THE DISASTER TO THE STEAMER PENNSYLVANIA>

FURTHER PARTICULARS -- TWO HUNDRED PERSONS KILLED AND MISSING -- NAMES OF KILLED, INJURED AND SAVED.

The St. Louis papers give fuller lists of the persons killed and wounded by the burning of the Mississippi steamer PENNSYLVANIA on the 13th inst.:
The following is a list so far as yet ascertained:
LOST -- FATHER DELCROSS; MRS. WITT and daughter; FOSTER HURST; N. & S. BANTSCHER, of New Orleans; DENNIS CORCORAN, of New Orleans; JOSEPH PILAN, of Texas; MRS. FULTON, of St. Louis; E. GLEASON, of New York; H. B. NICHOLS, of Texas; MR. LACKEY, of Mississippi; MR. SEINTER, JOHN SINKHORN, JAMES BOWLES, JAS. BURNS, WM. WOODFORD, all of Louisville; LEWIS J. BLACK; E. GENORAS and an English gentleman from Cuba, who has a sister living near Burlington, Iowa -- 20. All yet ascertained.
INJURED -- H. FISHER; JOHN BLOOMFIELD; J. H. CAMPBELL; FRANK C. JONES; A. BATZ; JOHN MANNY; FRANCIS PRATT, of New Orleans; XAVIER RANCH and L. VELA, of the French Opera; HENRY CLEMENTS, of St. Louis, third clerk, scalded; WILLIAM WILLIS, of New Jersey; MATT KELLY, of St. Louis; SAMUEL MARKS, of Pa.; CHAS. STONE, of Nashville; DANIEL KEEFE, of Keokuk; and SAMUEL WOODS, ANDREW LINDSEY, of Cincinnati; WM. WOODS, GEO. BOLAGER, of Pittsburg; ISAAC WEBSTER, of Stark County, Ohio; ROBERT BROTHERTON, of Columbus, Ohio; JAS. McCORMICK; Capt. R. BACKERS, of New York; CHAS. ASHBROOK, of St. Louis; Capt. J. W. FAIRFIELD, of Boston; HENRY SHULTZ, MATTHEW COMMAFEERE, of St. Louis.
SAVED -- MRS. FOURRIER, of the French Opera; Sister CAROLINE, and Sister MARY ELLEN, of the New Orleans Convent; C. McCARTHARY, of New Orleans; ISAAC P. TICE, of Baltimore; WM. BROTHERTON and son, of Ohio; H. A. SNEAD, of Virginia; J. P. WOOTEN, of Kentucky; A. L. BARTLETT, wife and child, of New York; A. MARKS and wife; W. G. MEPHAM, wife and child, of St. Louis; R. R. YOUNG, of Louisville; THOMPSON, a railroad man, of New York; JOHN H. CREIGHTON, of Springfield, Ohio; and HENRY EITER, of St. Louis.
Full particulars of this disaster are given in the St. Louis Republican of the 16th. That paper estimates the number of persons killed and missing at two hundred. MR. W. G. MEPHAM, a passenger, makes the following statement:
"The steamer PENNSYLVANIA left New Orleans on the 9th inst., with one hundred and twenty-five cabin passengers and one hundred and fifty-eight deckers. She afterwards took on board, at Baton Rouge, Natchez and Vicksburg, 62 passengers, and at Napoleon 10. There were 40 deck hands and firemen, 24 of the steward's crew, and 10 officers -- making in all 450 souls.
Out of this number, 182 were rescued by a wood-boat, and about 70 others escaped in various ways. These numbers include the wounded and scalded. About 200 are lost and missing.
At about 6 o'clock on the morning of the 13th inst., when the boat was about 70 miles below Memphis, she exploded four of her boilers, while under way. At the time of the explosion she was near 300 yards from shore. The cabin was torn to pieces forward of her wheel-house. Very few of the passengers were out of their state-rooms at the time. The passengers in the after part of the cabin -- men, women and children -- rushed out, and the utmost confusion ensued among them, all supposing the boat was on fire, from the smoke and steam which came rushing through the cabin.
After close examination it was ascertained that the boat was not on fire, and the excitement was in some degree quelled.
After the explosion, the boat commenced drifting down with the current, and an anchor was thrown overboard for the purpose of checking the boat, for at that time we were of opinion that we could prevent the boat from taking fire. But the water being so deep, and the current so swift, the anchor cragged and the boat continued to drift down. As quickly as possible, Capt. KLINEFELTER and two or three of his men made an attempt to carry a line ashore by the yawl, but from the line being too short, or some other cause, they did not succeed. Without losing a moment's time the Captain ordered the yawl turned down stream to a MR. HARRIS' wood yard, for the purpose of bringing an empty wood boat, which was lying there, to the rescue. The boat was not supplied with oars, and it was an exceedingly difficult matter to accomplish this purpose, but by dint of skill and hard labor the Captain succeeded in getting it alongside.
In from three to five minutes from the time the wood boat touched the steamer, it was discovered that the PENNSYLVANIA was on fire.
The fire appeared to issue from about the after end of the boilers, and in one minute from the time of the alarm, the boat was wrapped in flames. Passengers and crew immediately rushed from the burning boat upon the wood boat, and filled it as full as they could stand. Captain KLINEFELTER was the last man that jumped from the steamer to the wood boat as it was being pushed off, with its living freight, from the burning boat. The most intense excitement prevailed on board the wood boat, as we endeavored to propel it from the burning mass -- as we had only a few boards in place of oars, and the crowd rendered it almost impossible to work them with success. But we finally succeeded in getting her bow turned out, so that the current struck her stern and swung the wood boat around, and by that means we cleared the burning boat, and she drifted by, but not until many of the passengers were severely scorched. By turning our backs, and with the aid of a few counterpanes and quilts which were saved, we screened ourselves from the heat as much as possible, and finally succeeded, after drifting one mile, in reaching an island or tow-head, called Ship Island, where the wood boat was made fast to some trees.
After shoving the wood boat from the steamer there were a good many deck passengers seen rushing out with their trunks, boxes, &c., in the hope of saving their little stock of plunder, and by trying to save their effects, they lost their lives, for it was impossible for us to render them any assistance. I remember seeing one man and woman, who, from their appearance, were German emigrants, hanging to a line from the stern of the boat -- the man holding the line with one hand and his chest with the other, and as the boat swung around they disappeared from view. They, doubtless, remained in this position until they were compelled, by the heat of the flames, to loose their hold, and drown. The cabin passengers, with the exception of one or two, behaved with great coolness and decision, and rendered one another every assistance in their power, but among the deck passengers the greatest excitement prevailed. It seemed that all they cared for was to save their plunder, throwing it over the guards into the wood boat, not heeding where it fell. A number of the passengers in the wood boat were bruised and injured by the falling of the trunks and boxes into the boat. From this disposition to save baggage, many of the deckers were lost, who would otherwise have saved their lives.
About 25 of the wounded escaped on the wood boat, amongst them were the first mate, second engineer, two Frenchmen, late of the Theatre d'Orleans, Col. HARRIS, of Arkansas, badly scalded, and others very badly cut and bruised -- mostly deck passengers. They suffered very much in consequence of there being no medical attendance to dress their wounds, and no means of procuring any for the space of two hours. But at length some neighboring planters, from the Arkansas shore, brought some linseed oil and liniment, which, with the aid of cotton taken from the quilts, gave some relief to the wounded. The scalded victims suffered much from the heat of the sun, as the whole country was overflowed, and we could not succeed in getting the boat to the main land, and in this condition we were obliged to remain under a broiling sun for fully eight hours. The women and children who were unhurt also suffered excessively from the heat of the sun and hunger. After remaining on the Island eight hours the steamer IMPERIAL, bound down, came to our relief, and, after giving us a good dinner, put us on board of the KATE FRISBEE and DIANA, bound up. Too much praise cannot be given to the officers of these boats for the kindness they extended to us.
The DIANA being crowded with passengers, very few of us came up on her; the greater portion of our company going on the FRISBEE, which the DIANA left behind. It was the intention of the captain of the FRISBEE when we left to try and save all he could, and pick up scattering passengers along the shore. The DIANA brought up fifteen of the wounded to Memphis to be taken to the hospital. The passengers on the DIANA raised a subsrciption of between two and three hundred dollars towards defraying the expenses of the sufferers in Memphis. They also made up several purses for destitute women who were aboard. Altogether, they acted very magnanimously in the way of supplying the women and children, who were scantily dressed with garments.
MRS. WITT, of St. Louis, who was lost, occupied with her daughter, MRS. FULTON, room No. 8, in the gentlemen's cabin. MR. WITT was taken from the ruins just as the fire broke out, perfectly blind, and in a dying condition; by that time the woodboat had left the steamer, and a young man, who was endeavoring to rescue her, was compelled to jump overboard, and swim to the woodboat to save his own life. MRS. FULTON was seen after the explosion. There was a man buried in the wreck who, from his expressions, must have been either a sugar or cotton Planter -- as in his despair he said he had money, negroes, and a plantation, and would give all to save his life.
He was covered deeply in the ruins, and the fire coming on so rapidly it was impossible to rescue him.
At the time of the explosion, Capt. KLINEFELTER was in the barber shop being shaved, and at the explosion, the barber says the Captain exclaimed, "Oh, my God! what is that?" He hurried out through the back door and climbed upon the hurricane roof, as all the forward part of the boat was blown to pieces. Too much credit cannot be awarded to Capt. KLINEFELTER for his daring and gallant conduct in endeavoring to save both life and property.
Nearly all the deck hands were either killed or missing; first and second mates so badly injured as to render them helpless. First clerk, MR. BLACK, and MR. BROWN, pilot, both missing. The Captain had to assume the whole charge of the boat under the trying circumstances. Of the firemen on watch at the time of the explosion, only one was saved, and he stated to me that they had just hauled the coals from the ash pan, and had neglected, in some measure, to replenish the fires. At that time the engineer came around, and called on them, saying, "Shove her up boys, for we are scarcely stemming the current," and he states that they had scarcely put any wood into the fire-doors before the explosion occurred. By some miracle this man escaped with a slight scald in the back.
From the report of those engaged in trying to keep down the fire, barrels of turpentine or some other combustible liquid must have taken fire in the hold from the rapidity with which the flames enveloped the whole boat, so soon after the alarm of fire. If not for the timely air of the wood boat, or if it had been delayed five minutes, there would not have been fifty of us left to tell the tale.
A MR. A. L. BARTLETT, of New York, had $800 in gold in a small box in his trunk, but in the confusion the money was forgotten. Not a trunk of piece of clothing, save what they had on, was saved by any cabin passenger, and most of them were left without funds. Those who had money divided with those who had none, and all seemed perfectly satisfied to have escaped with their lives.
The wreck floated down about two and a half miles, and landed on the point of a tow-head, where it burned to the water's edge. All that could be seen of it, when we left, were some portions of the machinery and one of the boilers. When the river falls, the wreck will be left high and dry."

The New York Times New York 1858-06-19

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