The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-05-26
LONE MAN SAVES
STR. jim WOODS
FROM BOAT FIRE
fFsa -
Derrick Catches Fire and Boom Falls
Upon Combine TOwboat'-.Tug, Man
and Steamer Fight Hard
atlce -------
LOSS PROBABLY $4,000
~ + VA -- 81
Captain Faudree Estimates Destruc.
tion.-Track Barge Of Iron Noun.
tain is Destroyed
LOSS PROBABLY $4,000


steamer jim Woods, which was lay
ing up for repairs, last night saved
the Woods from burning, when
derrick boat Of the st. Louis and
Huntington Towboat Company
caught fire and burned to the
waters edge. The fire started at 9
O'Clock and burned the derrick boat
and track barge, belonging to the
Iron Mountain railroad which car.
ried ten cars of lumber.
The Jim Woods and the derrick
boat were tied to the River Com
bne feet, at the Halliday Elevator,
where the Tug Frances burned sew
eral days ago. Neither had steam up.
When the derrick boat caught
fire, the crew fed across the barges
to safety. The watchman stayed on
the Woods and got out a line OF
hose, attached to the Niger
boiler. He began playing the line
on the burning boat, so as to keep
the fire from the Woods.
Brown Comes to Aid,
The tow6Cat Harry Brown, SOM
ing up the river with 80 empty
barges. arrived within few min
utes after the fire started. The cap
tain ran the tow alongside the
Woods and tried to get her out. In.
stead of running ahead, he backed
the Woods out and ran into the
burning boat. The jar caused the
heavy steel boom. of the derrick, to
fall into the upper work OF the
Woods. The derrick stuck and the
boat could not be pulled loose.
When the fire started, the watch
mDnman on the Woods got the hose
out and began throwing water where
it would prevent the fire spreading
to the Woods. He was standing on
the rear end, when the derrick fell
He dropped the hose and ran back
twenty o. thirty feet, just as the
heavy boom fell, where he had been
standing a minute before.
AS quick as the tearing and rend-
ing of the Woods upper works
ceased, the watchman picked up the
hose and resumed his work, keep
ing it up until the burning boa'
had been towed to the Kenucky side,
Tug Works Hard
In the meantime, the tug Theseus
had been called. The tug, which
had been cooled for the night, anc
had up only a small head of steam
maneuvered about the blazing boat
and tried to get a line onto her
Finally they managed to get up to
the boat and push her around. This
failed to loosen the derrick and the
tug ran alongside and began play
ing a stream of water on her.
During this time, the watchman
stuck to his post and threw water
OH the blaze until the Theseus gave
up trying to pull the burning boat
loose When The TUG started q
stream onto the burning boat, the
fire was soon extinguished.
People See Fight of Life.
During the fire, thousands of peo-
pie flocked to the river bank to sec
the sight. The fight, that occurred
in midstream, between lone man.
the tug, the immense towboat and
her tow and the Jim Woods, was a
most remarkable one. Time and
again it looked like the little tug
had gained control of the situation
but a minute later, she would be
seen steaming away from the blaz-
ing hulk to take fresh start.
Meantime the lone man with his
hose, could be seen standing on the
upper deck of the Jim Woods
throwing a stream of water into the
blaze.
The Harry Brown kept her search.
and the blazing hulk. until after II
o'clock, when the fire apparently
was extinguished.
While the Brown, the man and
the tug were fighting the fire on the
derrick boat, an Iron Mountain
Transfer barge, with ten cars Of
lumber. belonging to the Three
States Lumber Co., was burning
The barge was cut loose and towed
to midstream, where it was allowed
to goat. It came ashore near Cairo
Point, where the fire was extin-
guished by the tug, after the boat
fire had been subdued.
The loss probably will aggregate
$4,000 according to Captain Faud-
rec of the River Combine