Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-19
AFIRE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
THE STEAMER rs. III. PARIsOL1,
TOTALLY DESTROYED.

Every Passenger and All of her Crew
save One, Safely Landed, but Their
Baggage LOst-3,564 Bales of Cotton
DestrOyed-The Total Loss Over
S25O,OOO.
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 18.-A dispatch
from Captain John A. Stevenson. OF the
steamer S. H. Parisol, announces the
total destruction by fire of that vessel at
O'Clock this morning at Bullets Bayou,
eight miles above NatcheZ. No lives were
lost. The ParisOl left Vicksburg yester-
day for New Orleans with 8. 100 bales of
cotton, 1900 sacks of oil cake, and 500
barrels of oil. The total loss will be
| about 100000. The steamer was built by
Howards, of Louisville, two years ago,
and cost 100000. She is insured for
$4,000. Her cargo is also doubtless in
sured. Particulars of the fire have not
been obtained.
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. Is, IL P. MA
Natchez dispatch gives the following par
tIculars of the burning of the steamer S.
| IL. Parisol, the flagship OF the ''P'' line,
OF Nicksburg: ''SoOn after O'Clock this
morning the boat was discovered to be on
fire, and in short time the magnificent
steamer was but mass of charred ruins.
| ton were taken on board after leaving
| Nicksburg, making 1864 bales destroyed.
| The total loss is over $3.50, 900. just be-
| low Good Hope landing the cotton stored
| amidships was found to be on fire. En-
| gineer Garrity began working the pumps,
| hoping to eXtinguish the flames without
| sounding an alarm, but the fire burned so
rapidly that the destruction of the
| boat appeared inevitable, and an
| alarm was given. Pilot VOltz
at once headed the steamer for
| the Louisiana shore. The boat struck the
! bank and lines were put out. Nearly all
| the passengers, of whom there were quite
| a number, were still asleep, but the work
| of arOusing them occupied only a few
| minutes. Had not this time been well
| utilized the calamity would have been as
| great as when the Lee was destroyed.
| The passengers rushed to the bank in
| their night clothes, carrying other cloth
| ing in their arms, and abandoning to the
| devOuring element all the baggage, in
/ cluding valuable Jewelry and large
sums. OF money They left the
| tor before the crew had got
/ safely off the lines were burned in two,
| and the doomed vessel. enYelOped in
| flames, drifted out into the stream. Yell
| Boring. the second engineer, was one of
| the last to leave. He stood to his post of
| duty until he was surrounded by fire.
! Finding that he could do no more he ran
| the gauntlet, jumped into the river and
swan ashore. Some of the crew We're
| taken off in a yawl. There was great eX-
! citement among them. Two jumped into
! the river, and one of them, Phil. Burd-
! barg, was drowned. When the news of
| the disaster reached Natchez the steam
| tug O'Brien started for the scene She
met the burning steamer floating down
| the stream and showed her on a sand bar"
! Soon afterward the powder in the Pari-
| soils magazine exploded, causing the
stern of the wreck to sink in a few feet of
water. The steamer City Of YazoO, of
| the same line, en- route to Nicksburg,
/ took the ParisoPs passengers out of the
canebrake and brought them to Natchez.
| The origin of the fire is not definitely
known. The boat had fifty-eight deck
| passengers, many of whom insisted upon
smoking pipes and cigarettes. 1t is be-
lieyed that the fire was started by their
| carelessness. 1t is feared that two or
| three deck passengers perished in the
| flames. The boats papers were lost.