Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-16

I
! johnson and John Dorsey. colored, deckhands;
William johnson. eolored fireman. and Robert
was a nephew Of Capt. Bell's. young man
| who had been down the river and who bunked
| on the boat for the night because the cars had
| stopped running. .
| 1t was perhaps quarter past when Mr..
| Stuart turned in. having seen to all the prep
arations for the night. the piling up CT chairs
and the banking of the fires. The steamer was
| probably never tied to the wharf u the end OF
any of her numerous trips in a better condl
| joyed the utmost confidence of his employers
/ had personally attended TO the fires and hat
gone home. not far from the wharf
| 1t was about 5 o'clock when Mr. Stuart
awoke in natural way. without any suspicion
! Of fire being on the boat. He walked about a
| little and then returned to his room, where he
| lay down a sofa, and he was quite awake.
when q few minutes afterward he smelie1
| smoke. Rising on his elbow he looked out of
cerned smoke coming from the lower windows.
He slipped his shoes on hurriedly and ran
| around to the room of the captain. across the
boat. Calling to him. he managed to awake
him. The captain ON hearing that the steamer
was on ire. called to his mate to turn out the
Mr.. Stuart then jumped down to the lower
deck and into the fireman. Johnson. who
was coming. half sufocated. from the lower
part of the boat. The smoke was then pouring
| out from the irehole in dense volumes and in
q few more seconds the flames had appeared
at the opening.
1t is very interesting to the Ram
bier to study the technique of this
story The man who wrote it got
all the facts before he began writing,
and he must have written it fast
after getting the facts. He seems
to have seen everybody connected
with the affair. and then. after tell
pened, he proceeds to present the
facts in the order of their happening.
though. of course, he did not collect
the facts in their sequence. When
he sat down to write he had a tumble
Of facts which as he went along he
proper order. 1t was very good
piece of work.
But now to matter of the Corcoran.
In that story the Rambler reads that
the fire hose of the boat was set to
work; that Mr.. Stuart telephoned to
police headquarters to turn in an
alarm of fire; that the Waterman at
the ferry wharf where the Corcoran
was moored cut her hawsaw and she
drifted out into the river; that the
incoming tide sent her in the. direc--
ton OF the Manchester; that beyond
the Manchester lay the George Leary:
beyond the Leary, the Wakefield and
beyond the Wakefield. the Tygert.
Then, the steamboat Washington
came in from Norfolk. The Corcoran,
to the Leary; the Leary was saved.
and for that act credit was given to
the engineer, Mr.. Germond. his assist
and. G. w. Lawrence and to the
second mate. j. A. Posey. The tug D.
NJ. Key. Captain Taylor. made fast a
tomac helped to tow the blazing
steamer toward the flats where she
grounded.
The fire department responded
promptly. No. engine being the first
to arrive. but the boat was beyond
the reach of the hose. Then the
police boat Joe Blackburn laid
cable of hose from the shore to the
Corcoran, and firemen got on board.
but the Corcoran was past all hope of
was saved. and there never was an
explanation of the cause of the fire.
Policemen Considine and Stuart of
the Joe Blackburn recovered the body
Of Grantley. Manager S. c. Ramage
gave The Star man an interview. in
which he said that there was mot a
boat on the river better differed
than the Corcoran." A few hours
after the fire The Star. with the fire
story. was in every home in Wash
ington and the suburbs, and carried
an editorial vigorously pointing out
ington.
The w. w. Corcoran was built in
1873 by the Quintard iron works of
New York for Capt. l. L. Blake and
Col. Joseph c. McKibbin, represent
ing the Mount Vernon Steamboat
Company. Her cost was $4,000.
The steamboat Arrow was sold Just
before the arrival of the Corcoran.
In 1885 the Corcoran was rebuilt at
the Alexandria shipyard. 1t was esti-
mated that in the thirteen years of
her service on the Potomac the Cor
coran carried 100000 passengers
One of the historic storms on the
Chesapeake was that of October
22-24. 1873. The Express went down,
the Shirley of the York river line
was blown ashore on Barren Island.
the steamer Massachusetts went
ashore at Drum Point, the Tangier
lost large part of her upper works,
the Theodore Weems sustained in
jury, the steamer Louisa went
ashore on middle ground, the steamer