The Tragedy of the Steamer Josephine

A reporter was detailed yesterday to interview the wounded survivors of the Josephine explosion. At Providence Hospital, three men lay in the new ward. Anton F. Blais, a logger, described sitting by the smokestack when the explosion occurred, causing the floor to rise and the roof to collapse. He credited the lack of water in the boiler for the disaster. Another patient, Robert Johnson, a farmer from Stanwood, was eating soup when the cabin floor burst upward, throwing him through a crack in the siding. He also suspected low water in the boiler caused the blast. G. C. M. Nun, a Skagit City farmer, suffered a broken ankle when the smokestack fell and crushed the hurricane deck. Two ladies, Miss Bradish and Mrs. Price, were also interviewed. Bradish, a teacher, was on her way to file a timber claim when the boat exploded, leaving her with a broken hip and crushed ankle. Mrs. Price, who was in the ladies' cabin, reported that the boat simply flew into the air, and she was left in the freezing sand on the beach for an hour before a fire could be built. The body of Sam Babbitt, who perished in the event, will be buried today in the Masonic Cemetery.