Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-01-04
RIVER HORRORS.

"A YlnQuGOlNe- Ia. uiSVdicu uo'SS
Christmas day. says: The burning ofthe
steamer John II. Hanna last night aear
this place was one OF the most terrific 1ver
disasters that ever happened i'll southern
waters. The loss is very heavy. Apont
thirty persons persisted IN the t'ame51 anu
a large number jumped overheard and we're
drowned Among the lost arc Capt. Jlmea
s. Holmes aud First Clerk Samud IL.
Powell. Their bodies have been RECOVERED
Capt. Holmes body was terribly burned.
One OF the dock hands who escaped Says
there wore about 1tN persons on board and
that only about Il dozen could be Pund
alive. The engineer and pilot ware stved.
All who escaped were burned more oil less
severely. Among those that were !os'l are:
CAPT j. s: HOLMES master of the boaa
SAMUEL POWELL, chief clerk.
BOB SMITH. a pilot from Snlithiantl, La
MIKE ONEIL, night Waterman.
JOE CRANE, cabin watchman.
JACK DUFF. second cook.
JOE HARVEY. cabin boy.
JIM WATSON. second beAcr.
JOHN GRAFTON, carpenter.
Among those who were badly burnei are:
pan CARROLL. steward.
JIM ONEILI., deck hand
JOHN GIBBONS sailorsman.
LOUIS WEIGH, roustabout, and ,umbcr
of others.
Tho passenger steamer Kate Adams
burned Sunday morning near Commerce.
Miss, forty miles south of Memphis. She
was enroute to Memphis and had NU peo-
pie aboard. Tho fire. which ought in
some cotton near the forward en1 Of tho
boilers. WAS discovered about s o'clock
The passengers were at breakfast, and
when the alarm was given they al made a
rush for the forward part of the leck. At
the time, the steamer was about 200 yards
from the Mississippi side of the river. and
her bow was ut once headed for the shore.
Pilot Joe Burton was on watch, and he re
manned herotcally at his post until he was
safely landed. Harry Best. second cler!s.
who was seated at table when the alarm
was given. had brought all the ladies and
children forward and assisted them ashore.
Capt. Mark r. Check. who WAS on the hur-
ricane deck. remained there giving his
commands until the stageplank was safely
lowered.
The lost. so far as can be learned. are as
follows:
GEORGE CORBITT, third clerk, aged % years,
who had launched tho ynwl and was TRYING to
save the colored women on the lower dock.
JOE PARKER.
NDREW REESE.
MONROE JACKSON.
JIM NELSON.
SENATOR COLEMAN.
HILLYARD HORTON of colored cabn crew.
LEE FINLEY and FRANK WELLS, colored
roustabouts.
In addition, about fifteen deck passen-
gers, four of whom were white men, were
also drowned.
Five. and perhaps seven. lives wer,
believed to have boon lost by the burnin,
of the propeller Lief Erickson. Off Ali
Point. on Christmas evening. The vessel
plies between Seattle and Sydney. and was
en- route to the latter point at the time.
The fire originated in the pilot house. ard
it is not definitely known what caused it,
though 1t is said to have been Il lamp ex-
plosion. There were thirty-six people On
board at the time and the vessel was thrse
miles from the shore. The fire spread With
incredible rapidity. Capt. John H. Nibble
endeavored to launch the life raft but found
the passengers already struggling to getlt
overheard. In the struggle to get the raft
properly launched the csptain was carried
overheard with it, while the passeng ers
seizing life-preservcrs. firewood, or any
thing that would f at, jumped overheard.
The list of lost so far AS known is:
MISS ANNIE TOLLNER.
j. a. NORSOUS.
JACK SIMMONS, of Sidney.
VI. SMITH. of Colby and two wn,ua, ap1 /,
| man whose Names have not been ascertained.