The Portland daily press., 1883-06-22
The Year of Disaster.

The Y ear of Disaster.
What misfortunes the year Of 1888 may
have for us in the way of fire and food we
leave some bird of ill-omen to announce.
The year so far has been prolific of woe.
From its first day to this time it has been
marked as year o. great calamilies. Hard
ly has the thrill of horror caused by one fell
disaster passed away before the world has
been compelled to mourn another visitation.
The year was nshered ia with the miser-
les untold experienced by the peasants of
Central Europe. Great foods upon The
Danube, Rhine and o,her rivers swept away
hundreds of people, and famine and pesti-
lence stalked among the survivors, When the
year was but little over week old occurred
the dreadful Milwaukee holocaust so ter
rible an event that even now one can hardly
think of it without feeling of sickening
horror.
On the 22nd of January came the mem
orabe disaster in which as a result of col
lision with the SIltan. the steamer Cimbria,
an emgrant vessel, sank with seven-eghths
of those on board, the victims reaching
the appalling number of Asst. On the same
day and for several days after came reports
OF other minor disasters al sea, involving in
each case considerable sacrifice of human
life. Early in February terrible floods be-
gan in this country. Day after day
accounts appeared in the newspap-
pers of losses covering millions of dollars,
losses SO great that they almost seem to
have oyer-shadowed the sacrifice of life and
the miseries suffered by those whose homes
were destroyed. Accompanying these de-
tails of direct losses by the action of the
waters were accounts of frequent railway
disasters resulting from injuries to banks
and bridges. While the elements were thus
devastating the land, wind and wave had
combined against those who go down to the
sea in ships. Among the vessels lost was
the kenmure Castle, with thirty-three peo
pie. While the story of these disasters was
not yet fully told, came the report that in the
Diamond coal mines in Illinois seventy min
crs had lost their lives. The terrible school
accident in New York, in which sixteen lit.
tie girls fell victims to panic in an ill-con-
structed building used as school, next
claimed attention. The tale of disaster at
sea was then revived, aud the loss with all
hands was reported of the steamship Bywell
Caste-a strange end for the vessel which
few years ago sank in the Thames the Prin-
cess Alice with 500 people. At the same
time the Father of Waters began to assert
his power, and the people along his banks
suffered all the losses and troubles of a ter
rible food. The loss of the steamer Yazoo
on the Mississippi with sixteen people, the
great floods in Bombay, India, by which sew
eral lives and great deal of property were
lost, and hundreds of people rendered home
less, followed quickly after. Another emf
grant ship, the Navarro, foundered in the
German Ocean on March 10th, and sixty
five people found a common grave beneath
the waters. The Hull fishermen were
caught in a gale and twenty three smacks
were lost with an aggregate of 135 hands
A despatch from Panama announced that
Iquique, Peru, had suffered from coufla-
grafton which destroyed $4,000, 900 worth of
property. The next day fool threw burn
ing match stub upon the floor in a cellar
where two hundredweight of powder was
stored. The explosion which followed in
stantly killed nearly every one of the sixty
workmen sleeping upstairs, and those who
escaped with their lives were badly mangled
A number of other persons were killed, and
the houses in the district were wrecked.
Soon after tie floods came again on the
Mississippi and in Southern Europe, and
these were followed by tornados in the
Southwestern States, which blew buildings
to atoms, and swept away whole towns.
The loss of life 10 some cases was fearful.
On Sunday, the Goth Of April, the steamer
Grappler was burned st Seymour Narrows,
Butte Iulet, and between burning and drown
ingseventy human beings persisted. A stroke
of lightning set fire to some coal oil tanks
at Jersey City ON the 10th of May, and as
result much property and about ten lives
were lost. While disastrous floods were
causing intense excitement in Dakota, Wis
consin and Illinois were visited by a
cyclone unexampled even in the South
WNoI, 2NAtJ A-c PNOplC bGilS hilitu
by falling timbers, etc. The same
wind created tremendous storms on
the lakes, and number of vessels were
wrecked. The great fire in Paris on the 18th
of Mayrendered five hundred people homeless
Two days later the rejoicings over the open
ing of the Brooklyn bridge were brought to
dismal anti-climax by panic and mad
rush of the crowds crossing the bridge,
when eleven people were crushed to death
beneath the heels OF those fighting for their
lives to gain the edge of the throng
But the calamity which seems to tran
scend in its awfulness all the others,
and which even the most appre-
hensive can hardly fear will be equalled this
year at least, is that by which, on Saturday
last, about two hundred children were killed
in the panic at Victoria Hall, Sunderland,
England.