Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-04-08
DONE To DEATH.
Hundred Dreaming Souls Egude-
ly Awakened to N Dreadful
Fate at the Dawn of
Day-'Fhirty Per-
sons Lost.
Memphis Appeal, March 81.

Fate at the Dawn of
J Day-Thirty Per-
sons Lost.
: Memphis Appeal, March 81.
!, The city was suddenly awak
ened yesterday morning from it
sleep and its dreams by severa
, alarms of fire, the last one between
and o'clock. The firemen hat
been busy for two hours running
about and subduing flames, ant
were about returning to their owl
"houseSo when a call sounded cleal
upon the morning air, followed by
steam whistles and the loud calls
from scared spectators, who shouted
and gesticulated in way that was
all vanity and vexation of spirit, al
the while that the steamer Golden
City was being eaten by the flames
fed by a most infiammable cargo o1
oil and jute. There was no noise
or confusion on the boat. There
was no time for it. The summons
was too sudden. Some of the un.
fortunate passengers were no doubt
smothered in their berths and never
heard the dread alarm of "fire
fire !!' The few who had watched
the boat as she pushed into the
bank, say there was perhaps a mo.
ment between her appearance and
the shooting of the flames. The
poor dumb brutes of Stoves circus
were silent as the grave. The smoke
asphyXiated them where they stood.
Only a buffalo and a bear made
their escape, the former in a pitia-
BILE plight, shorn of his hair and
almost blind. AS to the men and
women and children, they jumped
! to the coal barge5 near by or into
the water as they could and just as
they were. There was no thought
of conditions. Naked or semi-nude,
they leaped from the all-consuming
| flames and away from the impend-
was the work of an instant, and it
passed before the eyes of the fast
increasing behOlders like distem-
pered dream. Nothing like it has
occurred here IN long time. But
our people, tried as they have SO
often been in misfortune, were
equal to the dread emergency, and
did everything that was possible for
the survivors. They were taken
possession of by many good Samar-
itans and all their wants were sup
piled. Most of them have gone to
| their homes at the North, but the
agony through which they passed
| has left its awful memory to linger
with us as it will with them for
years. Thestory, the time of which
was so brief, but the sum of which
| is death, and sorrow, and heart
break, and mourning. is told below.
! All points and views are presented,
and all the incidents and informa-
tion possible are printed. 1t will
lead the reader away from the care
lessness which produced it to the
narrow escapes and the sad, sad
deaths, and up to the herOism of
the engineer, who died at his post,
and of the pilot, who stood at the
wheel until his power of control
had passed from his hands to the
flames. Forever green be the MEM
ory of the one, and for ever blessed
for his bravery be the other
THE AWFUL CALAMITY.
Yesterday morning, between 4
and o'clock, the steamer Golden
City, a Cincinnati boat, Captain
Mcintyre commanding, approached
the city, near the foot of Beale ST.,
and signaled for landing. Just
then the boat was discovered to be
on fire. She was directed to the
shore nOtWithStanding- and ran in
10 a number of coal-fiats. The fire
spread with the rapidity of light
ming almost. and 900 barrels of oil
fed it into fury in a moment.
The pilot of the boat, who gallant
ly remained at his post, tried to at
tatch it to the city dump-boat, but
could not succeed in doing SO. The
flames began in the center of the
boat and spread both ways, and the
people rushed pell-mell out of their
sleep and many of them jumped
over upon the dump-boat and coal
| flats. The effort to attach the boat
proved unavailing, and she drifted
away down the river, a thing of
glittering splendOr. Quite a num-
ber of people were still on board
and as the whole boat was a mass
of flame, fed by the oil, they must
all have been burned to death.
QO1Ch As DEATH.
1t was unlike most fires. 1t was
so quick and deadly in its results
that women did not have time to
shrek nor men to call for help.
Everybody was paralyZed with
horror. A great crowd soon col
lected on the river banks and
watched the fire. All sorts of ru-
mOrS were soon spread about the
disaster. The loss of life was vari-
ously reported at from twenty to
one hundred souls. An Appeal re-
porter was present at the fire, and
as soon as nen lost something of
their excitement he gathered the
nature and extent of the disaster.
The fire was caused by the captain
of the watch, who went through
the engine-rOom to see if any one
was in it. Accidentally the bottom
dropped from his lamp into some
hemp, which caught fire immedi-
ately and spread rapidly, and in
almost an instant the boat was
doomed.
SCENES ON LAND.
Those who escaped had to do so
opCColiyp oi4u lltOO "GlC hOt NOlJ
particular how they got away.
One individual was seen to leap
over upon coal-f1at in his night
shirt, holding his clothes in his
hands at the same time. When he
reached terra .f1nad, he was SO pos
sessed with fear that he skiTted
away up the levee with the speed
of Kentucky thorough bred.
When last seen he had stopped and
was pulling on his pants. One gen.
tleman aboard, who had two or three
ladies, and the same number of
children under his charge, pitched
the children over upon the fiat,
knowing that they could never get
off otherwise and then jumped over
with the ladies. Several persons
who were about to be left jumped
in the water and were pulled ashore,
or swan ashore or drowned. The
condition of those who escaped with
fho;r IiunC wac pifia hIa in fbn av