Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-12-28
"a Lower Mississippi River Steamboat
Burns and Scores Of Lives
Are Lost.
Horrifying Details Of the Suffering
and Death OF the Passengers
and Crew.
The Captain Saves Few Passengers
but His Own Life the Price
Of His Heroism.
Another Steamer on Puget Sound
Burns and Many Of the Crew
and Passengers Perish.
A Sad Christmas Day.

~ sSAAS~ .SSN@O~~S9 AoSAs
A Sad Christmas Day.
New ORLEANS, Dec. 25.-The steamer
"John 81. Hanna,"- y from Ouachita river,
with q large number of passengers and a
cargo of 5000 bales of cotton, was burned
last night at Plague Mine, La. 1t is
stated that of the 100 persons on board at
the time OF the disaster only fourteen are
known to have been saved. The .John n.
Hanna" was built in Madison, Indiana, in
1876 and hailed from Louisville, KY. She
was of S77 tonnage and was owned by the
Ouachita river consolidated line. She was
valued at $4,000 and was insured for
$4,000 in local and foreign companies.
DETAILS OF THE HORROR.
1t was just before Christmas day was be-
ing ushered in that the fine steamer was
coming down the river. Several of the
passengers we're seated in the cabin hav-
ing merry time and with no thought Of
the impending catastrophe. Many Of the
crew and passengers were asleep when the
+ fire broke out and spread with quick rapid
ity. The details of the suffering and
death of some Of the passengers are hor-
rifying in the extreme. The boat had
reached point which was but short
distance above the town when negro
roustabout near the boiler room ran out to
the deck and shouted that the steamer was
on fire. John Cullen, a stoker, was near
the place at the time and seeing flames
bursting forth from the big tiers of cot
ton near the boiler, ran hastily to the
engine room and gave the alarm. Engin-
eer Merriam took in the situation at q
glance and at once sounded the alarm by
blowing the steam whistle and ringing the
bells. In an instant, in much shorter
time than it takes to explain, the flames
4 shot through the cabin and over the sides
: Of the cotton enveloping the fine boat in
I fire. Clerk Powell was up stairs at the
time and when he saw the flames he
heroically ran through the smoke which
filled the cabin and tried to
AROUSE THE SLEEPING PEOPLE.
He kicked at the doors and in short time
almost everybody was awake. Then con-
fusian worse confounded appeared and the
the frantic people on the boat ran to the
different exits to make their escape but the
& boat was piled with cotton and the passage
ways were filled with smoke. Many
dropped before they were able to get to the
J fore part of the boat and were dead before
the steamer went down. AS soon as the
/ fire was discovered Engineer Merriam set
the steam pump working and tried to battle
with the flames but the fire swept through
the boat like a blaze on the prairie and the
engine room was soon in flames. Then to
/. add further to the CONSERVATION a steam
pipe burst and filed the place with scald-
ing steam. Engineer Merriam was forced
# to abandon his post and he and the stokers
and others ran to the sides Of the boat
/ and rushed through pell-mell.
3j8ss 5TOG SAVE THEIR TrvEs s. sss
AS soon as the smoke and flame began to
{ start up the sides Of the boat, Capt. Holmes
4 and the pilot swung the wheel around and
headed the boat for shore. "A full pressare
Of steam was on at the time and the boat
was soon run into the bank. Before she
did SO she was doomed. All Of her timbers
wer6 then furiously burning. When the
sAHannan struck the bank she bounded
away and swung around, drifting down as
/ che burned. Capt. Holmes then jumped
out over the cotton bales and sprang into
the river and swan. ashore. AS the burn
ing boat struck the bank Of the river the