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Show BOILERS OF TOf BOAT LET' i ; GO WHILE WMAGE, 'AND ; ; ;:M Victims Are Hurled Into the Icy Waters of the Ohio River, and Few Escape Serious Injury. HUNTINGTON, W. Va, Jan. 4. At 11 o'clock last night the . people of this city were startled by a terrible explosion, explo-sion, followed almost Immediately by a lurid glare, which lighted up the sky tor miles around. Investigation showed that the boilers of the towboat Defender Defend-er had exploded just opposite this city and the boat and a number of barges in tow were In flames. The work of rescuing the killed and Injured began and It was soon found that the loss of life had been great. Of the thirty-eight men on the boat only nine escaped serious injury. Several bodies have been recovered. . Many Are Lest. Five persons are so badly burned and scalded that their lives- cannot be saved. Six more of the crew cannot be ac-r counted for, and it is believed that their lifeless bodies now lie at the bottom bot-tom of the Ohio. The Defender was owned by the Pittsburg Towboat company and was one of the biggest towboats on the river. riv-er. She had been one of the first boats out of Pltuburg on the recent rise and towed a heavy line of coal barges to the CiRcinnatl market. Boats Were Racing. She was returning to Pittsburg in company !th the big towboat Victor of the same company, and the statement state-ment is made that the two big steam- -ers were racing at the time the explosion explo-sion occurred. The Victor was about a mile ahead of the Defender at the time. The burning, of the Defender was viewed by thousands of people, many of whom stood shivering along the ' shores, gowned only in night robes. Work of Rescue Difficult." . . The work of reqcua- Of the victim difficult; owing to the darkness," and only a few vessels could be secured to -go to the scene. Capt. Woodruff of the Defender was picked up fifty yards from the steamer by some small boys, who rowed in a yawl from the Ohio .. uc ca ij&vu uu mat Mae of the river. H is not seriously injured. in-jured. One victim was found half a mile below the scene, clutching a portion por-tion of the wreckage, being so chilled that he could not speak. Boat Soon Sinks. The boat almost Immediately after the explosion sank to the bottom, not more than sixty yards from the West Virginia shore. The barges in tow were toon all aflame, but they were cut loose and they floated down the stream aflame. They were finally landed and the flames extinguished by the Are department. de-partment. The body of Thomas Duffy of Pittsburg, Pitts-burg, a fireman on the steamer, was one of the. first taken from the wreck. The body of a fireman known as James was the next recovered. He lives at Corryopolis, Pa, Those rescued from the steamer arr so seriously injured that they can give no names or information regarding the tatastrophe. It is believed that many bodies have been blown into the river and may never be recovered. Among tnose injured was a woman not known. Eight men are known to be dead and three seriously Injured in the explosion and fire. THE DEAD: Perry Spencer, mate. Point Pleasant. Horace Wetzel, watchman. Pittsburg. James Seese, lamp trimmer, Wells-ville. Wells-ville. Albert Hamilton, fireman, Pittsbur?. Michael Stafford, fireman. Pittsburt. Thomas Duffy, fireman, Pittsburg. William Wetzel, deckhand. George Kldd, deckhand. Nearly All Were Asleep. The Defender was returning from Cincinnati with a tow of empties. Capt. James Woodward was in the pilothouse at the time of the accident and with the exception of fireman, engineer and th watchman, the remainder of the crew were asleep. The explosion of the starboard boilers boil-ers blew out the entire side of the boat and awakened the sleeping members of the crew. The survivors grabbed what clothing they could find and plunged Into the Icy waters of the Ohio river irt an effort to escape. Survivors Nearly Frozen. The night was bitter cold, the thermometer ther-mometer hovering about zero, and as the explosion occurred at a point some distance from any town, those who escaped es-caped were nearly frozen before they could be given shelter. The boat caught fire immediately following fol-lowing the explosion and drifted down, the river about 200 yards where she sank in shallow water. Origin Is a Mystery. Capt. Woodward says that the origin of the explosion Is a complete mystery,-as mystery,-as the boilers were so far as known In excellent condition. A number of men are working on the wreck today to re-, cover the bodies of the dead. So far six bodies have been recovered. |
