Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-03-03
ENDED in SORROW.
A Gala Day at a Bay Cit,
Shipyard.
FATAL DISASTER AT A LAUNCHING.

Thirty Men and Boys Thrown Into the Icy
Water-Two Boys and a Man Missing
Supposed To Be Drowned, and a Dozen
Injured, One Possibly Fstally-Detail,
of a Cyclone in Louisiana-Two Person.
Killed and Dozens of Buildings Wrecked
Killed by Flying Iron.
BAY CITY, Mich, March 3-What had
been: looked forward to as one of the pleas
ATTEST days in the history of F. W. Wheeler
& Co.'S shipyard at West Bay City yes
terday terminated in most frightful ac-
cident. The company was to lay the keel
of the Centurion, the Tooth boat built by
them, and it was an event of more than
ordinary Importance, drawing people from
all over the Saginaw galley. When the
timbers had been placed and the speeches
and presentation of silver ink service
to the company had been made the vast
throng adjourned to the woodworking
yard where No. sc, a large wooden schoon.
er built for Colin Mclaughlin and others,
OF Port Huron, was to be launched
Disregarded Timely rs arning.
The steambarge Kittie q. Forbes lay
frozen in the ice on the north side of the
slip in which the ice had been broken be
fore the launch. Hundreds of boys and
many men flocked to the steamer and
climbed to her hurricane deck. They were
warned Of their danger and told that the
swell from the schooner when launched
would knock them off, but many remained.
the view being very good from the point.
When all was ready at AS O'Clock, and the
last hawser cut, the schooner started slowly
for the water Then with a rush she
plunged into the icy slip, and an immense
wave forced the ice and steamer Forbes
into the air. The Forbes rolled until half
over, and then the crowd ON shore saw n
sight which chilled them.
Thirty Thrown Into the Water.
Those who had remained on the upper
deck were clinging on for life if they could
find projections, while less fortunate ones
were flying headlong toward the water.
Fully thirty were thrown overheard and
in an instant their black forms rose to the
surface between the two boats and in the
field of broken ice. How many are lost
has not been ascertained, but George Haw-
kins and Ross Bennett, boys living in this
city. and Fred Peel, a Michigan Central
conductor from Detroit, are missing.
Fully a dozen, were injured, among them
being Fred Babcock, George Doyle. Will
liam Battishill and George Clark. BATH
shill is probably fatally injured.
The Missing and Wounded.
The missing are: Ross Bennett, 16 years
cid, Bay City; George Hawkins. Is years
old, Bay City: Pred Peel, railroad con-
ductor, Detroit. Following is a list of the
most seriously injured: Fred Babcock,
painter, West Bay City, left leg and arm
broken; William Battishill, painter, West
Bay City, skull crushed-cannot live;
George Clark, freight agent, West
Bay City, wounds about head and
internally injured; George Doyle,
saw filler, Bay City, right leg
broken, cash in head and internally in.
jured; John Grandmaison, 10 years old,
arm broken; Emerson Harmon. machinist,
Bay City, nearly drowned; Abram John
son, carpenter, Bay City arm broken.
Every one Of the men saved from the
water was thoroughly drenched and some
of them sank twice before assistance
reached them