Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1887 — THE WESTERN STATES. [ARTICLE]

THE WESTERN STATES.

The steamer Champlain, bound for Cheboygan from Chicago, was burned on Friday morning between Norwood and Charlevoix, at the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. The flames suddenly shot up from beneath the engine, driving the engineer from his post with his clothes on fira He plunged into a tank and then returned to the engine-room, but was too late to stop his engine or connect his hose. The sleeping passengers were aroused, and when lifepreservers had been fastened on all of them they gathered on the forward deck. Two lifeboats and the life rafts were lowered, but the steamer was running so fast that they got away, and in ten minutes from the time the boat caught fire its passengers were all compelled to jump into the lake. There were fifty-seven persons on board, including the crew. The lost are as follows: Ella Cooper Smith, of Charlevoix; Robert Wilkes, of Charlevoix; George Wrisley, of Charlevoix; Mrs. M. Kehoe, of Chicago; R. M McKeel; Captain Lucas, of Petoskey; Henry Brennan, the clerk, of Chicago; C. H. Russell, of the Jackson Corset Company. Besides the above two children of Steward Bean, of Chicago, aged 3 and 5; the fireman, second cook and cabin bey, all of Chicago; a man and a boy from Milwaukee, bound for Mackinac; one waiter and four Indian deck hands, and a woman and daughter from Frankfort, whose names are unknown, are among the lost Those saved floated an hour and a half, when they were rescued by a yawl and fish-boats from the shore. The following are among the saved: Capt Casey, First Mate Harry Bishop of Pulaski, N. Y.; Second Mate Joseph Thorpe, Wheelsmen S. Bishop and James Barr, Watchman James Markey, Engineer John McAffrey of Manistee, badly burned; Engineer Warne, P. Katon, first cook; Roy Hazleton, a waiter; Miss Kehoe of Chicogo, Mrs. Ingalls of Petoskey, Mrs. H. Bedford of Charlevoix, George Miller df Charlevoix, Mary Wakefield of Charlevoix, William Stevens of Charlevoix, Henry Wilks of Charlevoix, Fred Wrisley of Charlevoix, W. B. Albright of Chicago, Steward Martin Bean and wife, Mrs. Kane, the stewardess; Antoine Shaw of Charlevoix and one white deck hand; R. Whitemore, of Milwaukee; Miss Wilson, of Petoskey; E. Fall, of Bear Lake. Seven others are not accounted for. The hull was towed into Charlevoix on Friday. It was supposed that the fire was set by the explosion of a lamp in the oil-room. The bodies of Mrs. Smith, Capt Lucas, McKeel, Brennan, and three others have been recovered, and tugs are searching for more. The shoe and foot of a victim have been recovered from the hull

Maxwell, the murderer of Preller, will hang, as the Supreme Court at St Louis has affirmed the finding of the lower court A geNebal deficiency of moisture is reported from all sections of Illinois. Oats, wheat, and meadows are suffering from want of rain, especially in the northern part of the State. Wheat harvesting is well advanced in the southern counties, and oat harvesting has begun in the lower tier. A Chicago d'spatch of Monday says: William J. McGarigle, ex-Chief of Police and present Warden of the County Hospital, and Edward McDonald, engineer at the County Hospital, spent Sunday behind the bars of the county jail as the result of the long “boodle” trial, in which the jury found both of them guilty and sentenced each to three years’ imprisonment at Joliet The trial lasted seven weeks. When court met Saturday Judge Shepard delivered the court’s charge to the jury and the twelve men retired to the grand jury room to agree upon a verdict The jurors were a unit in their belief of the guilt of the two Macs, but were about equally divided as to making the term of punishment one, two, or three years. The maximum penalty of the law is three years’ imprisonment or $1,003 fine, but money punishment never entered into the deliberations of the jury, and a verdict was soon reached giving both the extreme penalty of the law. Judge Shepard was recalled to the court-room at 3 o’clock by the jury’s bailiff, and a few moments later the jurors stalked solemnly in. Foreman Fitzpatrick handed to the clerk a folded slip of paper, which, on instructions from the Court, was opened and read, as follows: “We, the jury, find the defendants guilty of conspiracy to obtain money by falsi pretenses, in the manner and form as charged in tho indictment, and fix the pl na! ty at three years in the penitentiary.” McGarigle turned ghastly whit?, and great dro; s of cold sweat stood out on his face as ho blankly stared at the carpet, seemingly stunned by the shock. Ed McDonald affected to coolly read a paper, but the deep red of his flushed face and the nervous twitching of his hands betrayed the nervousness he tried so hard to hide. Mike McDonald was whiter even than McGarigle and too much astounded to say a word. The jury was polled, each man affirming his words, and then they were dismissed by the Judge, with a few words of thanks for their patience. Counsel for the defense entered the usual motion for a new trial There is universal rejoicing in Chicago at the outcome of the trial At the base-ball grounds, where the Detroit and Chicago clubs were sontesting a game in the presence of 10,000

people, the news of the conviction of the boodlers was posted on the bulletin board, and was received with shouts of approval that were heard for miles. The lose of life by the burning of the propeller Champlain, near Charlevoix, Mich., proves to be larger than at first reported. Of the crew and passengers, numbering fiftyseven, only twenty-seven are known to have been saved. It is believed that an accurate list of the lost will never be secured.