BURNING OF STEAMBOATS AT ST. LOUIS -JANUARY 1853

It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th ult. That a fire broke out on board the steamer New England while lying at the wharf of St. Louis, and soon burned to the waters edge. The steamer Brunette, which lay below and alongside, and the New Lucy, which was moored on the outside of the New England, soon after caught fire. The former burned to the water's edge where she lay, and the New Lucy burning loose from her moorings, floated past the city, and must inevitably have run foul of, and set on fire a great number of boats at the landing but for the timely action of Captain Lamothe, of the Altena, who immediately on the breaking out of the fire, hastened with his boat to the rescue of those in peril. After hauling out several from the landing, among them the J. M. Clendenin, which boat she towed to Bloody Island, she cast a hawser on board the burning wreck, when it had reached the foot of Locust street, and pulled it to the foot of Bloody Island, thus preventing the destruction of a large number of boats moored below. After the wreck had been towed out of the way of the other boats at the landing, the ferry boat Illinois took on board the Missouri and two other engines, and proceeded to the place where it was made fast, and succeeded in putting out the fire, saving at most a portion of the hull. The steamer St. Ange, which laid next below the Brunette, was at one time in imminent peril, but escaped without injury, partly from the fact that the burning wreck, as it floated past her, was carried out by the current, and partly from the exertions of the members of the St. Louis Fire Company, who took their engine on board the boat, and kept her wet down until out of danger. No other boats were injured by the fire, though many had narrow escapes, and it also stated that no one was seriously injured. Picture and text form the Illustrated News , New York , Feb. 19, 1853.