The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-26
HORROR ON A RIVER BOAT
ESTIMATES OF THE LOSS OF LIFE
VARY FROM 80 TO 80.


night-A Vivid Account.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 25-The steamboat
John II. Hanna, from the Ouachita river,
with large number of passengers and a
cargo Of $500 bales of cotton on board, was
burned last night at Plaquemine. 1t is
stated that Of 100 persons en- board at the
time of the disaster, only fourteen are known
to have been saved. The John H. Hanna was
built in Madison, Ind, in 1876, and hailed
from Louisville, KY. She was of 377 ton
mage, and was owned by the Ouachita
River Consolidated line. She was valued
at $4,000 and was insured for $12, 600 in
local and foreign companies.
HER COTTON CARGO.
Capt. ]. w. Blanks, president of the COM
pany, says that the latest advices he has are
t. the effect that the steamboat left Mon
roe, La, Sunday MOI ming at o'clock with
mated that additional cotton had
been picked up on the way down
to make the total number of bales $500
Upon being questioned as to the number of
passengers on the Hanna, Capt. Blanks
said he thought it was small, as there was
little travel in that section at present.
Plaquemine is a town of LOO inhab-
river, twenty miles below Baton Rouge and
ITO miles above New Orleans.
NAMES OF SOME OF THE LOST:
A special dispatch from Plaquemine says:
"The burning of the steamer John H.
Hanna last night near this place was one of
the most terrible river disasters that has
ever happened i'll southern waters. The
loss of life was very heavy. About thirty
persons perished in the flames and large
o,I
drowned. Among the lost are Capt
II lines and first clerk Samuel Powell
Their bodies have been recovered. Capt.
Holmes body was terribly burned.
"'Bob' Smith, the old pilot of the J. t.
White at the time she was burned, was a
passenger on the John H. Hanna, and was
burned to death. His body has also been
recovered.
lone of the deck hands who escaped says
there were about 100 persons ON board and
that only about dozen can now be found
alive.
1.-THE engineer and pilot were saved All
were burned more or less, some of them Sc
verely.
BROKE OUT AT MIDNIGHT.
SIT was just before midnight that the
alarm was given. Several of the pas
sengers were seated in the cabin having a
merry time and with no thought of the i'm
pending catastrophe. Many of the crew
and passengers were asleep when the fire
broke out, and spread with indescribable
rapidity. The details Of the suffering and
death of some of the passengers are har-
rowing in the extreme. The boat had
reached a point which was but short
distance above the town, when a negro
roustabout near the boiler ran out to the
deck and shouted that the boat was on fire.
A stoker was lear the place at the time,
and seeing the flames bursting forth from a
big tier of cotton near the boiler, ran hastily
to the engine room and gave the alarm.
SOUNDING THE ALARM.
Engineer Merriman at once sounded an
alarm by blowing a steam whistle
and ringing the bells In an instant,
certainly in a much shorter time than
it takes to explain it, the flames
shot through the cabin and over the sides
of the cotton, enveloping the entire boat in
fire. Clerk Powell was upstairs at the
time, and when he saw the flames he hero
ically ran through the smoke, which filled
the cabin, and tried to arouse the sleeping
people. He kicked at the doors aud in a
short time almost everybody was awake.
PANIC OF THE PEOPLE.
"Then confusion worse confounded ap-
peared, and he frantic people on the boat
ran to the different exits to make their es-
cape, but the boat was piled high with cot
ton, and the passageways were filled with
smoke. Many dropped before they were
able to get to the forward part of the boat.
AS soon as the fire was discovered En-
gineer Merriman set the steam pumps
working and tried to battle with the flames,
but the fire swept through the boat like a
blaze on prairie, and the engine room
was soon in flames.
STEAM PIPE BURSTS.
"Then to add further to the consterna-
etco hrr ha
with scalding steam. Engineer Merrlman
was forced to abandon his post, and he and
the strikers and others ran to the sides of
the boat and rushed through pell-mell in
order to save their lives. As soon as the
smoke and flames began to shoot up the
sides of the boat Capt. Jolles. the pilot,
swung the wheel around and headed the
boat for shore. A full head Of steam was
on at the time, and the boat was soon run
into the bank. All of her timber was then
furiously burning. When the Hanna struck
the bank she bounded away again aud
swung around, drifting down as she burned.
Then Capt. Jolles jumped out over the cot
ton bales, and springing into the river,
swan ashore.
WEIRD SIGHT.
'The sight was a weird one, viewed from
the bank, and the town was aroused. Float
ing cotton charred timber and other debris
filed the river, and many people were
struggling desperately in the water for their
lives. Some OF them were able to swim
ashore, but most of them were SO badly
burned or so thoroughly exhausted that
they struggled but few moments and sank
to rise no more. AS the burning boat struck
the bank of the river, the crew and
passengers who had been able to reach tle
forward end Of the boat sprang ashore,
some of them with scorched faces and
bruised limbs, and many of them with
scarcely any covering.
SOME OF THOSE WHO ESCAPED.
"Among those who managed TO get Off
were Capt. Holmes and Bob Smith, the un-
fortunate pilot Of the ill-fated steamer
j. M. White, who was a passenger.
Both men were burned nigh unto death, and
the story of the manner in which they suf-
fered is most heart rending. When the
captain jumped ashore he was horribly
burned and in his frantic desire to be re-
heved from the pain he was suffering, he
buried his face and hands in the soft mnd,
and begged most piteously for some one to
help him Pilot Smith was just behind
and was laid out bv the side Of the dying
captain Nothing could be done for the
suffering men and the two died together on
the river bank.
CROWD on THE RIVER BANK.
"Plaquemine was not slumbering whom
the Are broke out, and when the discovery
tvna t,,nIa sI.t thn Hanna xvaa burning