The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-12
BLOWN into ETERNITY
The Steamer TioGa Blown Up at the
Washington Street Dock and
Score of People Killed
and Others Injured.

CHICAGO, July IA frightful explosion
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 the sur
vivors, which commenced almost in
stantly, was well under way, only two per
sons could he found who escaped unhurt.
To make the matter worse fire broke out
on the wrecked vessel and huge volumes
of flame and spoke impeded the search.
ers for the dead and dying.
The bursting Of the steamers boilers
was the cause of the castrophe. II was
i'm the Chicago river, at the foot of Wash
ington street, that the explosion occurred
This locality is the heart of the business
section OF Chicago and the explosion
brought people running i'm terror out Of
the tall buildings blocks away.
While the fire was still i'm progress an
associated press reporter met the captain
of the iIl-fated steamer on the forward
deck. The officer consented to stop long
enough in his task of Strengthening out
the confusion prevailing to give a state
ment of what he knew of the wreck.
Said he: my name is Captain A. A.
Phelps. / arrived here last evening from
Buffalo in command OF the Tioga, and we
were unloading at this dock when the ex-
plosion took place this evening.
was i'm the freight shed on the
dock when heard the terrific
noise and running out saw the north quar-
ter of the vessel enveloped in steam. All
of the crew of 25 men were either aboard
at the time or were in the dock or i'm the
freight house. ! found, after careful
search, that all but three were accounted
for and safe.
"These three are all from Buffalo and
were: Second Engineer George Hard,
lookout G. Zraley. deckhand William
Cuthbert. Besides the three missing who
belonged to the crew there must have
been from twelve to fifteen other men
killed and probably half dozen addi-
tional wounded. These were laborers in
the hold who were doing the unload
ing. Eight colored men are positively
stated to have been below and six or
seven others were at ut the hatches aiding
their fellow stevedores lower down. The
exposition occurred in the hold not in the
machinery on the boilers, as near as
could ascertain, and was probably caused
by some combustible freight stored
there"
The captain was at this moment called
away to the wrecked portion of the vessel
which seemed to be gradually settling in
!he rixsI g5 " ,Ss Toudded ddedis man
| the flames permitted the police and fire
men closed in toward the literal black
hole i'm which the bodies Of the unfortu-
nate stevedores still lay.
Great crowds Of people gathered on the
neighboring bridges, docks and vessels
and watched the tragic scenes being en-
| acted on tine Tioga. The immense iron
hull, painted forbidding black, stretched
three hundred feet or more along the pier
and "a swarm of people, firemen and re-
| porters were clambering over her on all
sides.
| busy telling new corners the CORY particu-
lars. Ii appeared that the explosion oc-
| CURED just after porter named Will
| liam Palmer had gone below with "A
lighted lamp. He had scarcely reached
the decks again when the shock
| came. IL was said that two hundred bar
| rels OF oil were among the cargo and that
these had become ignited. Others in-
sisted that the explosion must have been
due to lack of water in the boilers, and
the second engineer. who is known To be
missing. was the man whose duty il would
emergency. This, il was declared, would
have produced just such an explosion
wrecking only one compartment of the
vessel.
Most of the victims were Chicagoans,-
stevedores who were unloading the ves-
reported on the list. The fire proved a
stubborn one and made il impossible n,
the time To verify the report that the boil
ers had exploded. The statement was
current that the explosion was due to an
other cause, the accidental lighting OF
light combustibles in the narrow confines
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 through a
great jagged cleft in the Tioga's decks in
the cabin and aloft.
ON the tall smoke stacks tangled huge
fragments Of the wreck of timber, frantic
ally swaying backward and forward, tell
ing of the terrific force of the explosion
which had sent them there from 10 fee
below.
Up to II 30 p. IN. nine dead bodies had
been taken from the wreck and five ol
more wounded were conveyed TO the hos
pitfalls. The Tiogas's stern settled 10 I'll,
bottom of the river, but as IL is not deep
the decks were still above the surface
IL is estimated that $4,000 will cover the
damage to the vessel and cargo. This
amount is believed 10 he fully insured.
Engineer Haig and Steam Filter Burni
cannot live through the night. The addi
tional names of the colored stevedorci
supposed to have been killed are: Walte
Dukes, Henry Weatherspoon. John Coll
Jacob Churl. Alex Smith. j. Braxton an,
Charles Foster.
A clearer idea of the cause of the ex
plosion was obtained about midnigb
when the boilers and cargo could be ex
amined. The boilers seemed intact. Thu
cargo was Kerosene, gasoline and cotton
The inference is drawn that the leaking
of the keroscnce saturated the cotton an,
generated gases which ignited when q
lantern was taken into the hold.
|