Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-26

J. l.. Holmes. master of the boat; Samuel
| Powell chief clerk; Bob Smith. pilot,
! from SmithIand, La; Mike O'Neal, night
| watchman; Joe Crane, cabin Waterman;
| Monroe Deck, first cook; Jack Duff, sec
ond cook; Joe Harvey, cabin boy; John
Grafton, cabin boy.
| Among those who were badly burned
are: Dan Carroll. steward; Jim
| O'Neil deckhand: John Gibbons, sailor
man; Louis WEIGH, roustabout. and a
| number of Others Coming down on the
boat as passengers were number OF the
crew of the steamer Jessie W., all of whom
were saved. All the survivors are loud In
| their praise of the humane people OF Pa
auemine, who SPARED no pains and no effort
to furnish them with clothes and shelter
after their terrible experiences. w. L.
Brule mayor of the city, was espenially
kind to the survivors.
None of the men could say what was the
origin of the fire. The general impression,
however, is that some careless smoker
threw cigarette among the cotton bales
and thereby caused the disaster The
death of John Grafton, the carpenter, was
sad one He was in the upper portion OF
the boat struggling to get to the front end:
The flames were twisting and sweeping all
around him. He tried nobly to reach the
boat but he dropped and burned to death
before the eyes of the people VINO
were not able to render him any
assistance. The second bar keeper
of the boat said Mr. Powell was standing
near him when they both jumped into the
water. Powell, who could not swim,
climbed on a floating cotton bale, but two
deck hands also jumped on the bale turn
ing it over and throwing Powell into the
water and he disappeared.
The boat was about fifteen yards from
the shore when a greet many people
plunged into the river, and several who
reached the bank in safety became begged
in the soft mud, anu so intense was the
heat of the burning boat that they were
burned to death before they could climb
I'D the steep bank to the levees. The fire
was so rapid that before the pilot had
finished sounding three alarm whistles the
entire boat from stem to stern was roar
ing mass of flames, and the scene that
ensued was terrible in the extreme. Men
yelled and ran about the deck OF the burn
ing steamer like maDiacs and others
screamed at the top of their voices, threw
lost to sight in the twinkling CT an eye.
The second bar-keeper said that seven
persons near him struggled in the water
and begged pitiably for help, but he could
not render them any assistance because
the water chilled him to the marrow and
his clothing clogged his every movement.
A cabin boy who was an assistant of the
aroused from their slumbers By the flames
which reared over them and they were
compelled TO dive headlong from the roof
of the boat into the river, and many of
them were burned to death while in the
water
The impression now is that the number
of lives lost will not exceed thirty.
On the arrival Of the train in this city
ambnlances were at the depot and all of
the survivors of the disaster, who were
suffering from severe burns, were at once
conveyed to the hospital.
Steward Carroll says that the last of the
lady passengers on the beat coming down
got off at Baton Rouge. The passengers
that were aboard at the time Of the acct
dent, were Captain p. G. Montgomery,
Mr.. Harper, of the board of underwriters,
and A. Donven and his son. They were
all saved.
A Picayune Plaquemene special places
the number known to be lost by the
Hunna disaster as five white and sixteen
cOlOred.