The steamboat Ben Franklin, on the day of this awful occurrence, was backing out from her wharf at Mobile, in order to make her regular trip to Montgomery. Scarcely had she disengaged herself from the wharf, when the explosion took place, producing a concussion which seemed to shake the whole city to its foundations. The entire population of Mobile, alarmed by the terrific detonation, was drawn to the spot to witness a spectacle which must have harrowed every soul with astonishment and horror. This fine boat, which had on that very morning floated so gallantly on the bosom of the lake, was now a shattered wreck, while numbers of her passengers and crew were lying on the decks, either motionless and mutilated corpses, or agonized sufferers panting and struggling in the grasp of death. Many others had been hurled overboard at the moment of the explosion, and such were the numbers of drowning people who called for assistance, that the crowd of sympathising spectators were distracted and irresolute, not knowing where or how to begin the work of rescue. Many-how many, it is impossible to say-perished in the turbid waters’ before any human succor could reach them.
Apart from the loss of life, which at that time was unexampled, the destruction produced by this accident was very extensive. The boiler-deck, the boilers, the chimneys, and other parts of the machinery, besides much of the lading, were blown overboard and scattered into fragments over the wharf and the surface of the river. Mr. Isaac Williams, a passenger, was blown at least one hundred feet high in the air, and his dead body fell into the water, about one hundred and fifty yards from the boat.
The cause of the accident is believed to have been a deficiency of water in the boiler. The boat was injured to that degree that repairs were out of the question, and she was never afterwards brought into service.
The usual uncertainty attends the estimated number of lives lost by this calamity. Many of those who perished, had just entered the boat, and had not registered their names; and, among the mangled corpses, not a few retained scarcely any vestige of the human form, so that the identification of particular persons was impossible. We have, after much research, obtained the following list of the sufferers, which we believe to be the most complete account ever published.
KILLED.-Robert Brinkley, pilot; Isaac Williams, of Wilcox County, Kentucky; James Purnell, William Jones, Jacob Patty, firemen; James HHulson, Isaac Flannegin, deck hands; Mr. Martin, of North Carolina; S. U. Simpson, carpenter; Thomas Cravin, cabin-boy; three colored men, names unknown; two slaves of Mr. S. B. HHeade, and one of Mrs. Terry.
BADLY WOUNDED.-Captain H. A. Lcade; HI. U. Gordon, of Mobile; Colonel R. Singleton, of Baldwin County, Alabama; Capt. Seuddy, James Flommen, Clark County, Indiana; B. H. Dickerson, Montgomery; Mr. Godfrey, Washington; Joseph Thompson, William Jacobson, first and second engineers; Mr. Thompson, of Columbus, Ohio; Miss Norris and slave, of Mobile.
Slightly W0UNDED.-Samuel Murphy, bar-keeper; Dr. Tunstail, Mount Vernon; Thomas Tony, deck hand; William ilyde, Baldwin County, Alabama; J. A. Wiggins, Claiborne.
The citizens of Mobile, with their customary humanity and generosity, took the wounded in charge, and did every thing in their power to mitigate their sufferings.