St. Landry democrat., 1882-05-27
4 TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
CHARLESTON, s. c., April %.

CHARLESTON, >. u, hPfli ~.
Full particulars are received here to-day Oh
the terrible explosion Of the steamer Mafioh
Yesterday. on the Waterce River, with an ex-
c,lrsion party of ladies and gentlemen on oo'iru
at tn. time The Marion was employed by the
Government in removing distractions from
the river, and for some time past haa been
r1nnins o I'D and down the stream, and the OIL
GERS and crew had become well acqua nted ana
popular with the people living upon the river
bank.
During the past week a number OF yourg
ladies and gentlemen living in tn: upper ena
of Rchlind County decided t, orEdEiz' an cX-
cursion party for a trip down the river anu
sent committee to the Captain OF the Marion
with the reQu st that be would grant them
th. use OF the steamer, with VII en- request he
courteOuSly complied The party TOOK the
st,amer Yesterday morning ut nine clock,
there being twenty-thrce litlcS ana Twelve
gentlemen and they started of with glad an
ticipations Of the pleasure of the DAY. Be
sides the excursion party, the crew nunp' req
ten persons making the steamers load OF nv
ing freight fortv-!ive.
At eleven ococi, VIII n the st amer Was III
midstrcam, the boiler exploded with 1earlul
noise At the time the entire excursion party
was on tn deck, and all of them IN the Imhe
diate vicinity of the cngine-room. Inc scehe~
when tho smoke of the explosion died away,
was fearful. and bcgyared description For
one moment the anSe cloud OF escaped
steam hung over the debris. and men ano
women were sensclcSs and bleeding upon
the torn deck. Others had been thrown in
t. the hold. and others still were burled
under broken planks The steamer was at
first almost thrown over on her side, but
she rishted herself Such of the male passen-
gers and crew as had not been disabled went
manfully to work to save the wounded and
HELPLESS women. The steamer was headed for
shore and, before she could sink, was run into
shallow water. The force of the explosion
blow Off the entire upper deck. Many OF the
passengers were thrown int, the water, Dut
many more fell back on the deck. some beng
seriously hurt ana others only sligntly
bruised The Captain aud crew did brave
work in saving the lives of the unfortunates,
and but for their prompt act on the victims OF
the disaster would have been trcbled.
The saddcst feature of the explosion was the
absolute exterlnination OF q whole family, the
the most loved and popular young ladies' ID
Richlaud County. They had been standing on
the deck directly over the boiler, and the e, ex.
p!osion spent IT'S full force upon them The
Youngest. Miss Alice. was killed instantly.
Miss Minnie, the oldest, was thrown great
distance nto the air, and fell into the water.
fifteen minutes. The third. Miss Jane, was
picked up in the enl of the hold nearly every
bone in her body broken She lived long
enough to murrnur "Ihanks" to the young
gentleman who lifted her mangled body. The
fourth. q lovely brunette of eighteen. was sc
scaied as to b. almost unrecOgnizable Mr..
Arnold Stiles, Il miudle-agrd gentleman. one OF
the organizers Of the excursion. was killed his
arms being torn from the body. John Jacobs
and Hiram Tlier, two colOred boat hands
standing in the rear part of the steamer, were
killed. it is supposed, by falling timbers.
Colonel James Dusheles and Mr.. Lawrence
Adamson. who were standing near the Misses
Henry, We're also killed. / hree other
young ladies were also lost. One of them
was to have been married. next Friday.
The number of persons killed or fatally
wounded will reach twelve. The extent of the
injuries of many others cannot be definitely
fixed yet. The town of Columbus was the
nearest point at which succor could BE- gotten,
and the presence there of one of the crew
created the widest excitement, and a relief
expedition was at once organized.
The Coroner's Jury this evening rendered 6
verdict of accidental death, and exempted the
officers OF the boat from blame.