The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-16
BY THE PACKET d.
BUQUE.
WATER BUSHES INTO The HOLD
RESTS on THE RIVER BOT
TOM.
DURING THE DINNER.
cess-Dubuque Officers Deny
Any COI1isiOn.


The Bethel boat was punched full of
holes yesterday, and while the musical
ripples of the river played alb ut the
keel last night as usual, there was no
responsive motion of the hulk. SER
with a rigor the boat lay like par
TALLY submerged Gibraltar Wind -n1
wave failed, to impart to 1t th'2 sooth-
ing motion, and the big hawsecs Which
moored it to the bank Were imp and
slack The boat, too, possessed pc
culiar appearance. One end rejecting
above the bank with the stern falling
away several inches to the yarl, the
deck loomed up in the darkness like
a tcboggan slide, while back of the
Bethel the bath house rose like three
story building. The appearance IF he
boat however, was the key to the stu
alton and mutely told that life On The
bounding wave is not always what it
is cracked up to be, for in marine
disaster four holes were stove in the
Bctbels hulk, and last night the stern
of the boat rested placidly on the mud
dy bottom of the Mississippi
The catastrophe occurred shortly af-
ter II o'clock yesterday morning While
the river packet Dubuque, freight
laden from ST. Louis, was endeavoring
to make landing at the Diamond 10
dock. 1t was the dinner hour at the
Bethel, and fifty people were hungrily
engaged in reading the menu cards
tackled around the walls of the dining
room. The Dubuque had been sighted
S Inc minutes before, but as no wan
ing pennant foated from her pinn lcle
the crew of the Bethel apprehended 10
danger The Dubuque bore down to-
ward the dock, and between the throh-
bling of her engines could be heard the
hoarse shouts of Officers and cr.w as
no favorable place to tie 20 coH,d be
found.
Still the crew Of the Bethel conten,-
plated the menu. Capt Morgan was
not aboard his craft, or il might have
been otherwise. Howe yer, there vas q
sudden grating against the starboa, d
side of the Bethel, a grinding IF TN
bers and a crushing of The hulk asains t
the piers of the Milwaukee tracks
which caused the half-satisiied ecu
pants of the dining loom to -ush for
the gangway. In moment, however
the Dubuque had reversed her ,ngines
and stood out into the stream, thus
calming their fears, only to again SIAM
pede the Bethers crew by old ef-
fort to effect a. landing, after dropping
down the river for new start
Crash! Bang! This time the Du-
buque's propellers swung into the
Rethe1s starboard stern, raising the
|. bow out Of water, tearing away a sec.
ton of the upper deck promenade and
crushing holes in the hulk in different
places. Those on the Bethel were bad
ly frightened, and, as the Dubuque
again, steamed out in the channel re-
leasing the pressure against the rail-
road piers, the boat settled and began
tC fill with water. AS all Of the holes
were in the rear part of the hulk, this
portion of the Bethel soon began sink
ing, slowly raising the bow above the
river bank. Capt. Morgans lieuten-
ants, cabin boy and cook rushed fran
tically about, while the transient
company sought the shore by skurrying
across the gang plank.
"All hands aft to man the pumps
cried the cook, and the cabin boy hur-
ried to obey the order.
An Old suction pump was found and
rammed through a hole in the kitchen
ilOOi, anu, Willie the I6utSudnIS ran OIL
in search of Capt" Morgan. the cook
and cabin boy took turns at pumping
out the hold. 1t was working against
fate, however, for there was a good
deal Of water in the river beside what
they drew out of the hold, and the boat
steadily lowered until the keel sank
into the mud, on the shore side The
water is about five feet deep at this
point and on the other side of the boat
EEne feet deep, thus leaving the Bethel
at sort OF oblique angle with the
outer rail almost at the waters edge
Capt" Morgan was finally found
and apprised Of the accident which
had befallen his craft. He hurried to
the boat and also stood his turn at the
pump with three others during the
afternoon, but the hold remained full
of water. Then carpenter was founi
and sent into the lower part of the
boat to repair the leak. He managed
to partly stop the holes, and though
the boat was not sinking further last
evening, the water seaped through the
cracks in the kitchen floor, being at
depth of about six feet in the stern
part Of the hold. The damage done
the Bethel is estimated at about $150
The officers of the Dubuque last night
denied that the boat had struck the
Bethel, claiming not to have neared
Mr.. Morgan's boat in making a landing,
but John Morgan stated that it was
the Dubuque which did the damage.