Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1890 — FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHIES. [ARTICLE]

FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHIES.

'Many Live* Lost 6j Acddeato«t Cbicafo and HslMHi. ' A frightful explosion occunred at Chicagb on the night of the 11th, on the steamer Tioga, one of the largest vessels on the great lakes. Thirty-eight people were aboard the steamer at the time. When the work of rescuing survivors, which commenced almost instantly, was well under way, only two persons could be found who escaped unhurt. To make matters worse, fire broke out on the wrecked vessel, and huge volumes of flame and smoke impeded the searchers for the dead and dying. The cause of the explosion was obtained about midnight, when the vessel's boilers and the nature of the cargo could be examined. The boilers seemed intact. The cargo was kerosene, gasoline and cotton. Inferences were drawn that tbe leaking of kerosene saturated the cotton and generated noxious fumes. When lanterns were taken into the hold to enable the stevedores to work,' JLh®,lights,. instead of being an aid to unfortunate toirers,"pf6v&ff'tbeirdeßtruction. It was in tbe Chicago river, at the foot of Washington street, that the explosion occurred. This locality is in the heart of the business section of Chicago, and the terrific shock of the explosion brought people running in terror out of the tall buildings blocks away. Most of the victims were residents of Chicago, stevedores, who were unloading the vessel. Only three of the Tioga’s crew were reported on the list. Tbe fire proved a stubborn one, and made it impossible at the time to verify the report that the boilers had exploded. In the hold near the steamer’B stem was where the fire held sway. Through the hursts of fire could be seen a great jagged cleft in the Tioga’s decks and cabin, and aloft on the tall smoke stacks dangled a huge frame work of timber, swaying backward and forward, telling of the terrific force of the explosion which sent it there from thirty feet below. The loss of life was frightful. At this writing nine bodies had been taken from the hold. Several women are believed.to have perished.

A terrible accident occurred in Dartmouth, Halifax, N. S., on the night of the 11th, by which a number of people were drowned, but the exact number is not known. The disaster happened by reason of the chain attached to a ferryboat slipping out of place and allowing the front of the bridge to sink and precipitate a crowd of 600 or 700 men, women and children into the water. Almost all of them were resoued. Four bodies have been taken from the water, and the search continues. The people wt-.re crowded there waiting for the new ferry steamer Annex, just arrived from New York, to dock. When the steamer got within two feet of the landing a number of persons jumped on board, and at that moment the accident occurred. The enter end of the bridge went down sud ienly, and the horror-stricken crowd slipped off into the harbor as though they were descending a slidei piling on top of each other, shrieking for help and scrambling for means of safety. For some minutes there was a confused mass of men, women and children struggling in the water, but the accident had hardly nappened before a dozen brave youths and men leaped to the rescue with* out waiting to throw aside their clothe*. The drowning people were rapidly passed up to the men standing on the wharves, and the rapidity with which the rescuers performed their work resulted in a great ma* jority of those who fell in being saved from death. There were many able swim* mers in the party, and these worked till exhausted, helping the people to land, until there were no more in sight on the surface and those who could not be saved had sunk out of sight.