Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-05-14
AroYHER STEAMER Bl1RHED.
Total Distraction of the MissIss.' ppi-Loss
Of Life.

T0t0l DESTRUCTION Oh the MkSslSSasPpA-Aos
Of Life.
Especial to the RECoRD-UNIoS.l
PORTLAND (Or.). May 13th.-Th,, Mer
chants Exchange has the following from
Seattle The steamer Mississippi was bm nee
this morning with 1,100 tons of coal. M
steamer or tug being near to tow her away.
the fire spread to the coal bunkers, burning
500 feet. The chief engineer of the steamer
was burned to DEATH The bunker timbers
fell, killing one man and iniuring one. The
steamer is total Lose.
PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER.
SEATTLE (W. IT,, May 13sh.-At 2 o'clock
this morning a fire broke out in the oil room
of the steamship Mississippi, lying alongside
the dock of the Columbia and Puget Sound
Railroad Company. The alarm was instantly
sounded, the hose brought out and the pumps
started. but owing to the inf ammsble nature
of the surroundings i. was plain in moment
that there was no putting the fire out, that
the ship YVES doomed, and it behooved all
hands to get ashore at the earliest possible
moment. The men accordingly went, some
on the wharf and some overheard, none of
them saving anything, and those who
were asleep not even getting off
with their clothing. In almost the
time that it takes to write it,
the wooden deck houses and the rigging of
the ship and the whole upper works were
ablazs. The wind kept the vessel against
the dock, to which the flames were quickly
impaired. and in twenty minutes from the
first alarm the whole outer end of the wharf
three hundred feet long, built up sixty feet
above the WATERWAYS a mass CT fire. The
ship Spartan lay on the other side Of the
wharf, only sixty feet from the Mississippi,
and she too would have gone had not the
Captain instantly acted. He parted his
lines at once, and was quickly moved away
from the place of danger by the light breeze
prevailing. The city Fire Department hur-
ried down to the wharf, but owing to the low
stage of the tide they were unable TO hoist
water from the bay, and there WAS no other
accessible. They, therefore, were practically
of no value in saving either ship or wharf.
At o'clock
a SECTION OF THE HIGH INCLINE FELL
Among a large number of people. A ship
carpenter named Hogan was struck and hurt
SO badly that he died few hours later. Sew.
eral other persons were struck by the timbers,
but not seriously injured. A dozen or mora
were Knocked into the bay with and among
the falling timbers, and as many were picked
up as were discovered. 1t is not known that
any others were killed or drowned, but it is
quite possible that several lives were lost, of
which we yet have no account. The only
person on the Mississippi known to have
been burned to death was Charles
Knapp, the Chief Engineer, who was
probably suffocated while in bed, and whose
bones were afterwsrd found on board the
ship Mr.. Knapp leaves wife and children
in San Francisco. The hull of tae Missis
sippi, made CT iron, was not destroyed, but
everything of wood in or on her was. Had
there been some tug in port with steam up
the Mississippi could have been turned out
into the stream and tie wharf saved Later
she was taken hold of and towed ashore,
where they have been pouring water into her
all day, the 500 tons of coal in her hold max.
ing a terrible fra all the while. The lower
hull will not be injured beyond repair, but
may again be built up.