On Saturday, March 31, 1849, at 5 o’clock, P. M., the steamer Virginia, plying as a daily packet between Wheeling, Va., and Steubenville, Ohio, was torn into pieces and sunk by the explosion of her boilers, at Rush Creek, ten miles above Wheeling. Eight or ten lives were lost, and about fourteen persons were wounded. The explosion took place when the boat was about to land a passenger, Mr. Roe, who was killed. As almost the whole of the upper part of the boat was reduced to fragments, and the hull sunk immediately, there can be no doubt that all of the crew and passengers who were missing, perished in the wreck.
LIST OF KILLED.-Mr. Roe, Rush Creek; the chambermaid of the boat; William Ebert, Wheeling, Va. ; a colored fireman, and eight or ten others, names unknown.
BADLY WOUNDED.-Mr. Boles and lady, Steubenville, Ohio; Mr. Collins, the pilot, one leg broken and otherwise badly injured; llcnry Commons, Birmingham, Alleghany county, Pa.; John Taylor, first engineer, Wheeling, Va.; W. Barker, St. Louis ; W. Aithouse, Wheeling; the carpenter of the boat; James Zink, a boy, and A. Snyder, (both legs torn off,) Wheeling; and Mr. Atchison, Steubenville.
SLIGHTLY WOUNDED.-Mrs. E. Coen, Wheeling; Capt. Dawson,
Richetown; Mr. Beaty, Steubenville; and Mr. Burgess and lady, West Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Roe, the passenger who was going on shore at the time of the explosion, was on the plank, and was cut in three pieces by fragments of the boiler.