Morning journal and courier., 1886-12-15
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THE AWFUL CRY OF FIRE Wakes The Passengers
 Of A Steamer. IA RIVER HORROR AT MIDNIGHT. Forty Lives Lost On
 The Mississippi. VICTORY FOR CYRUS FIELD. O'Brien Reelected Mayor
 Of Boston.
VICTORY FOR CYRUS FIELD.

l ty.Ffve or Forty Lives Lost-Reart-
 rending scenes on the Burning Boat. I NEW YORK, Dec. 14.-A dispatch from l New Orleans says: The steamerJ NJ. White l was burned to the waters edge about Il o'clock last night at Point Coupee Landing. l The fire was discovered by the second engi-
 neer among the bales of cotton constituting l the cargo, but how the fire originated is a 1 mystery. In a few minutes the flames had 1 gained such headway that it was impossible to stay their course and in short time noth- ing was left of the boat. It is impossible ! now to give the names of all the burned or drowned, but it is known that between thir- 1 ty-fve and forty passengers and boat hands | lost their lives. Among those who are known to be lost are the superintendent of | the Vidslis road, his wife and two children;
 two colored chambermaids, of New Orleans; l Amos, a colored porter, of New Orleans; Louis, a colored cook, whose home was in | St. Louis; Oscar, the colored baker, of New | Orleans, and Wash. Floyd, a passenger. Twenty colored passengers got on the sCeam- CT at New Texas. Their residence is un-
 known. They are thought to have been lost. Three white tin peddleTs who took passage at New Texas, two unknown white men and | two unknown white lady passengers are also believed to have perished. The steamer was valued at $100, ,000 and insured for S27, 800, presumably with New Orleans companies The cargo was valued at s15O, ,000, insurance | unknown.
 l MEMPHIS, Tenn, Dec. 14-The J. M White was the finest steamer on the Missis- sippi. She was built by the Howard Bros of Jacksonville, Ind, three years ago at cost of $250, ,000 and was owned by the ineorpo- rated company of which Captain John W. Tobin was president and superintendent. @ fo Or1 with cotton. The surviving passengers and crew were taken to New Orleans this morn ing.
 NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 14-The statement of Wm. MeGrevy, the chief engineer of the J. N. White, is as follows: "At about 11:10 last night while landing at Dr. Ferrett's place, above the postoffice landing at Point Coupee, at which place the boat was loading cotton seed, fire broke out amidships on top of the cotton Engineers Barry and Jenny, who were on watch, gave the alarm. The pumps were put to work, but without avail. Tom Miller, the watchman, gave the alar n by ringing the bell and Clerks Callahan and Hill at once aroused the people. The fire spread rapidly and in less than fifteen min utes the boat had burned to the water's edge. There were four kegs of powder in the mag azine and when the flames reached them the flames shot up over one hundred feet high. The shouting of the women and children for help was awful. saw the superintendent of the Vidalia rail- road standing aft outside the ladies' cabin throwing his two babies into the water. He stood there and was burned to death with his wife. Among the lost are Second Cook Baker; Owen Amos, porter; Dick Randolph, fireman, and Captain Floyd. A prize OK team taken on board at Vicksburg was burned
 to death and two of the five keepers also per- ished. There were in the cabin nine lady
 passengers and about eight men.n While ,lnor %rN h 1,a1
 his hair singed and was slightly burned about the heatl. The credit for saving the
 survivors is due to Andy Pierce, sailor and 8 fireman.
 From interviews with officers and men of
 the iIl-fated steamer the New Orleans States has collected the following details of the
 disaster: The White was hauled up to the
 dock and the thirty or forty roustabouts were getting cotton seed aboard when the watchman began to ring the alarm bell and shouts of fire were heard. Great confusion ensued. Employees ran quickly about to wake
 up the sleeping passengers, who hurried out partly dressed and panic stricken. Second Engineer Tom Barry was the man who first saw the fire. It was in cotton bale amid ships. He cried fire and Miller began ringing the bell and stayed at his post until driven away by the advancing flames. William McGrevy, chief engineer, who was asleep in the Texas, being awakened by the
 bell sprang from his bed and grouped his
 way through the smoke to the forward part to arouse his partner, John Pallasier, second assistant engineer. Meeting Pallasier about
 midway the two began search through the
 suffocating smoke for the others who slept in the Texas. They were unable to discover anyone, and believing all had escaped but
 themselves, they crowded to the hurricane deck, whence they climbed down on one side of the stanchions to the right of the boat and escaped to the shore. Two streams of water
 had been brought to play upon the fire and the engineers fought the flames step by step,
 but were finally forced to drop the pipes and
 save themselves. The flames made progress rapidly and in 8 short time the left eide of the boat was mass of flames. The railing of
 the cabin deck was soon on fire and the entire boat was encircled by fire. The shrieks of the passengers and crew and the cracking of the flames caused intense excitement. Head Clerk Mckay was in his cabin when he heard the first alarm. He had barely time to secure some of the money from the safe and the most valuable papers before the flames were upon him. He then ran out and devoted himself to efforts to save the passengers. He says there were fifteen to eighteen cabin passengers. He first awakened Second Clerk John Callahan, who did not stop to put on any clothing but his shirt and trousers. Mckay and Callahan
 made rapid tour of the rooms to make sure that no one was left unwarned. Among the
 
 deck, most of whom we're clad only in their night clothes, was gentleman who was rec
 ognized as the superintendent of the Vidalia
 Southern railroad, who was travelling with
 his wife and two little girls nine and twelve
 years old. As the flames grew near the group
 the father, seeing that they would be burn ed to death if they remained, grasped
 them, one after the other. and threw them
 into the river. He was urging his wife to take the leap when burst of flames envel-
 oped them. They soon fell apparently suffo-
 cated by inhaling the fire and were burned
 up. John Stout and Bob Smith, the pilots on watch, were in the pilot house and were
 compelled to Jump into the river, when they
 were picked up. They had narrow escape.
 So quick was the spread of the flames that
 it was impossible to see who escaped and who
 pelished. The decks were crowded. While they were escaping as best they could the. steampipe blew up. The force of the ex- plosion was terrific. Many bales of cotton
 were thrown high in the air, where they revolved several times and then fell into the river. just after this shrieks were heard from the stern of the boat. Two colored women were seen enveloped by the flames A moment later they had disappeared. The wheel house first gave way, then followed the star
 board cabins. The rescued were picked up. by the steamer Stella Wild. As the last
 were being taken aboard the four kegs of powder on board blew up, and hurled the burning wreck in all directions. This vir-
 tually put the fire out as but little was left to burn. minute or two after the explo- sion cry was heard from mid-stream. A
 boat was lowered from the Stella Wild and
 pulled in the direction of the call for help
 A man was seen through the darkness clinging to cotton boat, but as the boat
 neared him the bale turned over and the
 mans hold loosened and the man sank to rise
 no more.
 Sailors Maltreated at Sea.
 PORTLAND, Me-, Dec. 14.-In the United States district court to-day Hugh McGovern,
 Lawrence O'Neii, John Burns and William,