Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-28
INJURED IN TORTURE.
Frightful Disaster to Steam.
boat Navigating a Cali.
fornia River.
SIX PERSONS ON THE DEATH ROLL.

And Their Fate More aIercifuI Than That
| Ofthe Living-One Injured Woman Begs
] the Doctors to XIII Her, So Intense Is
Her AgOny-LOns List of Wounded
Some OF Whom Are Literally Cooked by
! the Escaping Steam.
Stockton. Cal. Nov es.-The most
disastrous river accident in the history
OF Stockton occurred Saturday at 400
q. N. near the Fourteen Mile slough,
! when a part of ore OF the boilers Of the
| river steamer T. c. Walker was blown
out, killing six and very dangerously
wounding nine persons, while Proba-
bly, fifteen or twenty were more or less
badly hurt. The T c. Walker ran be-
tween san Francisco and Stockton.
The dead are: John Tulan, captain;
W. A. Blunt. agent of a sugar beet
factory; Watson Henry. Of Stockton.
engineer; Mrs. Watson Henry. wife of
the engineer; Jerry DAILY. fireman. and
Ferdinand Law. Of Seattle. a report
from the hospital says that q. Fop-
panno will probably die. Jack TIolberg
is reported in a precarious condition.
With the exception Of these two men
no further fatalities are anticipated.
Law died at the receiving hospital at
.. m. yesterday.
Wounded Are All Severe Cases.
The most seriously hurt are: Geo. ?.
Smith. deck hand, burned about the
face and body; James Corcoran. deck
hand-wiN probably die; Jack Holberg.
known as Jack Sperry. Waterman, in
jured in head ard scalGed over entire
upper part of body; Coratti Dominica,
deck hand. sCalded about hands and
face and back injured John Eurns,
deck hand, burned about head; c.. Fop-
piano. Of san Francisco. passenger. in
jUred in face and breast: Edward Paul
Jones. stevedore, scalded about face
and hands; Martin McCafferty. OF san
Francisco. wine merchant. badly in
jured; John Figori. Of Stockton. deck
hand. head cut and back hurt.
Caught the Passengers in Bed.
Many Of the passengers were in bed
WREN the explosion occurred and were
awakened by the report. which was as
loud as cannon's roar. When they
got on deck they found that escaping
steam enveioped the front portion of
the boat till it was impossible to see
how much of the boat had been car
ried away. The screams of the men
who were locked in their rooms near
the pilot house We're hcartrending.
Captain John TuIan had been blown
stateroOm. and SO seriously Ctured that
he could not move. The door could not
be forced open. as he was jammed UP
against it. one Of the employees of the
boat secured an axe and cut the upper
part OF the room away. and finally re-
moved him. but not until he was viz
tUally roasted alive. When pulled out
the flesh dropped from his bones in
iarSe pieces. and although he was suf-
fcrins eXcruCiatinEly he bore it brave
ly and not groan escaped him.
Mrs. Henry's FrightruI Suffering.
Watson Henry. the chief engineer. |
and his Wife were in their room near
the pilot house when the explosion oc-
CURED Mrs Henry was blown through |
the roof. The flooring was blown up |
ward and she was hurled with great |
violence a distance of twenty feet to- |
wards the bow Of the boat. She was |
horribly crushed by the fury Of the |
explosion. and also badly scaIGed with |
steam. She retained con- /
seriousness until a few moments before |
her death. Her suffering was so in /
tense that she begged the physicians in |
to end her life, but all that 1
could be done was to dcaden the pain |
by the use o: narcotics. Jerry Daily. the |
fireman, was in the fire hold OF the boat |
when the accident occurred. The es-
ping steam completely ervelope5 him. |
scarcely a portion Of his BODY escaping