In the early hours of a freezing Sunday morning, a tragic house fire broke out on Third Street, Davenport, Indiana and killed three members of the Miller family.  Two young boys were burned to death, along with their grandmother, Julia Ann Cahill, when trapped in the rapidly spreading blaze.  Their mother, daughter of Mrs. Cahill, was able to escape with her young daughter and a baby through a burning window while Mr. Miller tried, unsuccessfully, to rescue the two boys and his mother-in-law.  (By John Osborne)

During the massive winter storm that struck New England just after Christmas 1866, the aging sidewheeler steamboat Commodore was caught in Long Island Sound and suffered a battering which carried away her smokestacks.  She was driven ashore at Horton's Point but all the many passengers and crew were saved when they made it to shore in small boats.  The Commodore was completely broken up, however.  (By John Osborne)