Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-07-12
A DEADLY BURST.
Awful Explosion on the Lake
Steamer Tioga.
TWELVE OR FIFTEEN MEN KILLED

Several OF the Corpses Recovered Terri
bly, Mangled aud Burned-A Number of
injured Fearfully Mutilated-List of the
Unfortunates as Far known-Coal
Oil Gas the Supposed Cause-Five Hum
dred People Plunged Into the Water at
Dartmouth, N. s., with Miraculously
Few Fatalities.
CHICAGO July 12-The steamer Tioga,
of the Erie transportation company, was
badly wrecked by an explosion at
7:45 O'Clock last evening" while lying at
her dock at Randolph street and the river
It is reported that thirteen people were
killed. The explosion was terrible one,
and a column of smoke shot 200 feet into
the air. succeeded second later by
whirlwind OF flame, which illumined
bridges, buildings, water and spars in
fearful glare. The startled crowds rushed
to the river banks, docks, and bridges,
immense crowd
The Fire Department at Work.
A general fire alarm had been turned in,
and soon fifty streams of water from the
| steamers and fire tugs were pouring into
the hold of the big iron boat through the
gaping hole amidship, from which the
flames poured in a torrent. The Tioga,
which was one of the largest and finest
propellers on the lakes, is badly wrecked,
her upper works being nearly blown away,
| and her wooden work being badly burned.
At 10 o'clock the fire was so far under con-
| troll that the search for the victims of the
| explosion was begun.
BIaekened and Mangled Corpses.
Three bodies were soon brought out,
| blackened and mangled. They were ap-
parently the remains of unfortunate men,
| bers of the steamers crew, csught aboard
| ut the time of the explosion. When the
| explosion occurred there were between ten
/ and fifteen men in the fantail of the boat,
while scores of others were forward There
were also several stevedores on the dock
and in the warehouses. Bridgetender
Gaynor, at the Randolph street bridge,
less than 100 feet away saw a man whirl-
| ing upward into the air in the midst of a
| tremendous mass of blazing wreckage
| The poor fellow fell into the river, but
was rescued unconscious and cared for
The explosion did much damage to sur.
rounding buildings and windows were
broken nearly half a mile away.
| Not Less Than Fifteen Victims.
| Up to midnight seven dead and wounded
men had been taken from the boat, and il
was then believed that no more than eight
others were in the hold. These men are
doubtless dead, as ten fire engines have
poured tons of water into the big hole just
| above the spot where they were at work
| at the time of the explosion. 1t win be at
least another day before the water can be
pumped from the hold and the bodies re-
| covered. There is good reason to believe
| that the explosion was caused by gas gen
Grated from oil barrels which were stored
near the fan-tail.
l The List of Casualties.
The following are supposed to have met
their death: Walter Dours, -Cuth.
bert, Tom Lewis, Aleck Smith, Henry
Alexander, Louis Alexander, Jake Churl
James Broxton, William Durkes, Charles
Levalle, two unknown, Louis Scott, Jas.
Sissell, and - Dickinson.
Injured-Walter Chaplin fatally, Penn
pey Smith, Thomas Collins fatally J.
O'Dpnnell fatally, Oscar Pope (fatally)
Quite a number of people in the vicinity
were injured by the shock or flying de
brs.
1 The following injured were taken TO the
hospital: Thomas Emmett, residence I'M
| known, scalp wound, teeth knocked out
and pieces of lower jaw broken off. terri
| blyburned, probably fatal; David Mcneil
residence unknown, spine fractured. skull
fractured, ribs broken-fatal; George Hoag
Buffalo, chin crushed, extensive burns on
all parts of the body and limbs, probably
| fatal; Henry Witherspoon (colored), Chi
cago, badly burned from the waist up
probably recover; Robert Halliday (col
ored), Chicago, left arm badly broken
spine injured; John Burke, Buffalo, cuts
on forehead and left shoulder, very slight
| burns.
| Condition of the Vessel.
The Tioga's fan-tail is completely shat
tered Every steel rib and plate is broker
and twisted, as if it were so much paper
IL was impossible to make an accurate es
innate of the damage, owing to the fact
that the wrecked stern settled down in the
muddy bottom of the river and the ma
chinery compartments were filled with
water Forward of the boilers the boa
was comparatively uninjured. Capt
| Phelps made an examination of the foul
compartments, which are all separated by
steel bulkheads, and found that they were
entirely free of water. 1t is likely that thu
most of the cargo will escape damage.