Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1885 — A YEAR’S DISASTERS. [ARTICLE]

A YEAR’S DISASTERS.

Record of the Notable Mishaps Involving the Destruction of Human Life. A Ghastly Catalogue of Accidents by Flood and Field, on Land and Water.

Sinking Ships, Colliding Trains, and Exploding Mines the Chief Causes of Death. JANUARY. The long chapter of the year’s disasters involving the destruction of human life opened on the 2d day of January, when twenty-seven men were killed by a railway collision at Toronto, Canada. The other accidents during January which we have thought worth recording are as follows: Thirty-two nuns and pupils In the Roman Catholic Convent at Belleville, 111., burned to death. Seven men kllied and twelve injured by an explosion of fire-damp in the Ferfay coal mine at Arras, France. Two hundred Chinese lost by the wreck of the steamer Huai Tuen, frcm Shanghai for Hong Kong. Railway train caught fire from oil on the track, near Bradford, Pa., and eight persons fataliy burned. Eleven lives lost in a coal-pit at Cwmamma, Wales, by the breaking of a cage rope. Steamer City of Columbus, from Boston for Savannah, wrecked in Vineyard Sound; one hundred lives lost. A family of eight persons burned to death in Lenoir County, North Catalina- Bark Emma and ten lives lost on the New Jersey coast. Ten men killed by a colliery explosion in France, and a dozen by a similar accident in England. Ten men drowned by the upsetting of a raft at Carthage, Tenn. Loss of three Gloucester fishing schooners, with fifty-six men. Fifty-nine lives lost by an explosion in a Colorado miqfo. The ship Simla, with twenty souls, lost in the English Channel, and a steamer goes down on the Welsh coast—the loss of life two disasters numbering thirty-six.

FEBRUARY. Thirty-five people drowned by the breaking of the ioe at Thesis, Austria. Six children burned to death at Crockett, Texas. Forty natives killed in Wen, Africa by an explosion of gunpowder. A cyclone sweeps over Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas, killing upward of 400 people and destroying a vast amount of property. Ten lives lost by the foundering of the bark Ada Barton, off St, John, N. B. Six person* killed and eight wounded by the fall of a railroad train through a bridge near Indianapolis. Ind. Gasoline explosion in a store in Alliance, Ohio; eight persons killed. News from Corunna, Spain, of the s nking of a Spanish vessel and the loss of n ncteon men. Fifty fishermen on tho Caspian Sea carried out on the ice and drowned. The floods in the Ohio River this month were the worst ever known. At Cincinnati the water was over seventy feet deep. Among the disastrous incidents was the fall of a largo board-ing-house in Cincinnati, killing fourteen of tho inmates. Nineteen miners killed by a fire-damp explosion four tnlies from Uniontown, Pa. Seventeen passengers killed by the explosion of the boiler of the steamer Kotsai, from Hong Kong for Macao.

MARCH. One hundred and fifty four lives lost by an explosion in a colliery at Pocahontas, Va. Thirteen people buried by a snow avalanche in Utah. Fifteen people killed by a similar accident in Colorado. Tho ship Bombay founders at sea, and tho crew of nineteen perish. APRIL. The town of Oakville, Ind., destroyed by a cyclone, and five persons killed. Storms in Alabama, Georgia und Pennsylvania cause great destruction of property und kill some twenty people. Five men killed at Port Arthur, Canada, by an explosion of dynamite. Thirteen lives lost by the burning of a steamer on the Chattahoochee River, In Georgia. Loss of the steamer Daniel Steinmann off Halifax; 124 people drowned. Seven persons killed by a railway accident at Cisco, Tex. Eight men lose their lives by a railroad accident at Scranton, Pa. Five children burned to death at Gadsden, Ala. Many people killed and maimed by a fire and panic in a theater at Bucharest. Fifteen lives lost by tho wreck of the Danish bark Alba, in the Shetland Islands. Five persons drowned while boating in the Hudson River, near Sing Sing. Collision in mid-ocean between steamer State of Florida and bark Ponema. Both vessels lost and 135 persons drowned. More than forty persons killed by the falling of a train of cars into the river near Ciudad Real, Spain. French banker Paquebot run down and sunk by Norwegian bark Venus; twelve men drowned. Fourteen inmates of Van Buren County Poor House, near Hartford, Mich., burned to death. Explosion of powder magazine of San Antonio, near Havana; twentyone persons killed and many wounded. Extensive forest fires in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, burning several villages and many square miles of timber land; a number of persons perished in the flames. MAY. Five men killed at Waterford, N. Y., by the explosion of a bleacher in a straw-board mJIL The French brig Senorine foundered off the great banks of Newfoundland, the crew and passengers, numbering sixty two, perishing. The British ship Syria wrecked on the Fiji Islands; seventy passengers, all coolies, were drowned. By collision between freight and gravel trains on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, near Connellsville, Pa., fourteen laborers were killed. Several shocks of earthquake throughout the peninsula of Cyz-lous, Asia Minor, several villages were damaged; many houses were destroyed; and 200 persons killed. Nineteen lives lost by the foundering of the ship Alantine off the Magdalen Islands. The bottom of the ferry boat at St. Alberts, P. Q., broke through, causing the drowning of seven persons. By the explosion of a boiler in the Whitney Marble Works at Gouverneur, N. Y., seven men were killed. Ten women were blown to pieces and two others wounded by an explosion of dynamite at a factory in Ayrshire, Scotland. Five persons killed by a boiler explosion at Dubuque, lowa.

JUNE. Eleven men drowned In a flood, caused by a cloud-burst, in cainp on Frenchman's Creek, Colorado. Schooner Six Brothers and fourteen men lost off Newfoundland. Eleven men drowned at Thompson’s Falls, Montana. News from Greenland of the loss of the Danish brig Elena and ten of her crew. Two Americans and twelve Mexicans killed in a railroad accident in New Laredo. Several persons fatally Injured by the wrecking of a train on the Burlington and Missouri Ballroad. Deaths from lightning reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Twentyfive persons killed by the breaking ot an engine axle on the Manchester and Sheffield Hallway, England. Forty persons overwhelmed and. frowned by a water-spout in Russian Turkestan. Fourteen men killed by the premature explosion of a blast • near Tampico, Mexico.' Thirty people killed by the explosion of a powder-mill in Italy. Abridge across the river Vistula, in Germany, upon .which many people were standing, was swept away by a flood and twenty off them wore drowned. . Six Italians drowned at Somers, ?N. Y., by’the upsetting Of a boat. JULY. Steamer Amsterdam, of Netherlands and American Navigation Company’s line, wrecked on Sable Island in a fog; three passengers lost. Twenty * four miners killed by a colliery explosion in British Columbia. Ten persons drowned by the foundering of a schooner off Beck’s Beach, N. J. Twenty passengers killed and forty seriously Injured by a railway accident near Manchester, England. Five men killed by the explosion of a locomotive boiler at White Haven, Pa. Lightning struck the farm-house Of Nathan Miller, near Maryville, Kam. killing his four daughters while asleep. 4 AUGUST. Steamer City of Merida burned at Havana; no lives lost. Transfer steamer

Belmont sunk m a storm near Evantville, Ind.; sixteen lives lost. Seventeen men suffocated in an underground canal at Braye, France. Seven colder* burned to death in a mine at Shamokin, Pa. Five people latally poisoned at Shelbyville, Ind., by eating biscuit in which arsenic bad bean put by mistake. A gale on the Newfoundland coast causes considerable loss of life. Seven men ki led by an explosion in a coal-pit at Paisley. Scotland. Ten men belonging to Orton's Circus perish in a burning sleeping-car near Greeley, Col.

SEPTEMRER. Destructive fire in Cleveland, Ohio. Nine persons killed in an accident on the Mexican Central Railroad. Distillery explosion, Pekin, Ill.—several killed. A rapid rise in the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers, destroying over $4,006,000 worth of property. News from China that the province of Kiang-See had been inundated, and seventy thousand lives lost: Fifty-two lives lost by the sinking of the British gunboat Wasp, off Tory Island. Seven persons killed and much property destroyed by a cyclone in Allegany County, ,N. Y. Twenty lives lost by a fire in a sulphur mine in Sicily.

OCTOBER. Sixty persons killed by a railroad accident in India. Over 300 lives lost by a hurricane m Iceland. Ten soldiers burned to death in a fire at the royal palaeo at Copenhagen. At Esseg, Austria, fourteen children, while playing in aboaton the river Drave,capsized it and all were drowned. Ten men drowned at Chicago by the washing away, during a gale, of a hut in which they were lodging. Ex. Gov. Moses sentenced to three months in the Detroit Penitentiary for forgery. Five men killed by a powder mill explosion at Cumminsville, Ontario. Twenty-seven persons killed and 400 injured by a cyclone in Catania, on the island of Sicily. The Japanese cities ot Yokohama and Toklo were visited by a terrible typhoon; in the latter city 8,000 houses were wholly or partially destroyed; twenty people were kllied; the loss of life at sea was appalling. Six men killed by a boiler explosion at Beltrami, Minn. A storm on the coast of Lower California wrecks a steamer and seven sailing craft, the loss of life reaching nearly 100. Eighteen men suffocated in a coal mine at Youngstown, Ohio. Sixteen persons trampled to death during a panic in a Glasgow theater, caused by a cry of fire. Several vessels wrecked and many Ilves lost by a hurricane in the Bahama Islands.

NOVEMBER. Nine persons slain by a boiler explosion in a New Orleans sugar house. Six mon die at Sunbury, Ont., front eating pork affected with trlohimv. A railway train goes through a bridge at Hempstead, Texas, drowning twelve passengers and wounding forty. Seventeen lives lost by the sinking of the American ship Andrew Johnson, off the coast of Brazil. Nine mon drowned by the capsizing of “a boat near Halifax, N. 8. Several persons killed by a boiler explosion on an Alabama River steamer. An unknown disease, supposed to be caused by a long drought and tho consequent drying up of the springs and brooks, carrio's otf many people in Southwest Virginia. Twenty persons drowned by the sinking of the steamer Durango, in tho English Channel. Seven men killed by a boiler explosion »vt Elizabethtown, Ky. Eight men killed by a railway collision at Henning’s Station, Tenn. DECEMBER. A vessel founders in tho China sea, and sixty Chinese find a watery grave. The schooner Mary Joseph wrecked oir St. Johns, N. F., and tho passengers and crew, thirteen in number, drowned. Four schooners, with all on board, lost on the Newfoundland coast. Six men killed by a gas explosion in a mine at Shamokin, I’a. A conflagration at Trenton, Pa., causes the death of six persons. Five people lose their lives in a similar way at Newport, Ark. An orphan asylum in Brooklyn, N. Y., burned, and twenty-five children cremated. Thirty negro oystcrinon drowned in tho Rappahannock Kiver, in Virginia, during a gale. Seventy-five men.killed by a colliery explosion in South Hungary.