St. Paul daily globe., 1890-07-12
The Steamer Tioga's Cargo
Of Oils Explodes With
Terrible Results.
Eighteen Of Her Stevedores
and Crew Either Dead or
Missing.
Half a Dozen Others Burned
So Seriously That They
Will Die.
Hundreds Of Nova Seotians
Struggle for Life in Dart
mouth Harbor.

CHICAGO, April IA frlghtful ex-
plosion occurred tonight on the steamer
Tioga, one of the largest vessels on the
great lakes. Thirty-eight people were
aboard the steamer at the time. When
the work of rescuing survivors, which
commenced almost instantly, was well
under way, only two persons could be
found who escaped unhurt. Then to
make matters worse fire broke out on
the wrecked vessel, and huge volumes
of fame and smoke impeded the
search for the dead and dying. 1t was
in the Chicago river at the foot of Wash
ington street that the explosion oc-
Cured. This locality is in the heart of
the business section of Chicago, and
the terrible shock of the explosion
brought people running in terror out of
buildings blocks away. Most of the vic
tins were NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. who
were unloading the vessel. Only three
the list of killed and missing, which is
as follows:
KNOWN DEAD AND MISSING.
GEORGE HAIG. second engineer, Buffalo.
c. LEVALLEY, lookout, Buffalo
WILLIAM CUTHBERT. deck hand, Buff
falo.
JOHN NEILE, boss stevedore, Chicago.
OSBORN POLK (colored), stevedore, Chi
cago.
HENRY ALEXANDER (colored steve
dore, Chicago.
JOHN LEWIS (coloreD. stevedore, Chi
cagO.
THOMAS LEWIS (colored), stevedore, Chi
ALEXANDER SMITH (colored). steve
WILLIAM PALMER (colored), porter, Chi
cago.
E. FITZGIBBoNS, waiter, Buffalo.
FRANK BURNS, steamfitter, Chicago.
WALTER DULLER (colored), stevedore,
Chicago.
HENRY wEATHERsPooN (colored),
stevedore, Chicago.
JOHN GOFF (colored), stevedore. Chicago.
JACOB CHURL (colored), stevedore, Chi
cago.
CHARLES FOSTER (colored), stevedore,
Chicago.
The fire proved stubborn one, and
made it impossible at the time to verify
The reports that the boilers had eXplod-
ed. A statement was current that the
| explosion was due to another cause
the accidental lighting of large guam
tity of cOmbustibleS i'll the narrow con-
fines of the Tioga'S deep hold. In the
hold near the steamers stern was where
the fire held sway. Through the bursts
of fire could be seen great jagged
cleft in the Tioga'S decks and cabin,
and alOft on the tall smoke stacks
dangled huge frame work of timber
fantastically swaying backward and
forward. telling of the terrific force of
the explosion, which sent it there from
thirty feet below. While the fire was
still in progress an Associated Press re-
porter met the captain of the ill-fated
steamer on the forward deck. The Off
Ger consented to stop long enough in his
task of Strengthening out the confusion
prevailing to give statement of what
he knew of the wreck. Said he: my
name is Capt. A. A. Phelps. l arrived
here last evening from Buffalo in COM
mand of the Tioga, and we were un-
loading at this dock when
The Explosion Took Place.
this evening. was in the freight shed
on the dock when l heard a terrific
noise, and coming out to the vessel |
saw she was enveloped in steam. Allof
the crew of twenty-five were either
aboard at the time or were on the dock
or in the freight house. found after
careful search that all but three were
accounted for and safe. Those three,
all from Buffalo, were: Second Engineer
George Haig, Lookout c.. Lavalley and
Deck.hand William Cuthburt. Besides
the three missing who belonged to
the crew, there must have been
twelve to fifteen other men killed
and probably half dozen ad
ditional wounded. These were
laborers in the hold who were doing the
unloading. Eight colOred men are pos
ltively stated to have been below, and
six or seven others were at the matches
aiding their fellow stevedOreS lower
down. The explosion occurred in the
hold, not in the machinery or boilers, as
near as could ascertain. and was prob
ably due to some combustible freight
stored there" The captain was at this
moment called away to the wrecked
portion of the vessel. which seemed
gradually settling in the river. Occa-
sionaIly wounded man was being
hauled out of the debris, as the flames
permitted the police and iremen to
close in toward the literal Black Hole
in which the bodies of
The Unfortunate StevedOres
still lay. The unfortunates were
gang in charge of John nellie, white
man. Among those supposed to be in
the hold were nellie himself, Osborn
Polk, Henry Alexander, John Lewis,
Thomas Lewis and Alexander Smith.
Great crowds of people gathered ON the
neighbOring bridges, docks and vessels
and watched the tragic scenes being en-
acted on the Tioga. The immense iron
hull, painted forbidding black,
stretched 100 feet or more along
Nf
lice, firemen and reporters were
clambering over her on all sides. The
eye witnesses of the explosion were
busy telling newcomers the story and
particulars. 1t appeared that the ex-
plosion occurred just after porter
named William Palmer had gone below
with lighted lamps. He had scarcely
reached the decks when the frightful
shock came. 1t was said that 200 bar
rels of oil were among the cargo, and
that these had become ignited. Others
insisted that the explosion must have
been due to lack of water in the boil
ers, and that the second engineer, who
was known to be missing, was the man
whose duty it would be to start the
pony pumps
In Such an Emergency.
This, it was declared, would have
produced Just such an explosion, wreck |
ing only one compartment of the YES
sci. There was much cOngratulatiOn on
an excursion steamer close by on the |
fact that the Tioga was purely freight
carrier, and that no passengers what |
ever were aboard. Up to 10:30 p. m.
nine dead bodies had been taken from |
the wreck, and five or more wounded |
had been conveyed to hospitals. The
victims were now more accessible, the |
fire having been extinguished by the in
rushing of the water, when the Tioga