Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-01-19

Id"U'V'h''r obtains the following
particulars from Frank Murray who
was deck hand on the III fated
steamer: THE gon. had just
sounded for dinner. The engineer
had been relieved by Captain Bailey.
and had gone upstairs to eat. lie
steamer Vas about "A mile from shore
just off the "potlatch house, a
large Indian camp at Port Susan,
when, ali of Il sudden, terrible ex-
plosion occurred, which sounded
ike many cannons, all firing at
once. the crowh-sheet passed di-
recily up through the pilot house
and carried Johnson, the deck hand
at the wheel, far off into the air.
The steamer Immediately split in two
and the portion containing the
boiler sunk in 80 feet Of water. The
cabin and q portion of the hull
tioated. The scene was terrible aud
Understandable. The wounded women
and men were groaning and crying.
and the uuinjured were rushing
frantically around the wreck not
knowing which way to turn. Final
ly, boat that had not been blown
from the wreck was successfully
launched, and with it and some
Indian canoes, and a boat belonging
to loggers, which came to our assist
ance, we got on shore, and the
wounded were stretched out in the
potlatch house. Some Indians
went in a canoe to the steamer
Eohtkctsky, which was two miles of.
and told the Captain what had
happened. He came and took the
wounded on board, and even took
the clothing from his back and the
blankets from his bed to make the
wounded comfortable. The POlu-
kofsly arrived about two hours after
the accident.
The following is list of the
killed: John Turner, Purser of the
steamer; Robert Bailey, acting Cap
tain and pilot; Amador Bolina
Steward of the boat. who leaves q
wife and family in Seattle; David
Sparks, assistant Steward; johnson,
a deck-hand, who was at the wheel
at the time of the explosion; Sam
Cavanaugb, fireman; E. E. Cannon,
a commercial man, representing the
drygoods firm of Bates, Reid &
Cooley, of New York, who leaves a
wife and two children in San Fran
cisco, and S. Babbitt, a stranger, on
bis way to Skagit to take up land.
The bodies of the two latter were
recovered and brought to Seattle.
Chief Woolery has notified their
relatives by telegraph, and asked
what disposition should be made Of
the remains.
Those wounded were: Dennis
Lawler, engineer, badly bruised
about the head and face; Miss Es-
telle Braddish, formerly of Oregon
City, thigh broken; Hannah Price,
an old lady who lives near STAN
wood, ankles badly jammed and 9TH
erwise bruised; A. G. Kelly, an old
farmer who lives near Skagit City F.,
leg broken and bruised about the
face. Another man whose name is
not given had his face considerably
bruised. The wounded were taken
to Seattle, and those badly hurt wee
placed in the hospital.
The Josephine was built at Seattle
in 1878, byJ. w. Smith. She passed
through several hands before she
came into possession of her last
owners, Messrs ]. B. Ball, Newton
Hartman and Fritz Dibben, all resi-
dents of the Skagit valley, who paid
81 900 for her some time ago. The
latter had been in command as Cap
tain and Mr.. Hartman as Purser,
but on the Inflated trip had been
called TO Port Townsend to make
some changes in her papers, and
thereby probably were spared hor-
rible death, as both the substitutes
are numbered among the killed.
The engineer, James Kirch, was
likewise on shore for that trip, and
the engines were in charge of Den
mis- Lawler, a man said to have had
ample experience in his profession.
His statement is: 81 have no idea
of the cause of the explosion. We
were running along with 80 pounds
of steam. Capt. Bailey came down
to relieve me while went to dinner.
Before going up, went to the boil
er, and the gauge indicated ninety
pounds of steam aud the glass was
half full of water. I had not been
at the table more than five or six
minutes before the explosion took
/ place."
The boiler of the Josephine was
built in Oregon many years ago and
was of the old-style make. 1t was
used in the Wenat at least ten years
before it was placed in this boat. 1t
xuoo houavor mado IF ooo1 I.