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Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and
Disasters on the Western Waters - 1856


  [246]                      EXPLOSION OF THE AMERICA
                               --------------------

        This afflictive event took place on Lake Erie, July 31, 1850.  The
    head of one of the starboard boilers blew off, turning the boiler deck
    upside down, raising the upper deck about four feet, and making all the
    central part of the boat a complete wreck.  As soon as the report was
    heard, several of the passengers jumped overboard and were no seen
    afterwards.  Many persons were killed or wounded, of whose names an im-
    perfect list will be found below.  The names of many of the passengers
    were not registered.
        LIST OF KILLED. - J. McLAUGHLIN, fireman; H. BROWN, colored waiter,
    (he was literally torn to pieces by the pitman, a part of the steam
    engine;) JOSEPH STANCLIFF, Durham, Conn.; JAMES CHANCELLOR; CHARLES
    PORTER; P. WELSH, fireman; Wm. TERRY; M. HAGERTY and JAMES CHINTSTAR,
    firemen; PATRICK KENBY, deck hand; the third engineer, and several
    passengers, names unknown.
        WOUNDED. - W. H. BURNITT, of New York, hands and arms scalded;
    JEREMIAH CONNOR, wife and five children, of Missouri; all badly
    scalded; Wm. LIVAS, first cook, scalded; R. RETALIE, of Whitby, Canada,
    do.; LUTHER KINNEY, of Washington, Macomb co., Michigan, do.; an old
    Frenchwoman, shoe-dealer of New York, badly scalded;

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  [247]                      EXPLOSION OF THE AMERICA
                               --------------------

    ARCHIBALD LINDSEY, steerage passenger, of Michigan, badly scalded;
    J. F. LALOR, L. G. RUMSEY and PATRICK HOWLEY, (deck passenger,) of
    Cincinnati, slightly scalded; D. E. TERRY, Norwalk, O., injured by a
    fall; B. WELSH, of Buffalo, badly scalded; J. DOWNING, of Albany, N.Y.,
    slightly do.; DENNIS WARREN, deck passenger, much injured; PATRICK
    MURPHY, deck hand, do.; THOMAS PURCELL, fireman, do.; colored cook,
    name not known, slightly scalded.
        A spectator of this disaster says, "It was a melancholy sight to
    go through the cabin, and see the terrible condition of the wounded.
    On some of them scarcely a particle of skin remained, and the flesh was
    frightfully burned.  I have never witnessed anything to be compared
    with this awful catastrophe.  One poor woman and all her five children
    were dreadfully scalded.  Their sufferings cannot be imagined.  The
    woman was perfectly exhausted with suffering, but seemed to care only
    for her children.  One of them, a little girl, tried several times to
    jump overboard.  Her screams were agonizing to all who heard them."

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