The Topeka state journal., 1902-04-21

TWO COOKS and TWO CHAMBER
MAIDS and most of the deelIhands
Captain Phillips says twenty or twenty
five OF the passengers are missing ana the
passengers were severely burned, but viii
recover. They are: Mrs. S r. Leach OF
Bridgeport, O.. burned about the hands.
and Mrs. ElIen Fenmore, Arbuc6le. ".
Va, severely burned about the race:
Mrs. Fanny McCuhun OF LeaVenWorth
Ind. lost three children.
Pat Burk Of Owensboro Ky. wife and
six children, were all lost
clothes, was taken from the river AT
Among the first bodies recovered were
those Of Captain Wesley Doss OF Cincin-
natl and Miss Marie Tissim OF Canneilon,
Ind
There were seventy passengers and sew
The IRE started in the forward hatch.
larboard. and burned fercely. When the
steamer ran ashore. escapes We're made
over the cabin railing. Very few passen-
until It was too late. The captain and
clerk claim that in all eighty persons
have been accounted for. leaving Sixty
people lost or unaccounted for
The steamer Maud Kilgore. Captain Cole
brought the survivors to this place at
p. M and the several societies OF the city
rendered all possible assistance IN the way
IL r. Gardiner of Tobinsport Ind. re-
lates his experience as follows
About o'clock 1 was awakened by the
gers. MY stateroOm was half way back
put on life preserVer and my clothes ana
went out and jumped overheard was al
3
man drown who was carried under the
boat by the swift current. was badly
bruised about the limbs but l am gooo
swimmer and managed to get ashore
one of the surviving members Of the
crew gave this account.
The fire was discovered at 4:05 a. m. in
the forward hold In a fey r minutes 9l the
ways burned. cutting off any avenue of
escape. We aroused the sleeping passen-
gers, bursting open the doors to awaken
them Ihey ran OUT Wlt1out pOIIlns u
life preservers and crowded aft The Off
GERS held them back while the one yaWi
was loaded with women ana chlidIen-
The scene was awful About twenty or
thirty We're taken on III the boat ana tnen
those in the water were rescued me
water was very. cold, and the passengers
We're in their night clothing; Those who
We're not burned up IN the poaL dFoWneu
in the cold water, all except those who
We're able TO swim was one OF those.
when We reached shore we We're un-
able to stand and had to be helped out OF
the water. It seemed as though we We're
crazed for we We're screaming with Irlghts
even after we were safe ashore"
Captain Phillips said:
The fire caught in the hold. The
night Watchman claims to have been
in the hold five or ten minutes before
the fire was discovered. The pilot head
ed the steamer directly into the bank
and the sharp bow struck in the mud,
the boat lying quartering with the
| bank"
Mrs. Mulkey, wife of Judge NIulkey,
of Metropolis. Ill. boarded the City Of
Pittsburg, shortly before her disaster
She said.
Il got on the boat at Metropolis to
take passage to Cairo. All Of the pas
sengers were asleep when I went aboard
and L at once went to my staterOOm and
lay down with my clothes on. 1t must
have been an hour or more before I
noticed a Eriught light shining into my
StaterOOm. l Immediately got up and
opened the door and saw that the front
cabin was on fire. At that moment the
electric light went out 1 put life pre-
server on, and managed to grope my
way by the fickering light of the flames
to a door opposite It was the barber
shop. Then I groped further down to
another door. which opened out into the
guards But few passengers We're arOus-
ed at this time, and with others, climb
ed out over the guards and down the
railing, hand over hand to the lifeboar,
which was right below me.
Il hung suspended by my arms for a
W hile and WAS caught by man who
was seated in the boat BY this time
others crowded into the boat and filed
it to overfiowing, but, as if Providen-
TALLY the flames reached the ropes that
held the lifebOat and we dropped into
the river before others could push their
way into the boat
We would have been drowned if 9th
ers had pushed into the boat. The life
boat commenced to drift back toward
the burning steamer and we thought
that we We're going to die after all.
We had no oars to steer the boat and
the men used their hands for oars.
There were people in the river all about
US on every side.
After we had managed to get to the
shore, fires were lighted and the poor
men and women, and children, many of
them in their night dresses, shivering
with the cold and from their wet cloth
ing, huddled about the fires Many of
them had lost those nearest and dearest
to them, and their cries and means were
heartrending.
Some We're burned, but more were
badly bruised and cut by coming into
contact with the wreckage People clung
TO shutters and anything they could find
to float on to shore, and only a few
| succeeded. A physician Who with his
wife was an 0ng the passengers, man
aged to quiet the sufferings of some by
administering morphine, of which he
had small quantity"
At Caledonia. three miles below the
scene of the disaster. the flames could
be plainly seen and the shouts of the
passengers heard, and the people put
out in skifs to the wreck. They assist
ed IN saving some of the passengers.
among these Mrs. R. Leach, of Bridge
port, O., who was terribly burned about
the head; Mrs. Fennimore, of Arbuckle.
". Va. who was burned about the
hands and face, and Mrs. Fannie Nc
Cullum. of l-eavenworth, Ind, who was
| burned about the breast
Many passengers clung by finger tips
to the burning boat. with bodies sub
merged. until overcome by fire or water,
they sank to death. Wesley Neeley, a
fisherman, rescued two from the wheel
house One was a man and the other
a woman Ihe latter chung to the boat
until her hands were burned
The case. of Mrs, Fannie NIcCullum is
most pltifuL With her three children she
was going to CaruthersviHe Mo. to iofn
her husband She jumped overheard and
landed in the yawI but her three chihiren
struck the water and she saw them sink
from sight. She is frantic with grief The
body OF the youngest of the little ones was
recovered opposite Mound City
Another sad incident was the loss Of
one OF the children of Pilot Al Pritchard.
Ihe little one was tossed from the burning
steamer into the arms waiting to catch It
IA the yaWl. but its head struck against
the side OF the boat and it fell into the
river and was lost.
Captain Doss, Who was drowned, was an
old river pilot BE was making the trip
H IoI pleasure with his son, Pilot. Harry