USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 72
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as much rapidity as though fed by gunpowder, and, fanned by the breeze, the boat was instantly a roaring furnace.
Then ensued a scene that defies description. To say that the vic- tims rushed frantically to the side of the boat and, heedless of conse- quences, threw themselves into the water of the lake; that many were unable even to reach the side but perished miserably in the flames ; that many, imprisoned in cabin and state-room, were roasted alive without the ability to stir-to mention any of these general facts can- not give even the faintest idea of the horrors that the awful scene pre- sented. There is preserved the story of one of the passengers who, more fortunate than hundreds of others, was able to effect his escape ; who was able at the outbreak of the holocaust to make his way to the forward part of the ship which was for a brief time free from the ravages of the fire. This is his story :
At about 8 o'clock I was sitting in the saloon. Parmelee, the barkeeper, had just made me a punch and we were playing a rubber of whist, when, all at once, we heard a slight explosion, a hissing sound and a cry of "Fire !" So many accidents had occurred and I had so schooled myself to the thought of such an accident that I was com- paratively cool and self-possessed. I sprang to the door, followed by Parmelee, and we were met by a mass of scorching flame. I rushed forward, and he followed ; but no more. Of the dozen or fifteen in the saloon at that moment not another survived. In a second all that part of the boat nearest to where the flames burst out (the boiler deck) was a roaring furnace, and they must have perished horribly in the saloon, for there was no means of escape.
On going forward I saw in a moment the whole terror of the scene. The flames burst out in immense masses and were driven back by the wind, enveloping in one moment the whole body of the boat. Titus (the captain) sprang to the wheel and headed her for the shore, and the wind now drove the flames into every part of her and she rolled over the sea a mass of fire, for she had been lately painted and her panel work varnished, so that she caught as if dipped in spirits of turpentine.
Then the air was filled with shrieks of agony and despair. The boldest turned pale at that awful moment. I shall never forget the wail of terror that went up from the poor German emigrants who were huddled together on the forward deck. Wives clung to their hus- bands ; mothers frantically pressed their babes to their bosoms ; lovers clung madly to each other. One venerable old man, his gray hair streaming in the wind, stood on the bow, and stretching out his bony hands, prayed to God in the language of his fatherland.
But if the scene forward was terrible, that aft was appalling, for the flames were raging in the greatest fury. Some madly rushed into
1
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the fire. Others, yelling like demons, maddened with the flames which were all around them, sprang headlong into the waves. The officers of the boat and the crew were generally cool, and sprang to lower the boats, but these were, every one successively swamped by those who threw themselves into them regardless of the commands and execra- tions of the sailors and heedless of everything but to seek their own safety.
I tried to act coolly. I kept near the captain, who seemed to take courage from despair, and whose bearing was above all praise. The boat was wearing toward the shore, but the maddened flames now en- veloped the wheel house, and in a moment the machinery stopped. The last hope had left us, and a wilder shriek arose on the air.
At this moment the second engineer, the one at the time on duty, who had stood by his machinery as long as it would work, was seen climbing the gallows-head, a black mass with the flames curling about. him. To either side he could not go, for it was one mass of fire. He sprang upward, came to the top, for one moment felt madly around him, and then fell back into the flames.
There was no more remaining on board, for the boat now broached round and rolled upon the swelling waves, a mass of fire. I seized upon a settee near me and gave one spring, just as the flames were bursting through the deck where I stood. One moment more and I should have been surrounded by fire. In a second I found myself tossed upon a wave, grasping my frail support with desperate energy. At one moment I saw nothing but the yawning deep and the blacken- ing sky ; at the next the flaming mass was before me as the wave pitched me up; and around were my fellow-passengers struggling with the waves, some supported by nothing but their strong arms, every moment growing weaker, while the wild agonizing shrieks of those who were every moment taking their last look at the upper world appalled even the stoutest hearts. And those who were still clinging to the bulwarks, but momentarily dropping with every pitch of the vessel, made such a scene as nightly haunts my dreams, and can never be obliterated while memory remains.
I had been in the water but a short time, though each moment seemed an age, when I heard the voice of Captain Titus, who, the last to leave the vessel, was now in the water, calling out in a firm voice :
"Courage ! Hold on ; help is coming !"
Oh, words of hope! How they cheered us in that hour of gloom! A moment later I saw the lights of a steamboat, and in a short time the hull of the Clinton, which upon seeing the fire, had hastened to our assistance. Her boats were quickly lowered and by the light of the burning vessel they were able to pick up those struggling in the waves and twenty-seven of us were saved from a watery grave. Some were
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terribly burned and some in the last stage of exhaustion, but all were profusely thankful for their preservation.
This is the story of a survivor of that famous wreck; of that hor- rible battle against two terrible elements combined to work destruc- tion and death. It is not, however, a narrative told in the heat of the excitement immediately following the dreadful experience, but is an account given thirty-five years later, when he had had ample time to review the occurrence, and, approaching the subject as coolly and calmly as possible, to describe scenes that any adjectives, even the most extravagant, would seem to be quite inadequate to properly il- luminate.
The intelligence of the dreadful disaster reached Erie the next day, and the effect was awful. How many from Erie there were on the boat could not be told, but it was known there were not a few. A large proportion of the crew, all the members of the band, and doubt- less many of the passengers belonged here, and the entire village was thrown into a state of terrible apprehension. People were running about, from place to place in the little town ; inquiring of everyone met whether any news had been heard; seeking the harbor in hopes some -boat had arrived; scanning the offing, trusting to see signs of an ap- proaching vessel. But there was no news to be had. The telegraph was unknown to Erie people ; the railroad was yet far in the future, and steamboats on the lake were really few and far between. There was only one avenue of rapid communication ; the stage road between Erie and Buffalo. This was at once taken advantage of and swift horses were pressed into service for a rapid ride to Dunkirk or Silver Creek. But the long day passed and a sleepless night succeeded before the messengers returned with a confirmation of the terrible news, and then it was but fragmentary. For days; for weeks, even, the news continued to be received, coming principally from the reports pub- lished in the Buffalo papers, where the accounts of the official inves- tigation by the New York state authorities were printed, and where interviews with survivors were obtained. The story presented here today, however, was not one of those early tales; it was written by a survivor who had taken up his abode in Ohio and furnished it to the Gazette while I had the honor of having an editorial connection with the "Old Reliable."
Perhaps the best known of those who lost their lives in that dis- aster were the members of the band. There were ten, and their names, so far as can be ascertained, were: David Sterrett, John Clapp, James Heck, Robert Hughes, a German named Philip, Williams, a cabinet maker, Alexander Lamberton and William Wadsworth, besides two others. Of these Lamberton and Wadsworth were all that were saved. Among the drowned was Purser Gilson. It is believed that not less than thirty from Erie perished in the flames, or in the waves
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after being driven off the boat. Mr. Gilson was a brother of Mrs. Gen- eral Reed, and an uncle of Manager Gilson, of the Majestic Theatre.
A statement of the number of souls aboard at the time of the aw- ful calamity, that was made while the inquiry was in progress, and that no doubt was very nearly accurate, is as follows :
Swiss deck passengers 130
Other deck passengers 60
Cabin passengers 50
Crew
25
Band 10
Total 275
Saved 33
Total loss of life 242
The boat was valued at $75,000 and her cargo at $20,000, and it was estimated at the time that the emigrants, who were well to do and were going west to take up farms and build homes, had $180,000 with them, all of which was lost.
There are no records extant of the number of Erie people who were aboard the ill-fated Erie that August day, either as passengers or crew, nor is there a record of the number of Erie people who were saved. But there were some who survived to tell the story of its hor- rors and among them was James Lafferty, a member of the crew, and by some said to have been a wheelman of the boat. Lafferty lived in Erie with his mother, a charming little woman. He was a mariner, with all the instincts that characterize the calling well developed. During the fearful drama of the burning of the boat he played a con- spicuous part, and by his heroism contributed greatly to the assistance of the victims of the awful disaster. Many he helped to escape from the burning ship to the water-many who might have been saved if they but had the necessary presence of mind to make use of the means at hand, for not only did he find a way to get them off the burning wreck but the means for their support, which, unfortunately few had the knowledge, skill or coolness to use, were also provided. As long as the boat had steerage way he stood faithfully at the wheel, and it was when the stoppage of the engines made his services as a steers -. man no longer of value that he turned his attention to lending aid to the panic-stricken passengers.
In the course of time Mr. Lafferty passed into the period of un- serviceable old age. He had not been prudent in youth, and he was not altogether free from the weaknesses that tradition associates with the sailor's life. In the course of time he took up his abode at the alms house, but upon frequent occasions he made excursions to the
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city, and always carried with him his favorite violin, upon which he delighted to play. It was also of some service to him when he found himself in an impecunious financial condition. Let him be not harshly judged if it shall be acknowledged that he was upon each of his city excursions vanquished by his failing, and that the end was a cell in the police station. He was not severely dealt with by the officers, they all knew Jim Lafferty, and, though very much the worse for the celebration he had just passed through, he was respected for what he had been, and his splendid service on that night of terrors was not for- gotten. In his slumbers, made as comfortable as circumstances would admit, he was covered with a mantle of charity, and he was never permitted to have the character of vagrant set opposite his name. Long a familiar if not altogether ornamental figure in Erie he was always known as the heroic wheelman of the Erie, who stood at his post in the midst of the roaring flames, holding the ship firmly on its course toward shore, and the fact that his efforts were instrumental in saving many lives probably operated to pardon shortcomings that con- cerned none directly but himself.
In this connection it is only fair to state that the first magistrate to take account of Jim Lafferty's heroic deeds and apply his record in extenuation of his shortcomings, was Alderman Sam Woods, and the leniency extended then continued to be operative as long as Laf- ferty's uncertain steps led him cityward and in the direction of tempta- tion. Poor Lafferty died a few years ago. He deserves a monument.
There is another survivor of the ill-fated Erie who still lives in this city, a citizen of the highest respectability and so modest concerning the part he played in that memorable scene that it is only with the greatest reluctance he speaks of it. Mr. A. W. Blila, of West Ninth street, when the Erie went into commission as part of the Reed fleet of steamers on that August day in 1841, was shipped as a call boy to attend upon the wheelmen. He was then 13 years of age, but a sturdy boy and not unfamiliar with the duties of the position he was filling. The crew of the boat were accommodated on the main deck, the engi- neers having their quarters on the starboard side, abaft the paddle wheels, and the wheelmen on the port side, directly opposite the en- gineers.
That night Mr. Blila was in the wheelmen's stateroom, preparing for his night's rest, and along with him was Jerome McBride, a wheel- man, brother of Dennis McBride, a mate of the Erie. The first intima- tion Mr. Blila and his mate had of trouble on the boat was an unusual sound, not to be described, so unusual that Mr. Blila remarked it, and asked what it could be.
"Oh, it's nothing," said McBride. "Perhaps they have blown out a boiler head or something of that sort has occurred."
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But the noise continued. It was something like a mixture of roar- ing and crackling with trampling of feet mingled, and again Blila spoke of it ; but the sailor tried to quiet the boy, and by assuring him that there could be nothing the matter, urged him to lie down. It was impossible, without investigating, so young Blila went to the door and opening it was confronted with a solid wall of fire. Slamming the door to, he told McBride what he had seen ; that the ship was in flames. Then he proposed to break the window and escape through that into the water, but McBride said no.
"We will try another plan," said he.
Then seizing a blanket, he held it spread out in front of him and as high up as possible, and telling the boy to follow close upon his heels, he opened the door and rushed through the flames. There was not a moment to spare, and it seemed as though McBride had, in the second of thought he had given it, completely planned out the escape. But a few feet away the gang plank lay upon the deck. This he seized and threw overboard, telling the boy to jump out and get aboard of it. McBride himself followed but he was fearfully burned and was in ex- cruciating agony. With their hands they paddled away from the vi- cinity of the burning ship. They were among the very last to be picked up by the boats of the Clinton, which had come to the rescue.
Mr. Blila speaks of the circumstance with reluctance, partly for the reason that, notwithstanding the startling character of that tragic event, so little of the details of the scene can be recalled. As a matter of fact he saw but very little of it. Possibly not more than five seconds of time elapsed between the discovery of the fire and the plunge into the waves. There was no time even for thought and the whole oc- currence is scarcely more in the retina of his memory than a troubled dream. So now, when he is asked about the burning of the Erie, he says he remembers so little about it that it is not worth while to re- peat it. And yet it is one of the most marvelous of experiences and most miraculous of escapes.
He came through his terrible ordeal unscathed. Far different was it with poor Jerome McBride, who had been the means of saving the call-boy's life. His burns were so severe that he died of them after reaching his home in Erie.
CHAPTER VII .- IN TIME OF WAR.
ERIE HOLIDAY SOLDIERS BECOME SOLDIERS IN EARNEST .- THE PART TAKEN BY ERIE WOMEN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
There was not a period in the history of Erie, up to the present, when the soldierly spirit did not prevail to a very considerable extent and was made manifest by the existence of one or more military or- ganizations. At the present time there is possibly less of this spirit prevalent than ever before, for the one company of the national guard now possessed by Erie hardly cuts the figure in affairs that its prede- cessors did. And yet, when it is considered how many different or- ders of a quasi-military character thrive in Erie it might be well to re- consider what has just been said about a decay in the interest taken in such matters. With active organizations connected as side degrees with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and other orders, not to mention the various Catholic orders and the Junior Or- der, besides others, no doubt it might more properly be said that the soldierly spirit continues unabated to this day.
In the olden times, however, the military organizations were not for play. They were for business, and existed in an ever present con- templation of a necessity for actual service of the guards. The begin- nings undoubtedly came from the promptings of a double motive. There was the constant fear of the possibilities of trouble from the Indians. Here in Erie, except at the time the fort left by the French was taken by the Indian force in the interest of Pontiac's enterprise. there were no actual hostilities. But there was for a long time just cause to fear there might be. The transaction with relation to the Triangle was a matter that vexed the red man and for a long time the attitude of the chiefs was such that the whites feared to settle here notwithstanding the many attractive features of this section of the country, and it was not until the erection of the block house by Gen- eral Wayne's soldiers in 1795 that there was an inspiration of courage sufficient to bring hither a permanent settlement.
Thus it is proper to say that one of the forces that operated toward implanting a military spirit at the beginning of the settlement in Erie was the necessity of organization for self-protection.
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That, however, was but one of the possible explanations. Another may have been the fact that among those who earliest came to Erie as permanent settlers were a number of Revolutionary soldiers. These, it cannot be doubted, still possessed much of the martial spirit, and that spirit, with a supposed peril menacing the new settlement, it may well be believed produced the natural result. That this really was so seems to be proven by the fact that the first military companies or- ganized in the county, Captain Elisha Marvin's Greenfield company, in 1801, and Captain Thomas Forster's Erie Light Infantry, in 1806, were commanded by Revolutionary veterans.
There was, however, a more general military system, the product of state legislation. That was not so early in its operation as the in- dependent movement which resulted in bringing the Greenfield com- pany into existence, for the act was not passed until 1804, but it quick- ly became operative, to such a degree that it was accepted generally. The act compelled the enrollment of every able-bodied man in the state between the ages of 18 and 45 years and required them to report for duty two days every year or else pay a fine. The act met with ready response, and on the days of military training there was a large turn-out. The men were in earnest. They brought with them their guns which were duly inspected and they were drilled in regular mili- tary fashion, the militia being formed in companies, battalions, regi- ments and brigades with officers duly commissioned. The training was soldierly and the pomp and circumstance of it truly inspiring, pro- ducing an effect which, even after the universality of it had passed, still left enough to be manifested to the extent that bodies were reg- ularly organized that devoted more than the two days a year that the law demanded to the work of attaining proficiency in arms.
General training day in the olden times was an event to be looked forward to and eagerly anticipated. Long after the militia ceased to bring their guns to the place of muster, and after the warlike aspect of the rank and file had passed away the training day still had its at- tractions. In great crowds the people from the country would come in to the city and there were always doings. Though the militiamen of the level rank carried nothing but a stick, the officers were present generally attired in gorgeous uniforms and big with the importance of the occasion and their military title, and they made the most of the opportunity. Those were the days when Major Fitch, of Wesley- ville, became the hero of the small boys who gazed agape at his mar- velous performances on the drum and admired the impossible and use- less but gay uniform in which he appeared. It was a sort of fair ; a grand spectacle for the enjoyment of the entire population, but after all very much a farce after it had about completed its retrogression. It was in 1848 that the law was repealed and general training day as
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a legal institution went out of existence. Its demise was lamented by some, but after all it was for the public good.
Erie's first military organization was that of Captain Thomas Forster, which came into existence in 1806 and endured for several years. It took part in the War of 1812-13, though the military opera- tions in this vicinity were not of very great importance.
Besides Captain Forster's company, there were in olden times in Erie these companies: The Erie Greens, in 1821; the Washington Artillery, in 1824; and the Erie Guards in the same year ; an artillery company was organized in 1831 and a cavalry company in 1836 ; in the beginning of the forties the German Guards and the Washington Guards were organized; in 1842 the Wayne Grays were organized, with John W. McLane of Harborcreek, as captain ; in 1858 the Frank- lin Pierce Rifle Company and in 1859 the Wayne Guards with John W. McLane as captain and the Perry Artillery Company, commanded by Captain Gustav Jarecki.
Of all the companies of soldiers ever organized in Erie none had the record of the Wayne Guards, none figured so conspicuously in na- tional affairs, and perhaps not any in the whole country made so re- markable a record. Organized in 1859 it was as though some power more than mortal had the direction of affairs when that company was brought into existence, for it became the nucleus of one of the grand- est regiments in the service of the national government in one of the greatest wars in all history.
The boys of the Wayne Guards were prompted no doubt largely by a desire for amusement and entertainment when the company was organized, and the stories of the doings of the times serve to show that there was plenty of fun going at their meetings and drills, one that had to do with the purloining of the barrel of cider the editor of the Gazette took in pay from a farmer for several years' subscription being one tale that found its way into print. It appears that the edi- tor man, according to the story told, succeeded in introducing an emetic into the beverage just before the hour for drill, and the drug got in its deadly work promptly on time and didn't spare one of the com- pany, for they were all in the same boat, for fun as well as for business. The meetings in those days were held in Wayne hall, which was on the third floor of the building on French street, opposite the Reed House. The block was known as the Wayne block, but whether it got its name from the soldier boys or the similarity in names was simply a coincidence there are none left now to tell. Wayne hall, how- ever, was a leading place of resort for lectures, concerts and public meetings through most of the decade of the sixties.
The Wayne Guards were the pride of the town. There were 110 doings complete in the period just before the War of the Rebellion without the Wayne Guards as a leading feature. When the Sunbury
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& Erie Railroad was opened to Warren and the event was celebrated with a grand excursion, the Wayne Guards supplied the spectacular feature of the excursion and ornamented the streets of the sister city just united to Erie with a band of iron with their natty uniforms and profusely be-plumed shakos. They figured at the grand ball in the evening and
Danced all night Till broad daylight And went home with the girls in the morning.
And they represented Erie with credit in affairs of more impor- tance and occasions of greater circumstance. This was the case at the time of the unveiling and dedication of the statue to Commodore Per- ry in the public square at Cleveland the year before the breaking out of the war. The Wayne Guards attended in a body and not only figured prominently in the grand pageant that was part of the cere- monial, but distinguished themselves by presenting a cane made of wood taken from Commodore Perry's flagship Lawrence and deco- rated with a head of gold suitably inscribed, to George H. Bancroft the great historian, who was orator of the day. The presentation was one of the principal features of an event regarded of national import- ance, and Harper's Weekly, telling the story of the presentation in de- tail, accompanied the article with pictures of the officers of the Erie military company that had so appropriately complimented the speaker of the occasion.
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