The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-06-22
A DEADLY EXPLOSION.
1T WRECKED THE FAST STEAM
Err REDSTONE.
Both Boilers of the Boat Exploded and
Seventeen Human Beings Were Blown
Into Eternity-The Bride Who Never
Finished Her Wedding Trip.

The fastest boat on the Ohio river
in 1852 was the steamer Redstone, a
packet that piled the waters between
Cincinnati and Madison. 1t was
principally owned by parties in
Lawrenceburg, Ind, the largest
shareholder being Colonel Ezra G.
Hayes, who still resides in that city.
The people of Lawrenceburg were
very proud of the Redstone. for they
regarded it as the only representa-
tive of their town coursing the waters
of the Ohio. And every time it
landed at their wharf, whether go
ing up or down the river, crowds of
persons would assemble on the shore
to cheer it on its way. On the 3rd
day of April, 1852, a bridal party
went on board at Madison en- route
to Cincinnati. The day was a bright
and beautiful one, and with over
fifty merry passengers on board the
boat moved up the river as gayly as
agondola of JOY Venetians. When
a short distance beyond Carrollton,
KY, anumber of persons were stand
ing on the Kentucky shore, and sig
nailed the boat to land for more
passengers. The captain gave the
command, the engineer obeyed and
the pilot rounded the vessel in the
swollen stream and it glided to the
shore. Rev. Perry Scott, whose
handsome home overlooked the
waters, with a party of friends,
stepped aboard. The captain called
out to ''pull in the plank" and gave
orders to "nove out" The signal
bell changed the starting notes. The
huge side wheels began to turn.
The band struck up its liveliest tune.
The partners for a dance vas form
ing. Rev. Scott stood upon the deck
of the moving steamer waving his
handkerchief In adieu to friends on
the shore and shouting his farewell
to a fond mother who was watching
him from the door of the not far dis
tant home, when q mighty roar rent
the air, and the bursting steamer
was hid from view by the clouds of
debris that darkened the sight, as a
terrific explosion shook the earth and
splashed the water from shore to
shore. The echo of suddenly sus-
pended music vas overwhelmed by
the shrieks of the wounded and
dying. For both the boilers of the
boat had burst and in their collapse
carried death and destruction to
everything within the circle of
their power. Rev. Scott was
never seen again nor was a
vestige OF his corpse yer found.
The fatal handkerchief with which
he waved his last farewell was
discovered in the branches of a
tree far beyond the bank of the dis
turbed river, and the military cape,
hat hung from his shoulders, when
death, in dynamite fury, stripped
him of his life, was found on the OPP
posite shore, but the brave and low
ing form that stood beneath its SOM
Der folds. when swift destruction
seized him, was never again beheld
by human eye. Captain Thomas
Pate and jackson, the pilot. of Ris-
ing Sun, were both blown from the
boat, but escaped without fatal in
%juries. The two engineers were
brothers, named George and Joseph
Barry, of Beaver, Penn, and both
were blown to death. A portion of
the dismembered body Of one of the
unfortunate brothers was found
lodged in an apple tree, far away on
the Indiana side of the river. The
mutilated body of one of the cabin
hny-c uoc fnr1n1 rarono1 h,nlu1l
yards distant, on the roof of an
old stable The arm and hand
OF the young bride was all
that vas ever found of her
body, and that was identified by the
initials on the wedding ring that en-
circled her clammy finger, and from
which cruel death had failed to sep
arate it An orphan girl, she had
married a young lover from Louis
vile named Weston, and was going
on a bridal trip to visit an only sis
ter, residing near Covington, KY,
when overtaken by death. The body
was never found, and the bloody
fragment of the fair young wife was
laid away in a little grave By itself.
Seventeen human beings were blown
into eternity almost in the twinkling
of an eye, and the bodies OF six of
that number were never found. The
river vas full, and high from recent
rains, and the rushing current car
ried everything within its reach far
from the scene of disaster. The boat
was torn asunder by the force of the
explosion, and then caught fire, its
shattered hulk dancing on the agi-
tated waters like a ball OF flame, un-
til its burnt and charred ruins sunk
from sight beneath the turbid
waves that swirled around it. James
E Goble, Eli Grisman and Edmond
Durbln, all young newspaper men of
Lawreneeburg, Ind, had accepted an
invitation from the owners of the
boat to make a pleasure trip upon it,
says the Cincinnati Enquirer, and
the three friends were standing on
the deck of the steamer when the
explosion occurred. and each met a
horrible death Their bodies were
afterward recovered. and lie side bv