Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1890 — SEVENTEEN MEN PERISH [ARTICLE]

SEVENTEEN MEN PERISH

AWFUL EXPLOSION ON ASTEAMER IN CHICAGO. The Tioga, of the Union Line, Wrecked by the Ignition of Gas in Her Hold—Flames Attack the Wreck and Char the Bodies of the Unfortunates—A Horrible Catastrophe. Chicago dispatch: By a terrific explosion that shook all the buildings in the center ot the city and startled thousands of residents the stern of the magnificent freight steamer Tioga was blown out and no less than seventeen men met instant death. There was a rush of steam and smoke, a cloud of shattered timbers, and the agonizing cries of those not killed who were unable to escape from the flames that at once began to eat up everything within reach of thoir awful fury. Thousands flocked to the docks of the Union Steamboat company, on the river back of Market street between Washington and Randolph, and the fire engines were soon In tho vicinity doing good, work to prevent tho threatened complcapss of tho big vessel. TheoneS differ as to the cause of tho explosion. Some claim that tho combustible cargo of oil stored in hold 5, directly aft tho boilers, was tho cause. Others claim that tho wator in the boilers had been allowed to run low and they were unable to withstand the strain brought to boar upon them. At 7 o'clock the porter, William Palmer of Buffalo, descended Into tho hold, with soveral lamps, which ho placed about on tho deck that the roustabouts might see 10 contiune their work far ■lnto tho night, as the vessel was to have left on her return trip to Buffalo this evening. No sooner had Palmer ascended to tho upper dock after joking with tho men below than tho explosion came. It Is believed that tho vapor from a few barrels of naphtha communicated with tho light of the lamps and did the fear* ful work. J

The noise of the explosion was hoard nearly a mile distant from the scene. Immediately following It came a shower of wood and iron Utfovn hundreds of feet into the aTr, with here and there the burned and mangled form of some human being plainly visible to tho horrified spectators, and then falling into tho murky waters of tho river, probably never to bo seen again. A sheet of flame wrapped the gigantic vessel from about amidships to the stern, shooting a hundred feet up into the air, lighting up the neighboring warehouses and shipping with a dull glow which only added terror to the scene. From tho depth of the vessel could be heard the roar of the flames and the occasional explosion of a barrel of oil, while the forms of half a score of unfortunates penned in the fiery furnace could bo socn writhing in agony and unable to escape. The sight was an awful one and the firemen, who made heroic efforts to render assistaneo, were steadily driven back from their position. On the upper deck lay the unconscious forms of several men who wore hurled up from below by the force of the explosion. The first body taken out was that of a colored roustabout. It was found hanging partly over the combing of tho hatch leading into hold 5. Not a vestlgo of tho clothing remained, the body being burned almost to a crisp and twisted and distorted In a horrible shape. The face was entirely unrecognizable and tho body was quickly conveyed to tho morgue. A dozen patrol 1 wagons and the ambulance, which had been summoned, now drove up to the docMo receive the dead and wounded. members of the crew, under the command of Capt. Phelps,and the truck companies, lowered themselves into the hold, and, supported by planks laid across the open hatchways, recovered five more bodies and carried them out to the dock. Two of these were white men and two were colored, but they were so burned and distorted as to be entirely unrecognizable. They were taken to the morgue and placed among the unknown dead. The seventeen men killed were all stevedores or members of the crew. About as many more were Injured, soma of them fatally.