Philadelphia, PA Steamer City of Trenton Boiler Explosion, Aug 1901

NINE DEAD; 20 MISSING

Latest Casualty List Of Wrecked Steamboat City of Trenton.

EXPLOSION'S CAUSE UNKNOWN

Many Passengers Maintain That the Boat Was Racing – Assistant Engineer CHEW'S Statement Bears This Out – Investigators at Work.

Philadelphia, Aug. 30 – It has developed that the result of the explosion of a boiler on the steamer City of Trenton while on her way up the Delaware river from this city to Trenton, N. J., Wednesday afternoon, was more appalling than was at first supposed. Nine persons are known to be positively dead, at least 20 are missing, most of whom are believed to have been on the steamer, and two of the injured still in the hospital will probably die.

The identified dead are:
WILLIAM NELSON, aged 67 years, a veteran of the civil war and formerly an inmate of the Soldiers' Home, Hampton, Va.
JAMES McCORMICK, 23 years, Wilmington, Del., fireman.
ELIZABETH GREEN, 21 years, Philadelphia.
WILLIAM DUNN, 38 years, Philadelphia.
ARTHUR R. T. LANSING, 14 years, Trenton, N. J.
WILLIAM H. KEEN, Philadelphia.
JESSIE STRATTON, Trenton, N. J., died in hospital.

In addition to these there are also two charred bodies, believed to be those of females, in the morgue. They are wholly beyond recognition, and will be buried in Potter's Field.

A telegram was received last night from Bristol, Pa., which says that MISS ELIZABETH LIPPINCOTT, a school teacher of that place, who was on the City of Trenton, has not been heard from.

Although the searchers, consisting of a corps of city police have been dragging the river ever since Wednesday afternoon, they have been unable to find any more bodies. That there are more victims in the river is the firm belief of the authorities, and their failure to find any more bodies is supposed to be due to the strong current in the river at the point where the explosion occurred.

The water was pumped out of the hull of the burned steamer, after which a careful search was made for addition victims of the explosion, but none was found. An attempt was made at high tide yesterday afternoon to float the wrecked vessel, but it was unsuccessful and another effort will be made at the next high tide.

As to the exact cause of the explosion nothing is yet known, but a rigid investigation is to be conducted at once. Fire Marshal LATTIMER, Coroner DUGAN, the police department and the United States boiler inspectors for this district will each carry on an independent investigation, but little can be known until the survivors have been examined and a careful inspection of the wrecked steamer shall have been made.

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