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Show A STEAMER AFIRE. A Noted Mississippi Steamer Burned With Great Loss of Life. New Orleans, Sept. [September] 4th [?] - The Picayune's Vicksburg special says: This morning at 3 o'clock a fire broke out on the steamer Robert E. Lee while on a trip to this city, about thirty miles below here, resulting in the total destruction of the boat with terrible loss of life. The Lee had just been overhauled and newly painted and was on her first trip this season. She left Vicksburg yesterday evening for New Orleans with 500 bales of cotton and a good list of passengers. While opposite Point Pleasant at 4:30 a.m., she was discovered to be on fire and was immediately headed for the Louisiana shore and landed at Lancation [?] plantation, 35 miles below Vicksburg. In a few minutes she was completely enveloped in flames. Twenty-one persons are believed to be lost, including many of the crew. The steamboat [unreadable] passed the wreck about 2 a.m. and took the remaining passengers and crew to Vicksburg. S. C. Rawlings and Robert Smith, pilots, were both burned and otherwise hurt. The fire is supposed to have originated in the pantry room. So rapidly did the flames spread that it was impossible for the passengers or officers to save anything except what they had on at the time. Capt. [Captain] Cannon states that the steamer was owned by the estate of his father, John W. Cannon and her commander, Capt. Wm. [William] Campbell. She was valued at $100,000, and insured for $50,000, mostly in local companies. The crew was composed almost entirely of men who had been on the river 20 or 30 years. The boat, beside the supply pumps, had a [unreadable] fire pump, with a fourteen inch cylinder and 700 feet of hose, and then there were always three watchmen on deck. The States says: The announcement of the [unreadable] fire of that grand old steamboat Robert E. Lee, will be heard with universal sorrow. The champion of the Mississippi waters, the favorite of all people from New Orleans to Vicksburg and named after the greatest of heroes and statesmen, her destruction, just at the beginning of the cotton season, and after having undergone overhauling, will be a serious blow to her owners. [unreadable] the trade is one in which the Lee has been long engaged. Vicksburg, Sept. 4th - Whenever the survivors are seen on the streets, immediately a large crowd gathers around to learn whatever they know of the sad occurrences. Numbers are seen with heads and arms bound up, some in considerable pain, while others are not so badly hurt. [unreadable], second [unreadable] of the Lee, said: "I never saw anything burn so quick. I was aft at the time and when I heard the alarm, knowing that my patient, who sleeps soundly, and other officers in the [unreadable] were in great danger, I rushed up to awaken them. The fire followed up so fast that by the time I had them all up any [unreadable]. In getting down stairs from the hurricane roof I was forced to [unreadable] over the wall. The boat had just been freshly painted and she went like gunpowder." The total loss by the burning of the Lee and cargo is $175,000. The merchandise was fully insured. The saved owe their lives to the admirable courage of the pilot, John Stout. He stood at the wheel, and gave hope to all by his fitness [?], and as the steamer rounded at Yucatan Landing the flames were fast enveloping the brave man in the pilot house, who despite the fire around him, with almost the last hope of escape gone, remained at his post until he gave word to the engineer that the boat had made shore. Not before did he for one minute take his hand from the wheel. He made his escape by the hurricane roof down a huge chain to the lower deck and from there ashore. Some think the fire the work of an incendiary, while others believe that it was accidental. Engineer Perkins first saw the flames issuing from the pastry room in which there were no lamps burning at the time. Steward Henry Callahan [?] states that no lamps or other combustible materials were ever kept in the kitchen, pantry or pastry room. He thinks it of incendiary origin. Perkins alerted the pilot and the boat was headed for the Mississippi side, and plunged against the shore with such force as to become firmly fastened. The passengers who were not cut off from the bow escaped to the shore. The casualties occurred among those having berths aft. Some of them however were rescued after jumping overboard. Many of those who succeeded in getting ashore were half dead, some hatless, others shoeless, and others still with scarcely enough clothing to cover their nakedness. Much credit is given to John S. Perkins, who was in charge of the engines at the time. He stood nobly at his post until pilot Stout told him he could go. New Orleans, Sept. 30 - The Picayune's Vicksburg special says the Lee had on leaving here about 415 bales of cotton. She took on some few more at the landings below and about sixty-five bales from a small cotton seed boat so that when she burned she had about 512 bales, also a large cargo of boots and shoes and dry goods reshipped by the Vicksburg & Mississippi Railroad; from points north and east of here and other points below here 20,000 feet of lumber; a large quantity of doors, sashes and blinds, together with a large lot of miscellaneous freight. She stopped to wood about twelve miles below here at 12:40 this morning. The last landing made was at Ashwood, about twenty-five miles below this city. At the time the alarm was given the boat was under way and she was headed for the shore and struck the bank in three or four minutes. |