Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-03-19

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49,
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The Sargent Line steamer Ike Bon
ham. Captain and pilot Edward IA.
Elroy. Engineer Charles Glrod. nnf
Watchman WIN. st AndrewS. With
Mrs. Sargent. owner. nctinR ~ clarh.
left this port 1T III o'clock Yesterday
morning for Bayou vidal ana Round
away after q load 0f cotton seed. When
dinner was announced Cant. NcFlror
called Waterman 81. Andrewa Ia fta
pilot.house and rave him TIE wheel
with Instructions 10 hold her III ne
middle Of the river until he eat din.
ner. When about two miles below
Warrenton and OF b elower side Of
Bedford's point. Capt. McEIroy arose
from the table and started to return %
his post, and Mrs. Sargent followed
few feet behind. When be reached q
point about ten feet from the
Office which was Immediately al
Of the p~iIot-house, there came
a terrific explosion and the flow
Of steam and smoke enVel0ped
the entire front part Of the boat. As
soon as this cleared away it was found
that the boiler had let 90 somewhere
near its center. the forward half tear.
ing away the entire front Of the cabin
and boiler deck, including the Office.
| pilot-house, smoke stack, etc. and the
after part Of the boiler was thrown aft
some feet. VIM. St. Andrews was
never seen, though parts Of the pilot
house E floating ii the FLYER.
some hundreds Of feet ahead Of
the wreck. plainly Indicated that
he had been blown Id that
direction. on deck the effect
was more disastrous, six colOred deck
hands having been blown overheard,
only one of whom war recovered alive.
Those who were lost are Louis Jones,
ALI Magaree, George Payne, Mobile
Harris and Jim 49,. all professional
sTousters' from this point. Anumher
were injured BY the concnssIOn. among
whom are Capt. McElroy, slightly
scalded In face: Engineer Girod. badly
bruised, WIN. Clifton, rouster. wounded
Ii head, seriously; George Barnes.
roustcr, eye hurt, and Jim Alexander.
fireman, seriously Injured iii left side.
And all Of these were more al
less scalded. Mrs. Sargent had
the back Of her dress torn open
caused by flying timbers. One Of The
deckers who was blown over, was Eea-
cued and put on board the barge which
the Bonham had in tow, he being more
frightened than injured. Immediately
after the explosion the boat took ERE,
and Mrs. Sargent took a draw.bucket
and put 1t out before It had an oppor-
tunity 10 gain any Roadway; she then
took a shovel and threw overheard a
number Of red hot furnace brick
which were beginning TO scoFch the
deck. Engineer Girod says the beat
was inspected last Friday and her
boiler pronounced O. K. He
further states that he cannot an-
count for the explosion, as be wa
carrying ample water, as Is evil
denced by the amount Of mnd
and water that was thrown over the
entire boat. He was IN The act Of try
ing the water gauge when she let 70 :
be fell backwards on the fdeck and
when he recovered from the shock he
still had the gauge stick In bic hand.
After the explosion the wind from fha
southeast blew the wreck and barge
about four hundred yards onto tha
bar just below the point where sha
sunk in three feet Of water and Is lay
ing on q level surfaces the water COM
ing within a few inches Of her lower
peck. The Bonham had q new hull
put under her last summer and has
been idle several months. this
being her first try for that period
Of time. She ID valued at $4,000. and
had no insurance. Capt. George Epple.
miles behind the Bonham when the
explosion occurred. he being en- Yonta
II FIR Davis, RAnd. HA taok fhA nan.,lk
and valuables of The wreck ana
hro,rht thnro haa1- 4 "a. nst& ~