Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1880 — THE LAKE DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

THE LAKE DISASTER.

Particulars of the Loss of the Tlarine t it j , on Lake Hnrofi. The steamer Marine City left Alpena, Mich., on the afternoon of the 29th of August, with a full load of freight and passengers. At about 4 o’clock p. m., while off Sturgeon point, fire was discovered in the hold, and before any assistance could be rendered the fire had gained such headway that nothing could be done to save her. The crew then commenced to launch the life-boats in order to save the passengers. The tug Vulcan was in sight at the time, and came to the rescue as fast as possible, but before she could get there many had become panic-stricken and jumped overboard. The boat of the life-saving Sturgeon Point station, together with the boats of the Marino City and Vulcan, and a number from the shore, picked up a large number of persons. ,T. L. Jones, of Alpena, one of the passengers, gives the following details of the disaster: “I was standing at ttie engine-room door on the port side talking with another gentleman wheii he smelt smoke. We looked into the fire-room door and saw the fare and flames in the starboard bunkers, among the wood and coal. Wo called the attention of the fireman and engineer to the same, and efforts were at once made to get a stream of water on the fire. The hose was promptly got out. I then went up into the cabin. As I opened the cabin door I found it full of smoke and immediately gave the alarm that the boat was on fire. The most intense excitement prevailed and- a regular panic ensued. The passengers jumped into the water long before there was any need of doing so. The officers and crew behaved nobly, with the single exception of tlie second engineer, who acted like an insane man. Boats were lowered as soon as jxissible and filled at once.” Mr. Jones went forward and remained on the boat until rescued by the Vulcan. He can give no idea of the number of people on board or of the lost.

Mrs. A. B. Clough, of Marine City, and her son, Bert, were on board. Mrs. Clough says she was in the stateroom in the after cabin reading. She heard some one say “ Firo! ” and soon hoard it repeated, but thought it was used in conversation. Bert then came running into tho stateroom exclaiming that tho boat was on fire. She at once went into the cabin and found it mil of smoke. She then went aft. Bert was determined to jump overboard, but she restrained him. Sho found a life-preserver, but, before she could get it on, a large, strong man, a stranger to her, jerked it away from her. She then found Dr. Stockton, of Alcona, and, with his assistance, she and Bert and the doctor reached the main deck, getting down on tho outside. There she picked up a boy about 6 years old who' had been separated from his parents and who was nearly frightened to death. They all four got on tho side of the gunwale and held ou by the window of the porter’s room. A lino was thrown to them, but the doctor did not catch it, and lost his balance and went overboard, but was picked up. The three who were left held on to their position until rescued, Bert fainting at one time from the heat. Tho fire spread rapidly, and the boat soon burned to the water’s edge. Contradictory reports are made as to tho number of lives lost. The trip-sheet is destroyed, and it is therefore impossible to get the names of all tlie passengers. It was at first supposed that all were saved, but there is iio doubt now that at least eight lives M ere lost. Tho steward of the ill-fated vessel says that fifteen lives were lost. All account s agree that the Captain and crew of the Marine City acted with great coolness and bravery, as did Capt. Hackett, of the tug Vulcan, and the crew's of the life-boats.

Toothsome, Perhaps, if Not Fattening 1 . More barbarous or semi-civilized bribes are addicted to the custom of earth-eating, and such a habit exists in some parts of the northern island of Japan. The origin of this custom has been ascribed to various causes, but it seems most probable that, in the majority of cases, the habit has been formed in times of great scarcity, when the people ate the earth in order to partially distend the stomach and so in a measure allay the pangs of hunger, and that from this the custom became a habitual disease. Iu no case yet examined of an earth so used has any appreciable amount of real nutriment been discovered. In Java a fat clay is used; in Lapland a similar earth containing mica. made into a kind of bread; in the South of Persia a carbonate of magnesium and calcium. Some negro tribes and tribes of American Indians are also eartheaters.

Mr. G. G. Love, of New York, has communicated to the Chemical News an analysis of a sample of earth. obtained from a bed several feet in thickness, in a small valley at Tsi etonai, on the north coast of Yezo, and used as food (?) by the Ainos. Tliis earth is of a light gray color and very fine in structure ; it is made into soup, with lily roots and water, by the Ainos. It is essentially a clay, similar to that used by the Javanese, but richer in silica; the sample examined contained but a small amount of organic matter, which consisted of fragments of le&ves possessing an aromatic odor and perhaps intentionally mixed with the earth on that account. It is said that in some parts of Japan, a red hole is made into cakes and eaten by the women with the idea and wish of giving themselves elegant and slender forms. It is also rumored that among the opposite sex, not exclusively natives of the land, a similar diseased habit, arising from the opposite wish, to get fat, is not unknown. An accurate analysis of this dirt has not yet been made, but its permanent nutritive properties appear to be email,— Jopcw Gazette.