Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-12-23
A RIVER HORROR.
Burning Of the Magnificent Steam
or j. M. White.
Nearly Half Hundred of the Passengers
and Crew Either Burned or Drowned
-Agonizing Scenes on Board
the Doomed Craft.


and Crew Either Burned or Drowned
-Agonizing Scenes on Board
the Doomed Craft.
New ORLEANS, Dec. 1.-THE famous pas
| senger packet and cotton carrier, j. NJ
| White, caught fire at ten O'Clock last
| night and burned to the waters edge, at a
| point five miles above Bayou Sara, while
| on her way down the river. ALI the res
| cued took the Mississippi Valley train for
| this city, arriving this noon.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 15.-From inter-
! views with men and officers Of the Inflated
steamboat, j. NJ. White, the New Orleans
States has collected the following details OF
! the disaster:
The White was hauled up to the dock,
and thirty or forty roustabouts were get
/ ting cotton-seed aboard, when Waterman
Tom Miller began to ring the alarm bell
and shouts of 'sfre" 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. 1t was in a cotton
bale amidship. He cried "fire," and Mil
Ter at once began ringing the bell and
| stayed at his post until driven away by
| the advancing flames.
VIM. McGreevy, chief engineer, was
asleep in the texas. Being awakened by
the changing bell, he sprang from his bed
and CROPPED his way through the smoke to
arouse his partner, John Palasier, second
assistant engineer. Meeting Palasier about
midway, the two men began a search
through the suffocating smoke for others
who slept in the texas. They were unable
10 discover any one and believing all had
escaped, they crawled to the hurricane
deck, from whence they climbed down on
one of the stanchions to the right side of
the boat and escaped to 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 hose and save
themselves.
The flames made very rapid progress,
and in short time the entire left side of
the boat was a mass Of flames. The rail-
ing of the cabin deck was soon on fire,
and the entire boat was encircled in
flames. The shrieks of the passengers
and crew and the cracking Of the fire
caused great excitement.
Head Clerk McVay 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 or eighteen cabin pas
sengers, of whom eight were ladies. He
first awakened second clerk John Gala
han, who did not stop to put any clothing
on except his shirt and trousers. McVay
and Callahan made a rapid tour OF the
rooms to make sure that no one was left
unwarned of danger.
Among the passengers who crowded to-
gether on the deck, most of whom were
clad only in night garments, was gentle
mao who was recognized as the superin-
tendent OF the Vidalia Southern railroad,
who was travelling with his wife and two
girls, nine and twelve years old. AS the
roaring flames drew near the group, the
father, seeing that they would be burned
to death if they remained, grasped his lit
tie girls, one after the other, and threw
them into the water. He was urging his
wife to take the leap when burst OF
flames enveloped them. They soon fell,
apparently suffocated by inhaling the fire,
and were burned to death.
John Stout and Bob Smith, the pilots on
watch were in the pilot-housc and were
compelled to jump into the river, where
they were picked up. They had a narrow
escape from death.
So quick was the spread of the flames
that it was impossible to see who escaped
and who persisted. The decks were crowd
ed. While they were escaping, as best
they could, the steam pipe blew up. The
force of the explosion was terrific. Many
bales of cotton was thrown high into the
air where they revolved several times and
then fell into the river. Just after the
explosion shrieks were heard coming from
the stern of the boat, where two colored
women were seen enveloped by flames.
A moment later they had fallen and dis
appeared.
The wheel-house first gave way, then fol-
lowed the starboard cabins.
The rescued were picked up by the
steamboat Stella Wild. AS the last were
being taken aboard the four kegs of pow
der on board blew up and hurled the burn
ing wreck in all directions. This virtually
put the fire out, as but little was left to
burn.
A minute or two after the explosion a
cry forward 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 dark
ness clinging to cotton bale, but just as
the boat was nearing him the bale turned
over, the mans hold was loosened, and he
sank to rise no more.
SURVIVORS, STORIES.
Nearly all of the persons rescued from
the steamer reached here to-day and
gave vivid accounts of the destruction
of that splendid vessel. James Collins,
the deck watchman, said:
81 had just come out Of the hold three
minutes before the fire started. I was
down there seeing how the water was.
AS I was responding to the call of the mate,
one of the cabin boys shouted, The
boats a-fire.' ran amidships
and saw smoke and could
smell the cotton burning I then
ran upstairs to the hurricane
deck and rang the bell several times Then
/ came down stairs and tried to fight my
way to the deck-room to see what assist
ance could render, but was driven back
by the dense smoke and the flames, which
by this time were fast enyeloping the boat.
then returned upstairs and met the head
cook, and told him that the boat was on
fire, and he returned to the cabin to wake
up the other cooks. By this time the
entire boat was on fire, and the scene was
one that can not describe. have made
many trips on the Mississippi and have
seen boats go to the bottom with terror
stricken souls on board, but / never wit
messed such scene as that last night
women shrieked, children screamed and
men swore, and all rushed frantically up
and down beseeching assistance, and when
they saw that the condition was a desper-
ate one they plunged into the river. Some
became benumbed with cold and went
down, others were crushed between cotton
bales, while few were fortunate enough
to reach shore. Nearly all that were
lost were aft. The wind drove
the fire and smoke in that
L.