Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-01

.
If possible, to secure some of them. The
water was very swift at the point where the
wreck lay, and the investigation proved
fruitless. Not a trace of human body
could be found.
| THE MAGISTERIAL TRIAL
Some interest will now attach to the in
vestigatiOn of the casualty before the two
| magistrates. So far the investigation has
| revealed the fact that the boats freight con-
sisted of jute, or junk, about 108 bales; also,
| 100 barrels of oil, 600 sacks of oil-meal, and
other readily ignitable material. Considera-
| Bile criticism was passed on the character OF
| the cargo over which people were to sleep.
| OF the witnesses so far examined, Bryson
| Purcell, jr, has stated that he did
not know what caused the fire. Wash
Smith has stated positively that he
had no lantern when he went to wake up the
men; that he left it forward while he was
| engaged in that duty. If the officers of the
| law can prove that Smith did have lantern
| they will have a chance to convict him of
the criminal negligence charged. Mr.. James
| Burke, a passenger, stated that some one
| with lantern came around to wake up the
roustabouts, and that was the duty of
Smith it is supposed he was the man. The
Waterman was fixing the wick of his lamp
when he saw him. Captain S. c. Mcintyre
and Clerk w. F. Mcintyre, james G. Nelson,
Jesse Willard, William Harris and DIR. Chas
| Baskerville complete the witnesses already
examined in the case. They throw no new
light upon the cause of the fire. The case
will be resumed to day before Esquires Quig-
ley and Galloway.
The investigation before the inspector of
steamboats,, Captain Garrett, was continued
yesterday. Ii criminal negligence is found,
the captain can, of course, deprive of license.
The following is the testimony adduced
before him yesterday:
THE MATES STATEMENT.
Isaac n. Boudurant, being duly sworn,
said: Was mate on the Golden CITY and on
watch at the time the boat was destroyed by
fire; | came on watch at l o'clock am. on
March 80, 1882; l made the usual rounds of
the decks OF the vessel was at least twice on |
and around the boiler deck; everything was
going on as usual; Charley Harvey was on |
watch on the main deck; / saw him several |
times; he goes over the boat at times in the |
discharge OF his duty; Charley Guthrie was |
on dity in the cabin; Just after the whistle |
was blown to land at Memphis / heard the |
alarm of fire; this was about o'clock; | |
was sitting at the head of the steps leading |
to the hurricane roof; had been there not |
more than two minutes; had just come up |
from the main deck, where l had been d.
rectiug the men about making the landing;
l ordered the pilot to land the boat but he |
was already heading for the shore; l went
from the hurricane roof to the main deck |
two or three times between the alarm and |
the time the boat struck the bank; L suppose |
the time was not to exceed three minutes;
the hose was connectt with the donkey pump,
and the pump was running after the alarm
was given, but whether any water was thrown
on the fire l am unable TO state; the
donkey is on the main deck aft of the boil
ers; the vessel was supplied with yawl
and three life boats, and they are all sup
piled with oars and life lines and hung on
davits, but no effort was made to lower the
boats that / know of; the boat had her
equipment of life floats, and they were prop
erly distributed, part on the roof and part
on the main deck aft, where they could be
easily obtained; the hose on the boiler
deck was coupled up ready for use, but am
not positive that 1t was supplied with noz-
zIes; l was on the roof when the boat struck
the bank and l went Immediately over the
railing, swung off on to the animal cages,
and down on to the forecastle; / went i'm
mediately ashore and assisted in making
line last; for some reason unknown to me
the fastening did mot hold, and the boat
swung away from the bank and into the
stream in from three to four minutes. 1 saw
no person on the boat or jumping from her
after she swung away from the bank. Myself
and the second mate followed down the bank
to Fort Pickering; we saw signs of
life on the wreck and bodies in the
water; in my opinion it was impossible
AOI Oue 10 nave llNcu On the |
vessel after she swung away from the
bank, unless possibly on the after part OF the
vessel; there were six wagons belonging to
Stoves circus company, containing live ami |
mails, and two others b longing to the same
company; six were on the forecastle and
two on the sides of the steps; the passages
were unobstructed; there was plenty of gang
the forecastle on both sides of the boat; the
vessel had miscellaneous cargo, consisting
OF baled jute, molasses, sugar lumber, scrap |
iron and empty barrels; we had between
forty and sixty bales OF junk or jute; it is !
put up in bales something like cotton; it was
not covered with bagging, and | am not pos
tive whether the bands were rome or iron; it |
was stored in the deck-room, beginning E
about ten or fifteen feet aft of the boilers and
back about two-thirds OF the way;
it was three tiers high, and on top of these
tiers was a lot of cotton-seeed meal; there
was gangway of about four feet on either
side; the junk or jute was partially covered !
Of the pile and partially by the
,otton-seed meal, but the sides of the
pile were not covered; / 1yas in COM
nand of the vessel at the time, with the fol- 8
owing named officers on watch: B. Purcell,
pilot; r. Kelly, second engineer; Charley t
Harvey and Charles Guthrie, watchmen. The /
sntire crew, officers and men, were about !
are missing-R. Kelly, second engineer, and s
,ne rouster, John Jones; we had from I
twenty to twenty-five deck passengers, and 1
hey had abundance of space and free pas
sage fore and aft on the deck, the gangways I
being unobstructed; the cargo was not an t
unusual one; we frequently carry more I
unk or jute than We had this trip; we con-
ider that storing it in the engine-room and
covering the end nearest the fire is sufh-
;ient protection, and there. was no special
Instruction on this trip as to caution; / have O
10 knowledge of the cause of the fire, as / n
lid not see it, being on another part Of the n
yessel. My postoffice is Madison, Ind. And t
urther this deponent saith not.
J. n. BONDURANT
WHAT THE SECOND NATE KNOWS.
J. G. Hill, being duly sworn, says: 1 YVES (,
econd mate on the steamboat Golden City; I,
vas asleep in the texas when the alarm of n
ire was given; seized my clothes and m ade d
ny way forward, clambered over the railing p
# the boiler-deck and swung down on the v
nimal cages, and thence to the ferecastle, {
nd assisted in making line fast to the tim Ii
'erhead on the coal-hat; the weight of the
essel pulled the timberhead off and the boat 4
wung out into the stream within four or five n
minutes: / followed down the bank for some Z