Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Chicago Tribune Saturday, June 18, 1887 (Note: The newsprint was darkened and barely legible in some places. In cases where words could not be read with certainty I have used * to approximate at least the length of the word.) TWENTY-FIVE LIVES LOST. BURNING OF THE STEAMER CHAMPLAIN ON LAKE MICHIGAN. A Lamp Explodes in the Fireroom and the Flames Drive the Engineer from His Post - Unable to Check the Steamer the Boats Could Not Be Launched - Passen- gers and Crew Plunged Into the Waves and Many Drowned. CHARLEVOIX, Mich., June 17. - [Special.] The passenger propeller CHAMPLAIN, which left Chicago last Tuesday, was burned to the water's edge on Lake Michigan at 1 o'clock this morning. Twenty-five persons are known to have perished, and it is believed that when the facts are fully known the loss of life will be even greater. The steamer's books went down with her and the clerk is dead, so it is impossible to obtain a complete list of the passengers and crew. Martin Beau, the steward, says there were not less than thirty passengers, while it is positively known that the crew numbered twenty-seven. The following are known to be lost: HENRY BRENNAN, clerk, of Chicago MRS. M. KEHOE, No. 8766 South Halsted street, Chicago MRS. ELLA COOPER SMITH, Charlevoix GEORGE WRISLEY, Petoskey CAPT. LUCAS, Petoskey ROBERT WILKES, Charlevoix MR. RUSSELL, corset manufacturer, Jackson, Mich. MR. ROGERS, and SON, Milwaukee. R. M. McKEEL, Charlevoix TWO CHILDREN of the steward, aged 8 and 5 years. A LADY and DAUGHTER from Frankfort, Mich., names unknown. A FIREMAN A SECOND COOK TWO CABIN BOYS EIGHT DECKHANDS The following were saved: CAPT. EDWARD CASEY, master of the CHAMPLAIN BEDFORD W. B. ALBRIGHT of Sherwin, Williams & Co., Chicago JOHN McCAFFERY, engineer, badly burned MABEL KEHOE MRS. JACK INGALLS MARTIN BEAU, steward, and wife IRA BISHOP, mate STEPHEN WITHERS, Cross Village JAMES BELLGAR, Liverpool JAMES McKAY, watchman, Canada ANTOINE SPARROW, fireman FRED WRISLEY MISS WILSON, Petoskey MISS MARY WAKEFIELD, Charlevoix GEORGE W. MILLER (possibly Muler - newsprint is darkened) MRS. HARRISON The CHAMPLAIN left Norwood about midnight, and when within six miles of Charlevoix an oil lamp exploded in the fire-room. The wood- work was completely saturated with oil and easily ignited. Flames leaped through the machinery into the engine-room and set fire to the clothing of Engineer McCaffrey, who ran shrieking with pain to the hurrican deck and plunged into a tank of water. Then he returned to his post, but found that the engine room was full of flames. The steamer was driving through the water at a tremendous rate of speed and could not be checked. Neither could the fire-house be coupled to the engine. Again and again the brave engineer tried to force his way through the flames to the throttle of his engine and not until the hair was singed from his head and his face blistered with heat did he give up in despair. There was not alternative but to abandon the burning boat. How to do this and save the lives of his passengers and crew was a perplexing problem that ** an experienced steamboat master like Capt. Casey could not solve. The wind was blowing a gale and the lake was covered with smothering foam. Imagine a steamboat with flames and volumes of **** pouring from her sides racing through a wilderness of white-capped waves, her bows down deep into the water, nearly three score of shrieking human beings huddled together upon the blazing hurrican deck, and the picture presented by the CHAMPLAIN is complete. As soon as the alarm of fire was sounded the passengers and those of the crew who were off watch were aroused as quickly as possible. They awoke to the **** of flames already beyond control, and several were dragged from their berths nearly suffocated. The passengers were panic stricken. Capt. Casey behaved like a **** and not once did he lose control of himself. Summoning all on board to the upper deck he briefly explained the situation, and then instructed them to secure the life-preservers tightly around their waists. Some were so terri- fied that they could not even tie the straps and rushed up and down the deck raving like maniacs. Realizing the flames were gaining so rapidly that it would be impossible to run the steamer onto the beach, Capt. Casey began making perparations to launch the lifeboats. This would have been a difficult undertaking, even if the steamer had been motionless, on account of a heavy sea, but with the steamer pl****g through the furious waves under a full head of steam it was impossible. Still the boats were the only a***** of escape, and the chance of launching and then righting them had to begin. There were four boats in all, and **** one was capsized and lost as soon as it touched the water. Finally, when the last boat was gone and the life-raft had been pitched overboard, together with floats and every movable thing that a human being could cling to, men, women, and children were compelled to jump into the lake and battle for life as best they could. It was the only thing left for them to do. Many sunk from sight almost as soon as they reached the water, while others grasped a bit of plank and clung to it until, weakened and benumbed by the chilling waters of the lake, the greedy waves wrenched the last hope of life from their grasp and swallowed them up. Capt. Casey and eight others swam to the life-raft and held on for two hours, when they were taken off by fishermen, who had seen the burning steamer from shore and pulled to the rescue as quickly as possible in their rowboats. Several others were able to keep above water by the aid of their life- preservers and by clinging to floats and were saved. Caleb Russell and Henry Brennan were picked up alive, but died from burns and ex- posure after reaching the shore. Search is now being made for bodies. Seven have already been recovered, including those of R. M. McKeel, Mrs. Smith, Capt. Lucas and the two Beau children. The burned hull of the steamer was towed here this afternoon. In it was found a human foot, supposed to be that of a fireman who perished in the flames. It is believed others were burned alive. This afternoon Capt. Casey and a searching party returned to the scene of the disaster looking for more bodies, and are still out. It is quite likely that but few of the dead will be recovered until their bodies are washed ashore. MILWAUKEE, Wis., June 17. - [Special] The persons taking passage here aboard the CHAMPLAIN were Mr. Schwab for Charlevoix, Mr. Whitman for Frankfort, Mr. Schomberg for Glen Haven, and Mr. Rogers and little boy for Mackinac. As the CHAMPLAIN had made all these ports Thursday with the exception of Mackinac, all the Milwaukee passengers are saved with the exception of Mr. Rogers and son, who were drowned. J. J. Rogers and child lived at Fort Mackinac. Among the drowned are Capt. George Lucas, one of the best known Captains on the lakes. He once sailed the schooner J. B. MERRILL and several years afterward bought the schooner YOUNG AMERICA, which was wrecked on Lake Huron three years ago. He then retired from the lakes and went to live at Petoskey, where he owned a warehouse and was agent of the Northern Michigan Line. The CHAMPLAIN had $21,500 insurance in the St. Paul Fire & Marine, AEtna, Phoenix, Western, and Mercantile Companies. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The News in Chicago. Yesterday morning a telegram, signed by Capt. Casey, was received at the office of the Northern Michigan Line. It stated that the CHAMPLAIN had burned off Charlevoix shortly after midnight and that eight or ten lives had been lost. Two hours later a telegram came from the company's agents at Charlevoix, reporting the loss of life to number twenty. This was the only information received. It soon reached the streets and in a short time the office was filled with anxious men and women who were eager to learn whether or not their friends and relatives had been rescued from the wreck. Of course the company was unable to furnish any satisfactory information. They knew nothing but the one terrible fact that the steamer and a number of her crew and passengers were lost. P. J. Kline, President of the line, arrived at noon from Milwaukee, and in company with S. S. Burke, the Chicago agent, left for Charlevoix last night. The CHAMPLAIN left here last Tuesday, bound for Cheboygan and inter- mediate ports. So far as can be learned not less than fifteen persons took passage from Chicago, besides the regular crew of twenty-seven men. The books at the company's office contain the names of but eight passengers, but it is positively known that the books are incorrect. This fact was discovered about noon when Capt. Michael Kehoe entered the office with tears streaming down his face and showed a telegram stating that his wife was among the lost, and that his daughter and a young lady who accompanied her had been saved. Their names had not been entered on the books, although Capt. Kehoe bought their tickets and and placed them aboard the steamer last Tuesday. Capt. Kehoe has sailed the lakes for many years and last commanded the schooner N. H. FERRY. Two years ago he came ashore and is now in the grocery busi- ness at No. 8766 South Halsted street. His wife was 36 years of age. She was on her way to Charlevoix with her 6-year-old daughter to spend part of the summer with Miss Mary Wakefield, who accompanied her and who resided at Charlevoix. Capt. Kehoe left for the scene of the disaster last night to search for the body. H. S. Lighthall of No. 64 Wells street came down to the office to make inquiries and reported that his daughter and two children were aboard of the burned steamer. She is the wife of Martin Beau, the steward. Harry Brennan, clerk of the lost steamer and who died after reach- ing the shore, lived in Chicago at No. 200 Illinois street, where he supported a widowed mother. He was 25 years of age, bright, energetic and quite popular. He entered the employ of the company four years ago, and, after serving for two years in the office as bookkeeper, he was appointed clerk of the CHAMPLAIN. It is said that he remarked to a friend just before starting out on this trip that he would resign just as soon as he got back and go into business in the city. Capt. Casey, master of the CHAMPLAIN, is a competent steamboat captain of many years' experience, and has the reputation of being as cautious as he is courageous. This is the second steamer that has been lost while under his command. About the last of January, in 1880, he left Chicago in command of the ST. ALBANS. The lake was full of floating ice and when within a few miles of Milwaukee the steamer became im- prisoned in a great ice-floe. Her bows were crushed in and she went to the bottom. Guided by Capt. Casey every one of her crew and passengers escaped and reached shore in safety. The CHAMPLAIN was a passenger propeller of 356 tons register and was built at Ogdensburg, N.Y., in 1870. She originally belonged to the Northern Transportation Company, which operated a line of steamers between Chicago and Ogdensburg for many years. When the company ceased to exist the Northern Michigan Line was formed and the CHAMPLAIN has since been employed in the passenger and general mer- chandise trade between Chicago and Cheboygan, alternating with the propeller Lawrence. Three years ago she was thoroughly rebuilt, and has since been considered one of the most seaworthy passenger boats that trade to Chicago. She was valued at $28,000, and she was insured for $21,728 in the Buffalo hull pool. As the pool policies excepted fire risks the pool is not liable. The boat was insured for $20,000 against fire through the agencies of David Vance and J. V. Tuttle at Milwaukee. When she left Chicago the CHAMPLAIN carried about 100 tons of general merchandise, but all but forty tons had been delivered be- fore she caught fire. ==========================================================================