The Victoria Disaster Continued
Every minute during the first hour, a body would be laid out on the river bank. The Princess Louise, now anchored just offshore, was used as a morgue. Some 200 died that day. A staggering loss for a city of 19,000 people.
Blazing bonfires and petroleum torches helped enable recognition of the bodies for the scores of relatives and friends who had heard of the accident and come to the scene. People were laid out dressed in their Sunday-Best.
But the farmer who owned the land was far from charitable and ordered everyone to leave his property. That’s when a giant of a butcher, one of the rescuers, looked him in the face and eyed an overhead tree branch, and yelled “Fetch me a rope!”
The farmer quickly melted away.
But there were other nasty people there, too—thieves. They stole watches, jewellery and cash from the bodies whenever the overworked police were not looking. They even stole items from the rescuers’ clothes laid on the bank.
Some took advantage of the shortage of wagons and cartage services to charge exorbitant fees to deliver bodies to homes in the city. A few drivers, finding no one at home, deposited the dead on the veranda with a bill tucked in a pocket.
The next day, just about every man wore a black armband and women black dresses. Flags were at half-mast, and the endless processions of funerals began making their trips to the cemeteries.
Undertakers called on colleagues in nearby towns for assistance. The supply of caskets soon ran out and they, too, were imported from all around the area.
TODAY
Most of the victims were buried in Woodland Cemetery and Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Woodland provided a special tour of its grounds May 23, 2015. Small flags were placed at graves of the victims: red for adults and white for children.
London historian Dan Brock spoke to about 150 persons inside the mausoleum where an actual copy of an old newspaper listed the dead, complete with heavy black rules. Paul Culliton, general manager of the cemetery, displayed the cemetery record book of that day. Brock then took the visitors on a tour of the flagged graves.
But Brock saved for the last, a most surprising announcement—the story of a victim who wasn’t.
Sarah “Sally” Walker, 14 years of age and her cousin Elosia Lawson had agreed to take the Victoria together. At the last minute, however, Sally decided to go on a picnic with her boyfriend instead, in defiance of her father’s wishes. Elosia didn’t tell either of the parents. She became one of the victims.
Today, according to Sally’s granddaughter, Jane Blake (Simpson), Sally often had premonitions. Here’s part of her account of what happened that day so long ago:
“As she waved goodbye [at the pier] to Elosia, she felt a wave of terror wash over her— something — but what? Perhaps it was her fear of being ‘found out’? It haunted her throughout the day.
“Towards dinnertime, as they made their way back to town, several buggies rushed past them, raising clouds of dust, the horses panting from the exertion. Closer to town, there was pandemonium— hysteria – screams that ‘the Victoria had capsized – the boiler exploded - hundreds are dead’…
“Sarah and her beau made their way up the river to the site of the disaster. For hours, they helped pull bodies from the water, and piled them (like cordwood) on the bank. It was said her mother fainted when Sarah finally emerged from the crowds, soaking wet and covered in mud – but alive! Her father, brothers and sisters stared at her in stunned surprise. My grandmother must have been an aspiring actress.
"Sarah escaped not only death, but detection that day, although my aunt and I both agreed that her mother ‘sensed the truth’, but was so relieved to find her alive that she had not been punished. She must have flinched every time a family member described her miraculous survival.
“Her cousin, twenty-one-year-old Elosia Lawson and her two friends were among the estimated 180-200 victims that day. Sarah’s beau’s entire family were also among the dead.
“One wonders if she really did have a premonition of the disaster, or if, plain and simple, she preferred a solitary date with her new beau – something that a fourteen year old young lady would never have been allowed to do (especially without a chaperone) – unthinkable!”
Today, according to Sally’s granddaughter, Jane Blake (Simpson), Sally often had premonitions. Here’s part of her account of what happened that day so long ago:
“Towards dinnertime, as they made their way back to town, several buggies rushed past them, raising clouds of dust, the horses panting from the exertion. Closer to town, there was pandemonium— hysteria – screams that ‘the Victoria had capsized – the boiler exploded - hundreds are dead’…
“Sarah and her beau made their way up the river to the site of the disaster. For hours, they helped pull bodies from the water, and piled them (like cordwood) on the bank. It was said her mother fainted when Sarah finally emerged from the crowds, soaking wet and covered in mud – but alive! Her father, brothers and sisters stared at her in stunned surprise. My grandmother must have been an aspiring actress.
"Sarah escaped not only death, but detection that day, although my aunt and I both agreed that her mother ‘sensed the truth’, but was so relieved to find her alive that she had not been punished. She must have flinched every time a family member described her miraculous survival.
“Her cousin, twenty-one-year-old Elosia Lawson and her two friends were among the estimated 180-200 victims that day. Sarah’s beau’s entire family were also among the dead.
“One wonders if she really did have a premonition of the disaster, or if, plain and simple, she preferred a solitary date with her new beau – something that a fourteen year old young lady would never have been allowed to do (especially without a chaperone) – unthinkable!”
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| White flags indicate graves of children and red of adults killed in the disaster. |
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| Paul Culliton, Woodland Cemetery, shows where wife and three children, one only 8 months, are buried. |
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| Elizabeth Lawson is related to Elosia, who died. |
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| Sarah "Sally" Walker at 14. |
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| Granddaughter Jane Blake at 14. |
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| Granddaugher Jane Blake today. |
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| Where visitors climbed up from river wharf. |
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| Today, remains of the steps as seen from Greenway Park. |
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| Elosia Lawson died but her cousin didn't. |
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| A hearse of the type used in the 1880s was provided by Joe O’Neil of O’Neil Funeral Home. |
