Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-31
THE STEAMBOAT FIRE.
Loss Of Life not Above
Thirty Persons.
Over Ninety-iivs Known to Be
Saved.
The Story Of the Disaster Care
fully Detailed,
With Particulars and Incl.
dents.

The terrible steamboat disaster Of
yesterday morning, with its attending
death horrers, continued to be the
leading theme of discussion through
out the city to-day. The relentless
ire fend, which in short half hour
made such fearful havock with life and
property, sending from twenty to forty
human victims to eternity, and the
charred wreck Of a fine large steamer
with its valuable cargo to the bottom
ofthe river, will afford topics to talk
about for week TO come.
The steamer Golden City. so sud
denly and totally destroyed, was one
OF the most successful, the stanchest
and best freight and passenger boats
in the New Orleans and Cincinnati
trade, and she was Offered by as
careful and competent a set of boat
men as ever manned a craft. The
vessel was built at Cincinnati in 1876,
at cost Of upwards of $4,000, and
ran for several years under the COM
mand of Captain Hegler, with Ster-
ling Mcintyre as chief clerk.
The latter had previously been
a popular and successful COM
mander on the Cons Millar be-
tween this port and Cincinnati, and
was almost brought up on the river.
Being an owner with Captain Hegler
in the Golden City, he assumed COM
mand of the boat when his prede
cessor purchased and took charge Of
the Guiding Star. Captain Mcintyre
is sober, industrious and careful as
we'll as thrifty river man, and his con
duct during the brief but fearful! and
trying ordeal through which he passed
yesterday morning shows that he did
his whole duty as thoroughly and
completely as it could be done. 1t is
the custom on river boats for captain
in conjunction with the second mate
to be in charge Of steamer when on Q
voyage. or under way. during the early
part of the night and until one o clocl
in the morning. Then the captain
retires for rest and the first mate take
charge of the boat. to continue unit
the captain is called for his breakfast
unless business at landing require
his presence on deck within the tim
mentioned.
I From the statements made by tn
! officers, crew and passengers on tn
burned boat, it appears that Captain
Mcintyre was asleep in his room il
the forward end Of the vessels texas
or officers cabin, situated nea
the chimneys on the hurricane deck
He was aroused by the cry of fir
about five o'clock in the morning
and just as day was breaking. HI
leaped from his sleeping berth, Caugh
up garment or two, ran down on t,
| the boiler deck and into the cabin Il
awaken the people and get them out
was driven back by the smoke ant
fire before going far into tn,
| cabin; went forward, to finC
the boats bow among the
coal fats near the foot of Beal street
saw no hawsers we're out to hold hel
to the shore, dropped his clothing and
in his bare feet assisted the mate
second mate, his brother, the clerk
and others in getting line or cable
out and making it fast to the city
dump boat; and after the steamer
drifted back by the force of the wind
and current, tearing the dump boat &
post or 6avits loose to 20 adrift, be
next did all he could toward getting
steamers, skifs and small boats
to 70 to the rescue of the
people on board. Subsequently he
bought a pair of shoes and went on
board of the steamer Gaff, where
Captain Wise dressed him up with a
suit out Of his private wardrobe.
Captain Mcintyre spent the day and
most of last night and all Of to day in
efforts to recover bodies and to save
such property as may be recovered
from the wreck. Through all Of this
great emergency Captain Mcintyre
has conducted himself with cool
precision, but it was plain to be seen
that he was greatly concerned about
the loss OF life on his boat, and that
the destruction of property was merely
a secondary consideration.
The brother oi,the Captain, Mr.. w.
f. Mcintyre, is well known in this
city For several seasons be served on
the steamer Jas. D. Parker, with
Captain Wise as FIRST clerk, and he wa,
always noted for his urbanity
and his attention to duty. He
was one of the owners, with his
brother, of the lost boat, and at the
time of the FIRE was asleep in berth
of the main cabin, back of the office.
The alarm Of FIRE caused him to hasten
out on deck, with his clothes in his
hands. He put on a part of them as
quick as possible, endeavored to get
the women and children out of the
cabin, helped several persons down to
the lower deck, aided in making the
boats hawser fast, and when the
steamer drifted off down the bank, he
ran along the shore and endeavored to
get skiffs, ETC., to 90 to their rescue.
The pilot, Bryson Purcell, heard
the fire alarm through the engineer 8
speaking tube or trumpet connecting
the pilothouse with the engine room
Instead of continuing on toward the
Anchor Line wharfboat, for which he
was pointed and for which he had thai
moment signalled to land at, he pulled
the wheel hard down and headed
straight for shore under full head Of
steam. She struck among the Goa
fats moored near the shore, hitting tn,
knuokle of the tug Oriole ant
sending it to the bottom with 8 feet o
water over its uppar deck. He stood