Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-03-20

ing upon the docks until il was like
matchwood; she was as ready to burn
as a powder string. Capt. Willis knew
it. He peered down among the freight
upon the lower deck, and saw the
curling smoke and the little spurts of
flame; he looked up at the deck
above, beyond which were the dry
woodwork of the cabin and the in
fiammable upper works; and he
knew that his best hope was to beach
the St. Clair before the fire had
stopped his engines.
Are they out from below?" he
asked.
"Not yet, sir"
rs Van Clede in the engine-room?"
Eyes, sir"
Tell him to stick. Tell them all
to stick. I'm going to run for Bron-
sons. We must keep it under as
much as we can"
The steward went through the cab
in, knocking at the doors and calling
the passengers. They came by twos
and threes, little groups of white
faced people half-dressed. About them
was the blackness of the night, out
of which came the lines of choppy,
off-shore seas--that and nothing
more; as yet they had seen no flame,
had hardly smelled the smoke. Willis
called Van Clede to the speaking-tube.
"Wc're afire over the boilers" he
said.
Yes, SIR"
I'm going to run for Bronson's.
Stick to it as long as you can, and
give us everything you've got"
Eyes, SIR"
Then the head of the st. Clair was
turned into the wind. The passengers,
silent and nervous, gathered, on the
forward deck. There was no turmoil,
no confusion of words; but below, the
crew of the st. Clair, and Shocky
Larson with them, wet and scorched
and choked with smoke, were fighting
the enemy they did not hope to over
come. And the st. Clair, shaking all
over with a steady tremblc, split the
water away before her bluff bow, and
a half-hour licked itself off on the
pilot-house clock.
The head wind drove the flames
steadily back upon the freehold and
engine-room. Fifteen minutes more
and the stokers, burned and blinded,
were dragged through the fire to the
deck. There was steam enough for all
the miles that the st. Clair would
ever travel upon any waters.
In the engine-room Van Clede, out
wardly calm, trembled inwardly with
a kind of ecstasy. A hundred times he
had pressed these engines--pressed
them notch by notch until he thought
that they were doing their utmost;
but never had he pressed them as
now. He knew them, nut and bolt,
through every fraction of their steady
revolution, but now in the swirling
smoke they seemed like mad giants
rushing through their movements.
Yet their music was as even as before,
and the throw which shook the st.
Clair was as regular as a pendulum.
The engine-room was like a furnace;
the paint dropped in scales from the
woodwork, and Van Clede tore a strip
from his shirt, wet it, and tied it
across his mouth and nostrils. His
flesh ached with the heat, and he
stood stoop-shouldcred and childish
eyed, and was proud of his engines.
Twice Willis called Van Clede to the
speaking tube.
Are you there yet?" he asked.
GAIL right so far, sir" said Van
Clede.
Capt. Willis had begun to feel the
nearness of the land, although in the
darkness there was neither signal
light nor shore line to tell him where
he was. A quarter of a mile one way
or the other made a difference of reef
or beach, Dr. safety or destruction.
Aft, the flames were licking the edges
of the upper deck, but Willis signaled
for reduced speed, and the st. Clair
with two men at her wheel, came in
cautiously as a cat, ready to jump
either way.
AT Bronson's they had seen her
coming, and the red light flashed out
at the end of the dock. The light
anne too late. AS it met their eye
suddenly a tremendous shock shook
the St. Clair from stem to stern; out
went the lamps in the cabin, loose
furniture, loose things upon the deck
leaped toward the bow. From below
came the crash of shifting freight,
and passengers and crew, wherever
they stood, were dashed to the deck
and hurled forward.
The st. Clair had struck the reef;
and as il the shock had been a signal
the whole boat aft of her funnel be-
came a flaming torch. The fire seemed
to o along the edges of the deck
as fast as a man could walk. The
boats were gone, the funnel trembled
between the %loosening stays.
Willis, who had been thrown from
his feet by the shock, leaped again to
his place, a wide cash across his fore
head where he had struck the railing,
and signaled for reversed engines.
Back in the swirl of fire which was
all the after part of the st. Clair the
signal was heard and obeyed, but a
thousand horsepower NOR could not
have dragged the steamer free again.
For ten seconds after the shock.
there had been utter silence on the
water, broken only by the dry rush
Of the flames, the cracking of tor
tured planks and the useless churn-
ing of the screw. Now there burst
from so threats shrill shrieks and
cries and frightened agony.
Have you ever seen a panic in a