv toward the bridge, trying to
jump off the boat. did all could to
keep the passengers cool and to hold
them on the boat, because | knew
that after passing the bridge even
if she did sink she would not go down
out of sight, and the boat was the safest
place to be. | understood that two of
these parties had jumped into the riv-
er, but do not know of any one being
drowned. We tioated with the current
to point below the elevator, and then,
with the aid of line carried to shore
by men in a skif, we made fast and sent
the passengers ashore. | think large
portion of the cargo will be saved. The
barley and flour may be damaged some
what by water. The boat was not
loaded to her full capacity. She ought
to carry 1000 tons and we had not
much more than 700 tons aboard. She
was drawing about feet of water.
The War Eagle had been running for
some time and her upper seams
were too open to permit of heavy
loading. The officers and crew
did all they could to save the
boat and keep the people on board I'M
Gil skitls took them off. The passen-
gers were afraid she would topple over
and were with difficulty restrained from
dropping into the water. After she
had beached, Young the pilot stood
manfully and worked her into the
shore. | do not know whether the
other pilot, Mr.. Tibbles got off at the
bridge or not. The passengers, while
anxious to get off, acted very r. A.
mendably The roustabouts, ns~~-.y of
them deserted the boat at the bridge
and | was compelled to get
tn, passengers to shovel in coal
to keep the fires. The principal dam
age is TO the boat, and when the water
goes down / think she can be repaired.
1 think the accident terminated very
fortunately. Had the boat toppled over
at the bridge, with the high water, the
result would have been appalling.
felt much easier when the span gave
way, and thus obviated such calami-
ty. There is no danger Of the boat top
ping over; she is sitting on solid foun-
dalton.
The cargo will be removed at once.
She had a miscellaneous cargo Of about