The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1919-01-16
DISASTERS

Fires, railroad accidents and explo.
sions took heavy toll Of human life
on land during the year 1918 while the
elements combined with the torpedoes
Of the German U-boats to send. thou
sands of innocent persons, including
women and children, to their death at
sea.
Fifty-two children met death In
fire which destroyed convent at Mon
treal, Canada, February IA. February
"a the liner Florizel, bound from st.
Johns ". f., 20 New York, was
wrecked by blizzard near Cape Race
and 90 lives were lost.
Seventy inmates of an insane asylum
at Norman, Okla, were killed in fire
which destroyed that institution April
IL.
On May / the Savannah liner City of
Athens was sunk in a collision with q
French cruiser off the Delaware coast
and &c lives were lost. On May IS
nearly hundred persons were killed
by explosions in the Aetna Chemical
plant near Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sixty-three persons, includsng we'll
known circus performers, persisted
when circus train was wrecked at
Gary, Ind, June %. Fifty persons were
killed by the collapse Of building at
Sioux City, Ia, June %.
A small factory explosion in England
killed SO persons July 1 and on the fol-
lowing day an explosion In a munitions
plant near Syracuse, N. Y, killed 16.
Eighty-fve merrymakers persisted
when an excursion boat sank in the
Illinois river July 5. A hundred per-
sons were killed in collision between
two trains near Nashville, Tenn
July 9.
A tornado swept part Of Minnesota
August 21, killing so persons at Tyler
and Connors.
During the months of September
and October hundreds Of persons lost
their lives at sea either by accident
or by the torpedoing of passenger
boats by German submarines. On Sep
TENDER IL the British steamer Galway
Castle was torpedoed and 1S9 persons,
including 80 women and children, were
lost. The American cargo boat IT.
conderoga was torpedoed September
80 and 213 persons were lost. A tor
,pedo boat sank Japanese liner on Oc-
tober and 200 persons were drowned.
On October the United States trans
port Otranto was sunk In collision of
the Irish coast and $50 persons lost
their lives. Four hundred were lost
when the British mail boat Leinster
was torpedoed and sunk October 10.
A series Of terrific explosions in
shell-loading plant at Morgan, N. j.,
on October 8 killed "a persons and de-
stroyed vast amount Of property. A
severe earthquake which caused the
death of $50 persons was reported in
Porto Rico October IL. Great forest
fires ragged in northeastern Minnesota
during October. Many towns were de-
stroyed and. about 1000 lives were lost.
On October 25 the steamship Princess
Sophia was wrecked on the Alaskan
coast and 343 were lost.
Ninety-eight persons were killed No
l.
Rapid Transit lines. On November q,
about 1900 persons were reported
killed by the explosion of German mu-
milton trains en- route from Belgium to
Germany.
One of the most unusual cases in
maritime history was that of the
United States navy collier Cyclops,
which disappeared at sea while bound
from the West Indies to an American
Atlantic port. Announcement was
made April IA that the boat, with 293
persons on board, was a month over
due. Not a single trace of the boat
or it's passengers and crew was ever
found, and the fate Of the vessel is a
complete mystery.