The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-04-04
WEEKLY BAZOO.
SEDALIA. MO.
TUESDAY. APRIL 4. 1882
BY FIRE AND WATER.

about the horror in the form of a
steamboat burning Of unprecedented
dimensions. at Memphis. The Golden
City was one of the most palatial of
the splendid steamers which ply On
the great river. The fire was occa
stoned in a most careless and wanton
manner. The captain of the watch
on duty at the time, between four and
five in the morning, while waking up
some of the hands who were soon to
60 on duty, so manipulated his lamp
that certain bales of jute took fire.
The rest of the story is hut the detail
of every terror, and the hundred
shapes in which great numbers of the
passengers, walked from their slum,
bers, met the dread king, in hopeless
despair.
Accidents are common enough in
this rushing, bustling western world.
But sometimes there comes along a
more than usually fatal mishap Of
which We read in the public press
with feelings of varied kind, but with
all those which are most noble in mans
nature uppermost, to be sure. And
this disaster is one of them. We al
Low the imagination to roam wherever
it will, in reading Of this frightful
bonfire. We follow each poor corpse
to the home of those who loved it in
life, and whose broken-hearted sobs
attest the depth of the loss which they
are called upon to support. For near
ly every piece of poor clay there is a
household plunged in bitter mourning;
and for those who were lost, but who
will never be claimed by the members
of any desolated hearth, there is a
world of sympathetic strangers whose
hearts will weep, though their eyes do
not attest it.
The terrors of the Golden City have
not been nor can they ever be, half
told. Of course, it would he easy to
draw therefrom the lesson which
every such careless accident teaches.
But where is the use? Will it at all
contribute to their prevention in the
future? Will there be one less terrible
railroad or steamboat disaster on that
account? Will fewer people 60 to I'M
timely graves because the press teens
with warnings and admOnitiOns as to
the manner i'm which these terrors
may be avoided in the future? Why,
no. The spirit of these times will not
admit of it. The American would
Just as soon 60 to sea in cockle-sheIl,
or ride over a railroad where he is
sure to either get killed or be the hero
of q miraculous escape. He will take
the chances, even if they are a hun
dred to one against him.
The criminal carelessness to which
this latest terrible holocaust is due
cannot, of course, be too greatly con-
demned. The captain of the watch |
has disappeared-whether he is be-
yond the boundary of this world, or
merely for the time escaped, is not
known. But if he is caught and pun
ished, if he can be punished, his con.
viction would do nothing towards
bringing back the dead, and very little
towards preventing such accidents
hereafter. With regard to the other
officers of the boat. We read, with
something very like suspicious sort
Of surprise, that they all saved them
selves, with one exception. The first
man to discover the fire was the
second engineer; but he stayed, with
Spartan steadfastness, and persisted at
his post. He could have as easily es-
capped as any of the others. But he
died in the discharge of his duty. The
name Of this hero was Kelly. Some
thirty helpless women and children
were lost, and this officer was the only
one who went with them in the pas