The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-30

foln5 a torrent or flame burst through the
matches near the engine room. Of course
a fearful panic ensued, but it was noticed
by those on shore that though the flames
leaped and writhed and the passengers
wildly screamed, the wheels still turned
and the boat was racing at her topmost
speed. The explanation was that one man
on board had not lost his head. Captain
Smith, at his post, had seen with one fash
of judgment that it would be useless to
| fight the fire, and that the only chance of
! saving the lives of his passengers lay in
| quickly Bleaching the steamer. The banks
near by were rocky, but half mile away
was low lying, marshy island. and it was
to this place that Captain Smith drove the
burning vessel. Her speed drove the heat
and smoke aft, and forced many passen-
gers in that part of the boat to jump over
board In this way thirty or forty were
drowned.
When Captain Smith first headed the
boat for the island the flames were nearly
| under him. Though slowly roasting, he
kept his grip upon the wheel. From time
TO time. above the frenzied shrieks of the
passengers, his voice was heard crying to
them not TO jump. Many obeyed him, and
remained OF deck till the race with fire was
won, and the flaming steamer was driven
forty feet upon the marshy beach. Then,
with his face swollen to nearly double its
natural size, with hands, arms and neck
bliStered by the heat, Captain Smith ran
from the pilot house to help women and
children reach the land. There was I'M
usual delay in awarding the gold medal to
Captain Smith, and the very day the medal
was received at the treasury department
from the mint, news came of the death of
the hero from erysipelas, due, doubtless, to
the injuries suffered in the pilot house dur
ing that race for life.
Mrs. Ida Lewis Wilson, who under her
maiden name of Ida Lewis won national
celebrity as a life saver, was some years
ago awarded the gold medal for saving two
soldiers who had fallen through the ice at
Lime Rock lighthouse, Newport, of which
Mrs. Lewis Wilson is still tho keeper.
Mrs. Lewis Wilson had already saved thir-
teen lives.
Other wearers of the medal are John Fl.
Rapp, of Rivington street, New York, who
has saved some thirty lives; G. A. J.
Queckberner, New York, thirty-five lives;
William Daily, Santa Cruz, Cal, thirty
lives; julius Rohn, Milwaukee, fifty lives,
and Joseph and Alfred Cardian, of Michi-
gan, who saved William Marshall and
three others, of the Spectator Reef light
house.
In the month April. 1883. William Mar
shall, keeper of Spectator Reef lighthouse,
Lake Huron, undertook to go thither in
sailboat from Mackinac island The
weather was bitter cold, gale was blow
ing and the lake was full of ice, both fixed
and floating Besides Keeper Marshall
there were on board James Marshall, his
son, Edward Chambers and Edward Las
ley. Suddenly gust of wind and an acct
dent to the rigging overturned the little
vessel, and the men were thrown into the
icy water. All contrived to get hold of the
and by an almost superhuman
effort Chambers cut away the foremost
with pocket knife, but this did not help
matters much.
Young Marshall suffered the most, be-
ing under water more than the others, and
the keeper in time was greatly exhausted
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