St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-05
A Like Michigan Tug EX-
plodes at Chicago With
Awful Effect.
Seven Persons Killed Out
right and Eight Others
Receive Wounds.
The Vessel Was Engaged in
Pulling Off a Steamer
Aground.
Among the Killed Are Several
Spectators on the River
Bank.

CHICAGO, Oct. A boiler explosion
aboard the steam tug G. w. Parker
killed seven persons and seriously
injured many others in the neighbor-
hood of Archer avenue bridge, in the
south branch of the river, about 4:S0
this afternoon. The tug c. W. Parker,
in company with three other tugs, was
engaged in attempting to tow the coal
steamer HI. S. Pickands out of the draw
OF the bridge when the explosion oc
CURED. Three of the killed were en-
ployes of the tug, and their bodies have
not yet been recovered. The other per-
sons killed were standing OH the banks
OF the river, to which q number of spec
tators mad been drawn to witness the
removal Of the steamer Pickands, which
arrived Saturday from Buffalo with a
cargo of coal. The vessel had run
aground in the draw, and four tugs
were putting forth every effort to move
it when one of them, the G. W. Parker,
exploded. The list of the killed and
wounded, So far as can be ascertained
at this hour, is as follows:
Killed.
W. Parker
JOHN O. MOORE, engineer of @. W.
Parker.
SAMUEL ARMSTRONG, of Manistee, cook
of @. w. Parker.
Unknown man, killed by fragment of
boiler while standing at the east end of
Archer avenue bridge.
Mrs. MARY RICE, of 3O13 Archer avenue.
BARBARA RICE, her eighteen year-old
daughter.
SAMUEL sAWYERs, laborer, 425 Blume
street.
Wounded.
JOSEPH CULLEN, fireman of c. W. Parker,
win probably die before morning.
HENRY BELL, deck hand, badly sealded and
leg paralyzed.
CHARLES KIRTIN, citizen, wounded by
missiles.
FRANK WAGNER, arm broken.
JOSEPH BoMoRAzK. skull fractured; may
flie
GEORGE JUELL, captain of the tug Van
Setback, leg and back hurt.
LOUIS DE MASS, deck hand of the Van
Setback, back sprained.
JAMES CUNNINGHAM, cook of the Van
Setback, scalp wounds.
When the feeling of fright caused by
the catastrophe passed away, the spec
tatOrs crowded around the spot where
lay the body of Mrs. Rice, her little
daughter and the unknown man. Mrs.
Rice lay on her side, her face crushed
and bruised, while blood poured from
her mouth, nose and ears. By her side
lay her little daughter. The fate of the
two was peculiarly sad. Before the
explosion, Mrs. Rice had been
standing on the south side of
III
her arms, and endeavoring to escape
when the crash came, her skull was
crushed by piece of iron. At the
same moment her little daughter was
struck on the head by piece of the
furnace door. On the other shore,
Bartholomew Curtin and Richard Pow
ers, BOYS aged fourteen and twelve,
were standing watching the tugs. Curtin
was struck Oh the head by an iron bolt
and fell to the ground. His skull had
been cut open and the brains were
oozing out when he was picked up.
Young Powers was also struck by the
flying missiles and injured. AS the air
cleared after the explosion the Parker
was seen rolling slowly and settling
stern foremost into the water. A mo-
ment later Joseph Cullen and Henry
Bell were seen struggling in the water.
Life lines were thrown to them and
they were helped on board one of the
other tugs. Cullen's flesh was almost
parboiled. and in clinging to the life
ropes the skin was torn from his hands.
The explosion was peculiar one. The
fatalities on shore in each case occurred
some distance from the wrecked tug,
and in places where the victims would
seem to be in almost perfect safety.
The opinion of vesselmen is that the
explosion was caused by the filthy water
in the river. 1t is so full of grease and
dirt that when it gets into boiler it
foams up like soapsuds, which makes it