Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1897 — DEATH’S AWFUL FORM [ARTICLE]

DEATH’S AWFUL FORM

COMES TO IMPRISONED PASSENGERS AT SEA. Bixte*n Die In Flames on the Mallor 3 Liner Leona-111-Fated Boat Beaches New York Harbor with Her Ghastly Cargo. Cremated on the Fea. The Mallory line steamer Leona, which left her pier at New York on Saturday, bound for Galveston, took fire at sea, put back and arrived in port Sunday night with sixteen corpses on board. The dead were thirteen steerage passengers and three members of the *rew, who succumbed to & terrible fire which occurred off the Delaware capes at an early hour Sunday morning. The horror of the story can hardly be told. Those who are dead were penned up below decks, and although frantic efforts were made by tie officers of the vessel to save them, the fire had gained such terrible headway before - the danger was discovered that all escape was cut off. The steamer carried in her cargo many bales of cotton. When the fire was discovered it burst forth with such fury that it was impossible to reach the steerage. The saloon passengers were first aroused, and in such a manner as to occasion little alarm. When it became apparent that the fire had cut off the steerage the captain and his men poured great quantities of water down the ventilator, and the most frantic efforts were made for the escape of those penned up. In this way nine of the steerage passengers made their escape. S. V. Winslow, of Rutherford, N. J., a survivor, told the following graphic story of the fire: “First Mate Wallace was pacing the bridge about 2 a. m., when he thought that he smelled smoke. He went down the forward to the companion way and opened the door. There was a burst of flame, which burned his face. “Wallace cried the alarm of fire to the forward watch, telling him to wake the steward and have all the passengers aroused as quickly as possible, without creating any excitement. Warns the Passengers.

“The steward said in calm tones that there was a slight fire in the forward part of the ship, and it might be advisable for the passengers to get their things together. It might be possible, he added, that the ship would eventually have to be abandoned. “There was no excitement among the saloon passengers. The steward made frequent trips forward, and came back with reports of the progress of the flames. He said that the fire was confined below decks, and, as the flames did not rise very high, the passengers did not fully realize the extent of the peril. “Oapt. Wilder at once ordered the crew to rescue the steerage passengers. On the same deck with the steerage, on the port side of the ship, a large quantity of cotton bagging was stored, separated from the steerage passengers by a board partition. “The main deck was almost completely filled with freight, cutting off all exit from the steerage to the afterpart of the ship. The only way out from the steerage was up the forwaud coinpaniouway. Try to Bave Those In the Steerage. “The crew attempted to descend. They were driven back by dense volumes of smoke and flames. The smoke and flames also came up through the ventilators, and it was apparent to all who were on deck that below decks was a roaring furnace. “Then it dawned ou the officers und crew that the unfortunates in the steerage were probably burning to death. Oapt. Wilder saw his crew driven back from the eompanionway and the relation of the horror below made him desperate. “He rushed to the stairs and boldly attempted to go below. He did not get down more than half a dozen steps when the increasing clouds of smoke and the flames shooting up around him drove him back on deck. “He stepped back to the shelter of the pilot taiuse, His face was scorched. Bis eyebrows were burned aw’ay. He stood there dazed and overcome for a moment. Then he exclaimed: ‘No man can go through that and come out alive.’ “When the steward aroused me I jumped up hastily and dressed. I ran forward to see how extensive the fire was. The captain was just coming out of the companionway after his fruitless effort to go below. “When I looked down into that horrible hole the thought came over me like it had over the captain and the crew that there were helpless people down below who were probably burning to death.

“I listened for sounds, but could beer nothing save the roar of the flames as they grew steadily in volume below and rolled round and round in the narrow quarters. There was not a scream, not a shriek, no signs of life below. Only a slight wind was blowing from the southward, that carried the volume of smoke aft over the full length of the ship and her in a shroud of choking black, until tjie captain gave orders to change the course completely, so that the smoke would be blown over the bow. The speed of the ship was first slackened, then the order was given to keep up bare steerageway. "When the news of the fire reached the lower depths of the ship, where the stokers were feeding the boilers, they deserted their posts and rushed to the deck, eighteen of them in all. They clambered into the second boat on the port side and began cutting it away. First Officer Wallace and Chief Engineer Taylor were after them in a moment. “ ‘Get out of that boat,’ thundered Wallace. “The stokers refused to obey and went on cutting away the lashings of the boat. “ ‘Come out of that boat,’ re-echoed Taylor. Then he reached for his revolver. ‘I will shoot the man who cuts away the boat.’ “The Spaniards looked at the chief engineer and then sullenly obeyed. Nine Make Their Escape. “During the excitement of the first hour we did not know that anyone had gotten out of the steerage alive, but later we found in the cabin that nine of them had managed to get out. Their bunks had been nearest to the companion way, and they had been awakened by the part of the crew rushing out of the forecastle. The fire crept up through cracks about the pilot-house and then into the house itself. The quartermaster stuck to the until the flames almost enveloped him. “Captain Wilder ordered signal lights of distress burned, and in a very few minutes there flashed, up In the darkness far to the north an answering signal. It came from the City of Augusta of the Savannah line, which came alongside about daybreak. 1 ” “The passengers were all transferred te the City of Augusta in safety and the work of fighting the fire was continued. About 9 o’clock in the morning the flames were under control and the steamer out of danger. The passengers were sent back to the Leona and the City of Augusta continued on her way to Savannah. The Leona put abbot and returned to port under her own steam.”