McGregor, IN Steamer MALBEN Explosion, July 1872

THE STEAMER MALBEN.

LATER PARTICULARS OF THE EXPLOSION -- SIX PERSONS KILLED, FOURTEEN WOUNDED.

Chicago, July 31. -- Later dispatches from the scene of the explosion of the steamer MALBEN, on the Upper Mississippi, yesterday, add little to the facts already telegraphed. Six persons, including Capt. MALBEN and the pilot, TOM WILSON, are known to be lost. Of the sixteen saved, fourteen are wounded or scalded. H. SMITH, who with his wife and two children was among the passengers, saved himself and wife and one child, but the boat sunk so rapidly after the explosion occurred that the other child was drowned in the state room before he could get to it. The accident occurred just as the passengers were sitting down to dinner, and the force of the explosion was such as to tear the entire upper part of the boat into fragments, and she sunk in a few minutes in ten feet of water. The cause of the explosion is unknown.

Dubuque, Ind., July 31. -- Of the twenty-two persons aboard the steamboat that exploded her boiler near McGregor, yesterday, eight are dead and missing. The Coroner's inquest on the body of CHARLES YOUNG resulted in a verdict to the effect that a defective flue was the cause of the accident, and censuring the Government Inspector for accepting the boat's registry instead of using the proper instrument or making a test of the boilers.

The New York Times New York 1872-08-01

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!