A River Horror

Chicago. .Iu!y 18.- By a terrino explosión that shook all the buildings in the center of the city and startled thousands of rosidents tbe stern of the magniñeent freiht steamer Tioga was blown out at 7:35 o'clock Friday night andno lessthan iifteen men met instant death. Xmo others were iniured. Theory difTers as to the cause of the explosión -orne claim that the combustible cargo of oil stored in hold 5, directl.y aft the boilers, was the cause. Others claim that the water in the boilers had been allowed to run low and that they were unable to withstand the strain brought to bear upou them. There were, however, 150 barrels of oil stored in hold No. 5, and it appears from the testimony of those who escaped the wreek that this was the immediate cause of the explosión. The steamboat Tioga was built at Buffalo in 1880 by the Union Dry-Dock Company for the Union Steamboat Company as a part of the Erie line's fleet. She is 312 f eet long, 30 feetin the beam, and is of 2,085 sross tonnage and 1,744 net Her depth is 14 ieet. She cost when new 5250,000. Chicago, July 14.'- The explosión on the Tioga Friday evening killed not fifteen persons, as was at first supposed, but at least twenty-one, and the list of fatalities may reach thirty. Seven dead bodies were recovered Friday evening, six on Saturday, and six more were taken out Sunday. Two were recovered to-day. One of the injured men died at the hospital Saturday, so that the number of recovered dead up tomidnight last night was an even twenty. Seven men known to have been at work on the boat are still missing. Chicago, July 15.- Four more bodies of stevedores employed on the Tioga at the time of the explosión Friday evening were rocovered yesterday, making twenty-two in all taken from the wreek. If all tbe missing men are dead the list will reach thirty-three.