Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1882-10-11
RIVER HORROR.
Burning of the Mississippi Steam
err IL. Il. Lee.
'rwenty.one Passengers Perish Before
the Boat Reached the Shore

The famous steamer r. Il. Lee was burned
on the Mississippi river thirty miles south o.
yicksburg, causing the loss of twenty-one
lives and the total destruction of the boat
aud freight Tie Lee was valued at Sis!,cco,
and carried insurance amounting to s5o,ooo
MANY acts OF daring and heroism were per-
formed by employees of the fatal boat In
warning and assisting passengers to places
OF safety The story of the disaster is thus
told by the Captain. William Campbell:
"we left vicksburg about O'Clock on Fri
dav evening W tn about 400 bales of cotton
on board, about thirty passengers aud crew
OF about ninety OF 100, including officers.
We first discovered the fire just below
Brooks Landing Miss, about thirty five
miles below yicksburg. The fire was first
seen in the kitchen little after O'Clock
Saturday morning Pilot stout, Engineer
Perkins the second mate. Kilpatrick. Clerks
Hail. Wells and Bell and myself were on
watch Mt the time ! shouted TO the
pilot 90 land the boat as quick rs he could,
wh ch he did We ran line out, made the
boat fast, and lowered the stage All per
sons forward got ashore safely. Those aft
we've cut of from the stage by the fire and
smoke. and went TO the stern OF the boat TO
/ suye themselves Some were saved and
! some were lost The yawl was low
/ cred and picked up many persons in the
river who sprang overheard to escape the
! flames. All my men did their duty as long
\ as the flames allowed them to. One lady
4 from Pittsburgh, going to Natchez, saved
herself and seven children She displayed
| great presence of mind, and was cooler than
many n man would have been under such
irving circumstances. Our sailor man, a
/ Greek. and two of the firemen behaved
SO endidly with the yawl Pilot Stout, a
| brother of Mrs Mannon, one of the
| owners of the boat, and Engineer
Perkins behaved nobly. Second Mate
Mike fitzpatrick ran the lines out amnc m
lowered the stage, showing ocolness and
her ism All the cabih-boys who were lost
gave up their lives in trying TO save those Of
others Ovid Bell woke mp all the persons
on the texas deck, not trying to save him
self until all were awake Mate Hines wa
everywhere displaying great energy. w
worked the engines as long IA the fire woul.
let us, and they did great deal OF seryic'
I'm holding the boat TO the bank Tn
hose was worked, but ali to no Pur
pose Our outfit was complete. We had ~
feet OF hose, and the inspectors had bee,
yer, ,..s :cc.:,:, sh:. we hsd fa
outfit the day before we left New Orleans
last Tuesday The flames spread quicke
tian can tell When the shore was reache
the flames had already wrapped some POI
, tions of the boat In an hour the boat wa
burned to the waters edge. We gatherc
up all we could and waited for the dawn z
day We saved nothing but littl
> money out OF the office The books, paper
8 United States mail, cargo and all WEI
. lost At the time OF the firc "
cargo consisted Of 5la bales of cotton, 900
9 feet OF lumber, sundry freight and expre'
!. packages. The cargo, l think, was value
! nj about $4,000 The boat was wort
siO0,0OO. and was insured for s5o,0e;
about O'Clock In the morning the >;
h White came along and took the VINO
: crew ON board I left the second ma
S and two men In a yawl to gather /,
! floating cotton and take care OF y
wreck until received further adyices ire'
the insurance companies. ! reached yick
burg about . O'Clock. Tho lady ana n
i children from Pittsburgh i placed ON a \,
~ and sent to Matches. My mate was aiso y !
structcd to hunt up the bodies OF any OF =
lost and offer rewards for their recover
The new Robert T.. Lee was built In 1870
IL tho Howards, Of Jeffcrsonvilie, Ind 2
Z. was considered one OF the best boats on Z
u river. She never met with any accideat {
cent the breaking OF shaft last year.