Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1873 — The Ironsides Disaster. [ARTICLE]

The Ironsides Disaster.

An Associated Press dispatch of the 16th gives the following detailed account of the recent Lake Michigan horror: Tile propeller Ironsides left Milwaukee on Sundays night, September 15, on time, but owing to thR. day being Sunday the list of passengers- was not very large, there being biit nineteen-ORthe 'register. There were thirty-two seamen,'■“antr-OES not registered. The steamer hove in sight of Grand Haven at 7 a. m., but did not attempt to make the port on account of the high sea and number of vessels and barges which went on the beach in attempting to make the port. The steamer headed seaward again, and at 9 o’clock appeared to be about nine miles out. She was seen to have fires in her engines till 10 o’clock, when no more smoke was to be seen from the smokestacks. The foresail was then raised, but she had been leaking considerably, and the water gained on the men at the pumps so fast that at 11 o’clock it was evident she must go down. The passengers were all supplied with life preservers, and stood ready at a moment’s warning to take to the boats. At 11:20 Capt. Sweetman, who was commander, ordered the life-boats to be got in readiness and launched. The first boat contained all the ladies but one. The second con tained ten or twelve of the crew and passengers. In the third there was Mr. Watkins, the clerk of the boat, one lady named Mrs. Ward, five passengers, and two of the crew. There were two more boats ■ soon to leave the-steamer after the third had left, but it is thought that the last one did not leave in time to get far enough from the steamer before she went down, and was drawn in the whirlpool and swamped. The steamer sank at 12:20, going down stern first. The first bpat which left the steamer containing the majority of the ladies was capsized, and only one of the passengers succeeded in reaching the shore. The second and third boats succeeded in reaching the shore, but only with the assistance of those on shore, who, hearing of the terrible calamity, rushed to the beach by multitudes on tugs which voluntarily carried all persons, back and forward across the river as fast as possible. The beach was lined with people for about two miles, but the fourth and fifth boats could not be reached in time to offer any possible succor. So high was the wind that the boats were driven ashore before any person could get to them. As the boats approached the shore, and all were overturned in the surf, strong men and expert swimmers formed lines in the water, and in this manner everybody, dead or alive, that was seen, was recovered* - So terrible was the-sea that no assistance could possibly be rendered to the doomed steamer and her living freight The propeller Lake Breeze, which was in port and owned by the same company, made an attempt to go to the assistance of the boats, but was disabled in the attempt, and narrowly escaped going on the’ beach. Among the barges ana vessels which went on in the morning she dropped her anchor and lay there till towed off in the afternoon. All the bodies recovered, which were not cared for by friends who recognized them, were tenderly cared for and dressed for burial by committees of ladies and gentlemen of Grand Haven, who voluntarily and willingly offered their services in taking care of the bodies until they should be identified and cared for by friends. The Piutcs in Utah occupy their leisure moments in catching flying lizards with sticks curved like the handle of a cane, and eat them. When a Piute sees one he extends his stick, and by a dexterous twist of the wrist spinsthe lizard in the air, catching him in his hands as he comes down. The flesh of these lizards resembles! he meat of a bull-frog, and they are said to be even more delicious? As' fast as the Indians catch them they string them around thejr waists and necks, and roast them one by one, as they become hungry. One of the most curious features of the Yellowstone region is to be found in the hotsprings. On the borders of the Yellowstone Lake are often to be seen elevated mounds, which jut out from the shore into the water. These contain pools filled with heated water, so that it is possible for a pgrson standing on the mound to catch trout in the lake with the help of a f shing rod, and to cook them in the boiling spring without taking them off the hook. ... A. Paducah judge has just decided that' negroes and whites, in intermarrying,violate no Jaw of Kentucky.