The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-12-28

years ago The three editors had been
in the habit of dropping into poetry oc-
casionaily, and to keep peace in the fam
lily an edict was issued that no poetry
should be published in the Gazette The
writer tried to have this rule changed so
far as the weekly edition was concerned,
but in vain. Mr.. Howard, as his name
would indicate, was relative of the au =
thor of the Star Spangled Banner on the
maternal side, while the Towards are the
hluest blood in Maryland. He was a
brilliant writer and a whole-souled gentle
man. The Gazette is no longer published,
and with the possible exception of two
reporters we believe there are no other
survivors of those connected with that
paper thirty -one years ago.
Reading the other day in the Philadelphia
Saturday Evening Post an article on Mark
Twain as a ''cub pilot on the Mississi ppi
we found that he began his study of the
bends and bars at the time the writer first
made acquaintance with the big Mud
dy," and served on one steamer, the Falls
City, in which trip was made from New
Orleans to st. Louisa trip memorable
because of an explosion soon after leaving
the Crescent City, III which a numberIof
of 1875 and we have before us clipping
from a New Orleans paper of that date
giving the first report of the disaster, bat
without the details published later The
Mississippi river boats are fiat bottomed
craft with their boilers and machinery on
the main deck, which is open TO the weather
was far aft as the paddle boxes. (The
large boats are side-wheelers, the smaller
ones have a large wheel at the stern
Some twenty feet above the main deck is
the saloon deck, with spacious stairway
forward. AS you enter you have on one
hand the clerks office and on the other
the bar, and back of these staterooms ex-
tend to the stern. The meals are served
about midway of the saloon, and the
after end is the ladies' cabin. The state
rooms open on to the guard, So called,
which is rooted over by the hurricane
deck On this upper deck is house
called Texas, containing the wheelhouse
and rooms for the officers. Now for the
disaster, which is best told in the first
person: Major p. and myself had en-
gagged passage on the steamer Falls City
to St. Louis, sharing stateroom, which
was on the starboard side just forward of
the paddle box. The boat left at 5 o clock,
the usual hour of departure for the Mis-
sissippi river steamers. A short distance
ahead of us was the steamer John Sim
monds, bound for Louisville, and we all
looked forward to a race The Simmonds
made a landing in the fourth district, and
as she started out again the two boats
ing for my companion, and stood in the
gangway forward of the wheelhouse.
The guard here was filled with passengers
gazing at the other boat, and among them
were two or three of the colored walters
Just then the steward appeared and, adj
dressing the walters, said, 'stand back
off the guard | knew he did not mean
me, but had seen that the Major was not
there and turned to re- enter the cabin.
had not taken more than two steps when
there was a mighty roar and crash and
everything was blotted from sight by the
escaping steam. l made my way forward,
and although no one knew then the extent
of the disaster, crowd had gathered in
front of the clerks office and were de-
manding their money back, while another
crowd beseiged the bar and were pouring
down liquor as fast as the bar tender,
| whose face was as white as his shirt,
could pour it out. Later it was learned
! that the steam drum over the boiler on
the starboard side had exploded. The
deck or guard forward of the wheelhouse
was torn away, with the floor of the next
stateroom to ours, and the deck was
1 splintered where l had stood second be-
fore the explosion. 1t was never known
exactly how many lives were lost, as
many must have been torn to pieces and
blown into the river. The clerk lost a
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