This was an old boat employed in the transportation of hogs from Lawrenceburg to Cincinnati. On the 21st of December, 1853, she was towing two barges laden with hogs, and there were about three hundred of the same kind of animals on the deck of the steamer, abaft the engine. About day break, on the day aforesaid, when the boat was within ten miles of Cincinnati, one of the flues of the larboard boiler collapsed, projecting columns of steam and scalding water fore and aft, killing three of the boat’s crew instantly, and scalding five others. The three men who were killed were lying asleep in front of the fire.
The first engineer, Moses Smith, was scalded in the face. The second engineer, John Evcrhart, was more seriously injured. Captain Prettyman had passed by time boiler a moment before the collapse. The hot water thrown back among the swine scalded many of them so severely that they jumped overboard.
There were thirty-five passengers on board, not one of whom was hurt. One of the deck hands who were killed was named Boyle; the names of the other two are not given.