Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 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 Accidente by Flood and Field, on Land and Water. Sinking Ships, Colliding Trains, and Exploding Mines the Chief Causes of Death. / JANUARY. The lonjr chapter of the year’s disasters involving: the destruction of human ltfe ‘ 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 BpileviUe, 111., burned to death. Seven men killed and twelve injured by an explosion of tire-damp in the Ferfay coal/mine at Arras, France. Two hundred Chinese lost by the wreck of the steamer Huai Tuen, fre m Shanghai for Hong Kong. Railway train caught tire from oil on the track, near Bradford, Pa., and eight persons fatally burned. Eleven lives lost in a coal-pit at Cwmamma, Wales, by the breaking of a cage rope. Steamer City of Columbus, from Bpston for Savannah, wrecked In Vineyard Sound; one hundred lives lost. A family of eight persons burned to death in Renoir County, North Carolina- Bark Emma and ten lives lost on the Now 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 mine. The ship Simla, with twenty souls, lost in the English Channel, and a steamer goes down on the Welsh' coast—the loss of life by the two disasters numbering thirty-six. FEBRUARY. Thirty-five people drowned by the breaking of the ice at Thesis, Austria. Six children burned to death at Crockett, Texas. Forty natives killed in Weet 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 p-operty. Ten lives lost by the foundering of ,ae bark Ada Barton, off St. John, N. B. Six persons 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 sinking of a Spanish vessel and the loss of nineteen men. Fifty fishermen on the Caspian Sea carried, out on the ice and drowned. The floods in the Ohio River this month were the worst over known. At Cincinnati the water was over seventy feet deep. Among the disaitrous incidents was the fall of a large board-ing-house in Cincinnati, killing fourteen of the inmates. Nineteen miners killed by a fire-damp explosion four miles 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 oblliory at Pocahontas, Va. Thirteen people buried by a snow avalanche In Utah. Fifteen people killed by a similar accident in Colorado. The ship Bombay founders at sea, and the crew of nineteen perish. APRIL. The town of Oakville, Ind., destroyed by a cyclone, and five persona killed. Storms in Alabama, Georgia and Pennsylvania'cause great destruction of property and 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 the wreek 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 qf a train of ears into tbe river near Ciudad Real, Spain. French banker PaquebotYun down and sunk by Norwegian bark Venus; twelve men drowned. Fourteen inmates of Van Euren 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 tho flames. MAY. Five men killed at' Waterford, N. Y., by the explosion of a bleacher in a straw-board mill. 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 Connellsviile, Pa., fourteen laborers were killed. Several shocks of earthquake throughout the peninsula of Cyzicus, Asia Minor, several villages wore damaged; many houses were destroyed; and 200 persons killed. Nineteen lives lost bv 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 blowd’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 camp 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 Railroad. Deaths from lightning reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Twentyfive persons killed by the breaking of an engine axle on the Manchester and Sheffield Railway. England. Forty persons overwhelmed and drowned 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 of them were 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 Bable Island in a fog; three passengers tort. 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 tbe explosion of a locomotive boiler at White?, Haven, Pa. Lightning struck the farm-houseof Nathan Miner, near Maryville, Kan., killing big four uftughr ten while asleep. . AUGUST. Ste&mer dir of Merida burned at He* muTZ Uvn tost. Transfer steamer ' - it, i -

Belmont sunk m a storm near Ev*.«vllle, Ind.; sixteen lives lost. Sefcl teen men suffocated in an undergrei ta canal at Braye, France. Seven coif U burned to death in a mine at ShamokinJ L five people fatally poisoned at Shelby*!! Ind., by eating biscuit in which arsenhfl kd been put by mistake. A gale on tho foundland coast causes considerable lot Jot life. Seven men killed by An explosions a * coal-pit at Paisley, Scotland. Ten mML longing to Orton's Circus perish in a biffing sleeping-car near Greeley, Col. SEPTEMBER. I Destructive fire in Cleveland, Ohio. I .(no persons killed in an accident on the MAfaan Central Railroad. Distillery expiosiofl/Pekin, ill.—several killed. A rapid risoßEthe Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers, destflring over $1,000,000 worth of property, ■lews from China that the province of Kia»-See had been inundated, and seventy thKsand lives lost- Fifty-two lives lost by th* sinking of the British gunboat Wasp, off Tory Island. Seven persons killed an*'much property destroyed by a qyclone in Ailiegany County, N. Y. Twenty lives lost by a fire in a sulphur mine in Sicily. j . OCTOBER. Sixty persons killed by a railroad accident in India. Oyer 300 lives lost by a hurricane in Iceland- Ten soldiers burned to (death in a fire at the royal palace at Copenhagen. At Esseg, Austria, fourteen children, while playing in aboaton the river Drave.capsized it and all were drowned. Ten men idrowned 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 forgi ry. Five men killed by a powder taill ex] losion at Cumminsville, Ontario. Twenty-e iven persons killed and 400 injured by a syclone in Catania, on the island of Sicily. Th Japanese cities ot Yokohama and Tokio w re visited by a terrible typhoon; in the _ itter city 3,000 houses were wnolly or partially destroyed; twenty people were lftUled; the loss of life at sea wa9 appalling! Six men killed by a boiler explosion all Beltrami, Minn. A storm on the coast of Lower California wrecks a steamer and sfveh 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 panto in a Glasgow theater, caused by a cry of fire. Several vessels wrecked and many lives lost by a hurricane in tbe Bahama Islands. NOVEMBER. Nine persons slain by a boiler explosion in a New Orleans sugar house. Six men die at Sunbury, Ont., from eating pork affected with trichinae. - A railway train goes through a bridge at Hempstead, Texas, drowning twelvd passengers and wounding forty.. Seventeen lives lost by the sinking of the American ship Andrew Johason, off the coast of Brazil. Nine men drowned by the capsizing of a boat near Halifax, N. S. Several persons killed by a boiler explosion on an Alabama River steamer. An unknowndisease, supposed to be caused by a long drought and the consequent drying up of the springs and brooks, carries off many people in Southwest Virginia. 'Twenty persons drowned by the sinking of the steamer Durango, in the English Channel. Seven men killed by a boiler explosion at Elizabeth tewn, Ky. Eight men killed by a railway collision at Henning’s Station, Tenn. DECEMBER. A vessel founders in the China sea, and sixty Chinese find a watery grave. The schooner Mary Joseph wrecked off' St. Johns, N. F., and the 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 Sbamokin, Pa. 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 oystermen drowned in the Rappahannock River, in Virginia, during a gale. Seventy-five men killed by a colliery explosion in South Hungary,