Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-06
STEAMER BURNS AND SINKS
LeOna Comes Into New York Harbor at Full
Speed on Fire,
PASSENGERS ARE UNLoADED IN SAFETY
Crew Begins n Hattie Against the
Flnmes-Reinforced by city Fire
Department. Finally
ScuttIe Ship.

NEW YORK, Oct 5.-The Mallory line
steamer Leona was burned and sunk at
its wharf in the East river today. The cargo,
which consisted of 500 bales of cotton valued
at s250,OO0 to $500 900, " a total loss and
there is a loss of $4,000 on the boat.
1t caught fire at sea several days ago,
since which time 1t has proceeded at full
speed with battened hatchs for this port.
At $3.50 this afternoon the Leona came racing
UP the East river to it's pier where haste
was made to debark it's passengers aud open
the hatches An hour later an army of men
were vainly fighting the fire. Finally the
ship was scuttled.
AS soon as the Leona made fast to its
pier, about o'clock, the officers of the
vessel commanded bv Captain WILDER, Or
dered the members of the crew to try to put
out the fire in the hold without calling the
fire department This was found to be i'm
possible and an alarm was sent in.
By $50 o'clock ten streams were playing
from fire engines and six streams were play
ing from fireboats. The firemen had a hard
time to get at the flames as the boat came
into the dock stern foremost, leaving the
burning part out in the water The fire was
at first confined to the forward hatchway
directly forward of the foremast. The
matches being lifted, tremendous volume
OF smoke came out, making it utterly i'm
possible to see, Soon tons of water we're
poured into the vessel and it began to list to
the starboard.
BEYOND Efforts of Fircmen.
About o'clock seventy firemen, with the
chief and deputy chief were on the boat
working to keep the fire from spreading
toward the stern. 1t was found to be beyond
the efforts of the firemen and an order was
given to open the fore and aft portfolios in
order to allow the water to enter and make
| it settle. The water poured into the boat
and managed to run along the bilge keels
until it had reached aft and the ship
showed signs of listing to the starboard.
Most of the firemen left the ship by sliding
down hose which was fast to the wheel
About half the men who were on the star
board side of the boat were urable to get
| to the pier and kept right on working as il
nothing was happening to endanger their
lives. They kept on until the ship COM
menced to sink slowly but surely, until
with final list it went down. The men
were thrown into the water Deputy Chief
Duane and Fireman Thomas Mcfarland of
engine No. IL had to battle for life and
were rescued with difficulty Duane lost
! his helmet and was dragged out more dead
than alive. Several of the freboats engaged
in the work of rescuing the firemen were
nearly carried down by the wreck.
AT o'slock loud report occurred. evil
IDENTIFY showing the presence OF gas or pow
der in the forward hold. This was followed
at fifteen minute intervals by other ex-
plosons.
Of III mad tn hp
outward matches. The freboat New Yorker
was kept at work playing on the wreck all
night.
Cause of Fire Mystery.
The cause of the fire Is a mystery. The
beat left Galveston September q and made
its eight days run without special incident.
1t was said by one OF the passengers that
three days ago the hatches were battered
down and upon questions being put to Cap
tain WILDER he said the cause was the high
seas. From that time the ship has gone at
high speed for New York, safely reaching
here today. The passenger said he had de-
tected smoke, but had thought nothing Of il
as the captain said all was well.
Captain WILDER denies that the ship was
on fire at sea and says the first he knew oi
the fire was when the matches were lifted
today after the arrival. The insurance or
the Leona is not known.
Charles Mallory said tonight he knew
nothing about the fire. He said If the boat
caught fire at sea as reported and If Cap
tain WILDER had kept the fire under contro
for two or three days he deserved credit
for even bringing the boat into harbor.
somewhat similar experience befell the
the ship in 1898 On May it left New
York for its trip south and on the next
morning fire was discovered coming up its
hatohway from the hold. The fire rapidly
grew larger and the city Of Augusta, which
was passing, was signaled for assistance
1t took the passengers and rendered all the
assistance possible. On reaching this por
May 10 1t was found that thirteen steerag'
passengers had burned to death The.
had been found in a blackened heap in thu
steerage. At that time Captain WILDER wa
suspended for six months for suppose,
failure to properly take care of the fire.
During the war with Spain the Leona wa.
used as transport.