Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-12-15

|
| The burning of the steamer J. Nj. White,
| the finest boat on the Mississippi river,
| which ran between Vicksburg and New
Orleans. Monday night near Bayou Sara,
was mentioned in yesterdays GAZETTE.
She was enroute to Now Orleans, having on
| board large nun.her of pns2opgc.a, and 6
cargo Of cotton estimated st not less than
1000 bales. Evidence is accommodating that
there were many more lives lost than the
story of The officers would indicate. Sone
place the number lost SO high as fifty.
The New Orleans States has The following
account, gathered from tho officers and crew:
The boat had landed to tcke On a pile of
cotton seed, and there were between th!;tv
five and forty roustabouta engaged in this
work, when, precisely e 1915 o'clock
everybody was startled by the loud Ringing
of the bell by Watchman Tom bIlleg. Iia.
! nediately after, the cry OF fire" was taken
up BY twenty voices. In al Instant the di
| rest confusion reigned. Men Garied to aud
| fro. and the Worl; OF arousing the Sleeping
passengers was begua. The fire was Cis.
| covered by Thomas Barry, tha second engi-
neer, who, with his partner, Steven Jeuney,
was on watch al The time. The first init.
| nation he had of fire was q small light On
| the top Of q row Of cotton bales, amidshipa,
which greatly resembled the flame Of & Ian
tern. Barry left his post 10 investigate, aud
Was astonished 10 discover that the light
| was caused by bale cfc2l;ou b:iskIy burn
ing. Barry gave III" alarm, aud his voice
| rang through The deck room 0: the vessel.
Watchnan Miller took in the situation at
once, and rang The hugo bell located
on the second deck. Miller stooJ at
his post ringing the bell Until he vas
forced to retreat by the fast encroaching
flames. The noise OF the changing bell
aroused William McGreevy chief engineer,
who was asleep in the "texas." He sprang
out of bed and groped his way through the
smoke to wake up his partner, John Palla.
ser, second assistant engineer, who Was
asleep in the forward part of the 'iteyas. !"
About midships he met Pallaster, who had
also been aroused by the bell, and was on
his way 20 hunt for McGreevy. The two
men then looked as best they could through
the sitting smoke for the others who slept
ia the texas" but not seeing any one, and
believing that all but themselves had left,
they crawed out or the hurricane deck and
were compelled io climb down on one Of
the stauchions to the right side of the boat,
from whence they got on shore. In the
meantime two streams of water were
brought to play on the fire, but the heavy
black volumes Of smoke drove the engineers
back. They fought the flames step by step,
but were at last forced TO drop the hose and
save themselves. The fire burned with
frightlul rapidity, and in less time than it
takes to tell it the entire left side of the
boat was mass Of flames. Fire soon caught
the railing OF the cabin deck, and before
any assistance was TO be had the boat looked
as if che was encircled by q stream of fire.
The cracking Of the flames and the shrieks
OF the passengers sGd crew caused the most
intense excitement. When the alarm was
fret sounded Alex. McVeay, head clerk
was sitting at the stovo in his cabin
The first peal Of the bell caused him to
rush outside, and, seeing the flames
leap high in the cir, he ran back to the cab.
! in and endeavored to get the books and
| money. The fire gained rapidly on him,
and he was compelled to leave the office,
but not before he had secured l. sum Of
! money. Mr.. McVeay then TUNED his 1T
| tention to saving the cabin passengers. Of
| whom there were fifteen. or eighteen, in.
| Guiding nine ladies. He first awoke Second
| Clerk John Callahan, who ran out Of his
| room in his undershrt and trousers. Gala
1
| awoke the inmates. The terrified passea-
gers quickly got out, nearly all of them in
| their night garments. Among them was
gentleman, name unknown, but recognized
as superintendent of the Eidalia Southern
railroad He had his wife and two child
rem, girls Of 8 and y years, with him. He
called them around him and hade them
! follow him By this time the flames had
! reached the cabin, through which thick
| smoke was rolling. The panic stricken
passengers quickly made for az entrance,
some to the stern and the others TO the
| trout The gentleman referred to was
among those that went to the stern. Upon
reaching the deck he grasped his two child
rem, one at a time, and threw them into the
river. Before he and his wife could follow
the flames had reached them and they
were burned to death The two pilots on
watch, John Stout and Bob Smith, were
| in the pilot house and were compelled to
Jump in the river, where they were picked
up. They had nsrrow escape from death.
The fire burned so quickly that it was impos-
sble 10 see who was saved and who was
lost. The deck was crowded with rousta.
bouts and deck passengers, thirty of the lat
ter having got on the vessel at the new Tex.
as landing, just above where the boat was
burned. While the passengers and crew
were escaping from the boat the steampipe
blew up and was hurled 800 yards in the
air. The force of the explosion caused over
twenty bales of burning cotton to he hurled
high in air, where they revolyed severs
times and then fell into the river. Imme
distely after the explosion shrieks Bers
heard coming from the stern of the vessel
For an instant two colored women were
seen standing in the galley just back of the
| Hheelhnuaa and the next instant they warf