Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1882 — RIVER HORROR. [ARTICLE]

RIVER HORROR.

Sinicin* of an Excursion Steamer on like Ohio River—Heartrendin* Lm of Life. From Pittsburgh papers we glean the following particulars of the terrible disaster at Mingo Junction, on the Ohio river, on the 4th of July ; The Scioto, a sidewheel steafner running between Wheeling and Matamoras, been on an excursion to Moondsville, under the auspices of the Wellsville Comet Baud, and had left East Liverpool about 7 o’clock a. m.* taking 200 passengers aboard there. At WelkviUe about 300 or 400 more got aboard, with a band* loading the boat to the guards with a mass of men, women and obildren. The steamer landed at Steubenville betweeu 9 and 10 o’clock, and refused to take any passengers there, although several men aud boys managed to clamber over tho gaards. She went on to Moundsville, and, returning in the evening, had reached a point jußt above Cross creek, on the West Virginia side of the river, when she met the John Lomas coming down in the middle of the stream. The latter is a small steru-wheel boat, which plies between Wheeling and Martin’s Ferry, and had been to Steubenville with an excursion of about 200 people from the latter place. It was about 8:30 o’clock when she came iu sight of the Scioto. The clouds had mostly blown away aud it was quite light ou the river. The Lomas appears to have signaled first, according to regulations, witli one blast, to pass on the left In a few minutos the Scioto responded with two, and made for the middle of the river. The Lomas then gave two whistles, but the boats kept coming closer and closer together. Orders were given to back the ongines, but it was too late to do any good. Tho boats came together with a tremendous crash, the Lomu striking the Scioto on the larboard, or left-hand side, just about the ash-box, tearing into her guards aud making a largo hole in the hull, through which she began taking water at a rapid rate. As may be imagined, the confusion oir board was terriblo. The number of women aud children on board was especially large, and as the boat began to settle at once tho scene was heartrending—parents looking for tlioir children and vice versa, husbands for their wives and wives for their husbands, and prayers and cries filled the air. The officers, to their credit, tried to keep the people cool, with the usual result in such cases—nobody paid much attention to thorn. The boat began going down at oico, and in three minutes there was five feet of water in the cabin. Those on the lower deck (not less than fifty in number) negan jumping into the river, and the example was contagious. Many followed thorn like a flock of sheep, while others more cool made their way to the Hurricane roof, where there was safety as long as it would hold up under the weight There were a dozen or fifteen men lying drunk on the lower deck, and all wero doubtless hurried into eternity without warning. The river seemed black with human beings and debris of all kinds, and it will be days at least before the full extent of the disaster is known. There were three boats on tho Scioto, and they were at once lowered. In the excitement the first was overcrowded and swamped, but it is believed that none of the inmates were lost. The other two boats were managed better, and did good work in rescuing passengers. Tho Lomas was not much damaged by the accident, and, after landing her crowd on the West Virginia shore, returned to the help of those ou the hurricane deck of the Scioto. It required the greatest care in doing this work, first to avoid turning over the Scioto, and second, to avoid a rush from the Scioto to the Lomas, which might have been fatal. Four trips were made, and those on the boat were finally landed on the Ohio shore. The loss of life cannot yet be ascertained. There was no registry of the passengers, and the loss can only be determined by the failure of the missing to come home. Fourteen bodies have been recovered up to this writing, and thirty-three are known to be missing. The total loss will exceed 100. The crowd in the boat was certainly not less than 500, and probably numbered 600 or 700.