The Explosion of The Lucy Walker.---The Louisville Democrat of the 26th instant, gives the following relative to this distressing affair. It will be seen that the body of Philip Wallis, Esq., formerly of this city, has been found, with some others:---

The number of lives lost with this ill-fated boat cannot yet be ascertained. There were upward of one hundred persons on board; some say one hundred and twenty. If this estimate be correct, there are near one hundred lives lost. Search was made yesterday for the bodies of those who perished. Those of Nicolas Ford, Samuel Brown, Mr. Wallace, and several others whose names we have not learned, were found. Several were found on the evening of the fatal catastrophe, too much disfigured to be recognized. In fact, two that we saw were nearly destroyed by fire. It is a remarkable fact, which we have heard from good authority, that those who escaped unhurt did not hear the explosion. One gentleman who, however, was badly hurt, informed us that he was sitting on deck immediately over the boilers, his first recollection was that of a vague sensation of surrounding heat. When he came to himself he was holding on to a piece of the wreck, with his head out of the water. He managed to get himself on the wreck, he knows not how, and was saved by the timely aid of the crew of the snag boat, The promptness and activity of those on the Gopher have the highest commendation. It was owing to their exertions that any were saved. Conjectures are afloat as to the cause of this terrible calamity, but no blame seems to attach to any penalty. If the terrible consequences of such disasters do not induce diligence and circumspection, legal provisions and sage advice will not prove efficacious.

The following is a letter received by a gentleman in Baltimore, from one of the passengers on board at the time of the explosion, which we copy from the Patriot.

NEW ALBANY, Indiana, 23rd Oct. 1844.} 10 o'clock at night}

It is by a miraculous dispensation of Divine Providence that I am enabled to write you a few lines. I have but a few hours ago escaped from the very jaws of Death. I arrived at Louisville last night and took passage in the steamboat Lucy Walker, for New Orleans, that left at 12 o'clock to-day. We had proceeded but 5 or 6 miles below this place, when she burst her boilers, causing one of the most terrible explosions ever known, scattering death and havoc all around. This dreadful occurrence took place between 4 and 5 o'clock this afternoon. I thought something was wrong, as she frequently stopped and checked her headway in the river several times after she left Louisville. A few minutes before the explosion took place, I was standing on the hurricane deck, a few feet aft of the pilot house, and one of the pilots was standing opposite the pilot house, a few feet from me. I heard this pilot exclaim "what can be the matter with the engine," and then immediately started below. When he uttered the expression I watched his countenance, and I thought I discovered alarm depicted in it. I immediately left the hurricane deck and followed him below; I went in the main cabin, where I seated myself in an arm-chair. I was scarcely seated a moment before the explosion took place. I found myself suddenly sunk down and the roof falling in upon me, expecting every moment to be crushed to death from the falling timbers, or scalded with steam. But, fortunately, the steam had become cooled, and as soon as the vapor permitted me to see by settling, I sprang on the guard, as the boat was sinking under me, where I extended my hand to a gentleman on the hurricane deck who helped me upon it, where I remained until a fire from the ladies' cabin began to burn it. I then sprang into the river and caught hold of a spar, where I continued drifting, until I was picked up by the yawl belonging to a snag boat in the U. States service, having seen and heard the explosion. Had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by the captain of this bost, (Capt. Tyson,) we would all doubtless have perished. As it is, scarcely twenty survive, ot of a vast number of passengers. The scene beggars description; ladies crying for their lost husbands and children, and men rendered frantic by their scalds and wounds. I escaped without a bruise or a scar of the slightest kind, though I have lost all my clothing and baggage, besides valuable evidences of debt and important papers in my trunk. I am even without a hat, and merely saved the clothes I have on. I am now in the house of a Mr. Smith, of this place, who has kindly furnished me with a suit of clothes until mine dries. The people of this place have been very kind to the sufferers, five of whom have died since they came on shore. I should suppose that at least forty of the cabin passengers were either killed or wounded. All those standing around me on the hurricane deck, when I left it, are killed.

The Sun, Baltimore, MD 31 Oct 1844
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!