Even catastrophes in'the United States are on a scale unknown
to the rest of the world. On the 27th April the steamer Sultana left Memphis on her upward voyage with 2,200 passengers on board, chiefly exchanged Federal prisoners. She had gone some ten miles when one of her boilers exploded, the fragments flying into the packed crowds like shells and the scalding steam killing them in hundreds. Many of the survivors jumped into the river and were drowned, while the fire which broke out immediately on the explosion scorched the remainder, not more than 600 escaping with their lives. In. a few minutes 1,600 persons had been scorched, burned, scalded, or drowned, the loss of life being greater than that incurred in most European battles. One of the survivors states that the explosion itself affected him while asleep only by creating the idea that a slight shiver had passed over the vessel.
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