Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-02-28

nfe' as tI!e tanks were frozen. After
great effort the doors were Gu. avav.
but nearly three hundred people had
already perlshed. At the main entrance
the scene was horrifying. The black
eneo oooies OF scores of victims Law
packed In the doorway, where they had
been held as IN a wise and slowly roast
ed to death. 1t is said tha. the ire Was
caused by groom, who threw a cigar
cite In the straw.
| On the 10Th, twenty-five Successive
earthquake shocks DESTROYED many
houses and frightened tns inhabitants
OF the province of Murcia in Spain.
There was also heavy earthquake
shock IN Bohemia. During he week
| preceding there had been shocks in Illi-
nojs and western Kentucky and New
England, and many destructive shocks
| ID ths Island OF formoSa. the number
| OF earthquakes IN this remarkable
month kept pace with the disasters by
fire and food.
On the 17th day of the month the
steamer Josephine left Seattle, w. T.,
| and sailed for the Skagit river. The
| next day, when OF Port Susan bay, her
boiler exploded. The passengers were
| at dinner. The crown sheet of the
boiler went straight up through the for
| ward cabin and pilot house, blew the
man at the wheel high in the air, killing
him INSTANTLY. Two nlen We're waiting
at the dinner table, directly over the
boiler, and We're blown to atoms.
Neither the Captain, the purser nor the
fireman could be found aftervard.
Eight persons We're killed and many
more Were wounded.
On the following day occurred the
| AZ uatl
| The village of Muideu WAS wrecked,
twelve persons were killed aad neigh
boring towns were seriously damaged.
Inc gunpowder manufactures for the
Dutch army ore situated az Mulden, and
terrific explosions oocorred at the same
time. Roofs We're blown off the houses
| and windows were broken eight miles
away.
The same day two awful disasters oc-
| cured. The steamship Cimbria was
sunk, and there was frightful accident
on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The
Cimbria sailed for Nsw York from
Hamburg wi.h 500 souls aboard. The
| morning of the 12th was clear at first.
bat later heavy fog settled on the sea
| and Increased IN density hourly. The
| engines of the Cmbria Were kept at half
| speed for time, and faally were run
| very slow. Shortly after 2 O'Clock
| whistles were heard, and moment later
| the British steamer Sultan, freight
aud passenger boat, was seen headed
| directly fer the Clmbria. She struck
the Cimbria abaft the first collision
bulkhead, keeling her over on her side.
IL was seen at once that the Cimbria
was going to the bottom. Lifebclts
were hastily distributed, and spars were
cut loose for the passengers to cling to.
A few minutes later the ship went down,
leaving hundreds of men and women
struggling in the water. One by one
they were drowned. Some of the pas
sengers and crew crowded into the only
three lifeboats that could be cleared
away, and rowed along the coast until
picked mp by the passing steamers.
Lsss than a hundred were saved. Mean
while the British steamer went on her
way. When she arrived at Elbe she re-
ported the collision. Survivors of the
disaster describe the scene at the sink
ing of the CiInbria as terrible. Tue air
was filled with the cries of the hundreds
who struggled until benumbed by the
ICY water and then sank from sight.
The steamer Sultan was seized by the
police on the 22d. Her Captain then
claimed that he had waited twelve
hours at the scene Of the collision.
The calamity on the Southern Pacific
Railroad in California WAS due, accord
ing to the verdict of the Cor0ner's jury
| to neglect on the part of Conductor
Reed and Brakeman Patten. The over
land express train which left San Fran
cisco on tho 18th stopped at Tehachipa
to take out an extra engine, to assist In
pulling up the Tehachipa grade. BY
some means or other the train got away
and started backward dswn u grade OF
l2u feet to tho mile. The train consist
cd of two engines and eight or nine cars,
some of them sleepers filled with pas
sengers. The train went whirling down
the grade at frightful speed for dis
tance of four miles. Then curve was
mail, baggage and express cars jumped
ment fifteen feet high, where they lay
piled in shattered heap. They caught
| fire, and passengers, who were impris-
oned in the wreck, were burned to
death. Many of the unfortunate VIC
tins were held down by pieces Of TIM
Der or heavy iron. They struggled to
free themselves, bat could not move,
and the fire finally put an end to their
| suffcrings. Others, manned and injured,
lay upon the snow, and were unable to
| render any assistance to those who
were vainly endeavoring to escape
from the fire. The passengers in the
sleepers were awakened by tho fearful
velocity of the train. but in few Sec
onds, and before there was time to do
ANYTHING, the crash came. Thousands
| of splirters, bits of iron, glass and de-
bris flew in the air, and the luckless
passengers were buried under the
wreck. Then the IRE barst ont and the
smoke from the painted wood swept
over is all. A fierce wind was blowing
| along the mountain side, and the wealth
RI was bitterly cold. Those within the
| first car struggled vainly. Only one
man was dug out alive from under the
heap of ruins Of the first car. TEere
were sixteen lives lost.
California had another accident that
day besides the railroad horror. Inc
Atlantic Giant Powder Works, near
| Oakland, was the scene OF hve almost
simultaneous explosions Nearly forty
men were preparing twenty-five tons OF
powder for shipment to Portland, Ore-
pou, when the explosion occurred. The
| men were blown TO atoms. The shock
| of the explosion was felt seven miles
i
| houses, thinking it was an earthquake.
| Houses for distance of half u mile
| from the scene of the explosion were
shattered, and many men painfully
wounded.
On the same day the ship Vorwarts
was sunk off Libau, and eight persons
were drowned.
The day following witnessed the
death of another famous man IN France,
Gustave Dore.
The same day three coal trains, con-
sistins of three engines aud sixty nine
cara, became unmanageable on the
| Georges Greek and Cumberland BALI
road, near Cumberland, Nd. All Were
coupled together, and when they got IN
motion their momentum Was 30 great
that il was impossible to stop them.
| They went down the steep grade with
| fri,htful rapidity, until one OF the en-
| oines Jumped the track. and the rest
OF the train went crashing down an em,
bankment. An engineer, q fireman. and
thres brakeman were killed, and sew
eral Others mortally injured.
| The sinking of considerable portion