STEAMBOAT MURDER.
Terrific Explosion at
the Battery.
The Staten Island Steamer
Westfield Bursts Her Boiler
at Whitehall Ferry.
Her Upper Works Shattered
Into a Thousand Atoms.
FIFTY PERSONS KILLED.
Over One Hundred
Wounded.
Complete List of the
Victims.
AGONlZlNG SCENES AMD INCIDENTS.
Men, Women and Children
Hurried Into Eternity.
Excruciating Sufferings of the Burned,
Scalded and Bruised.
Desperate Struggles and Miraculous
Escapes in the Water.
Harrowing Spectacles
at the Hospitals.
THE MORGUE AT BELLEVUE.
Corpses Laid Out with Lighted
Tapers.
Narratives of Survivors and
Eye Witnesses.
STATEMENT OF THE ENGINEER.
Full and Graphic Report of the
Tragic Occurrence.
A MOURNFUL JULY SABBATH
One of the most appalling catastrophes which
ever took place in this city occurred yesterday
afternoon, at the foot or Whitehall street, by which
a large number of persons were killed and a still
larger number were maimed for life. The laboring
classes and others, who toil from morn till
night, six days in the week, without a single day's
respite, make Sunday a day of out-of-town excursions
in the summer time. Among the many places
near by which they resort for a breath of fresh
air is Staten Island. It is only
A BRIEF HOUR'S SAIL
to the island from the city, and hundreds every Sunday
make it a sort of duty they owe to their wives
and little ones, who during the week are pent up in
foul-smelling tenements, to go to the island and
spend an hour or two away from the heat and dust
of the city in the midst of shady groves and cosy
nookeries close by the sea.
The weather yesterday was everything that could
have been desired for a pleasant sail down
the bay. About noon it became too warm
for comfort in the close streets, yet
on the bay there was a refreshing breeze
Which proved most grateful to the excursionist just
emerged from his suffocating tenement or dingy
attic. Every boat that had paddled its way to the
island during the forenoon had been crowded in
every part, and nothing occurred to mar the general
pleasure of the day until
THE FERRYBOAT WESTFIELD
slid into her slip about a quarter past one. She
had but few passengers on board when she arrived,
but she bad taken down to the island an hour
before fully seven hundred persons. This time an
immense crowd of excursionists were impatiently
awaiting her arrival behind the gateways,
and even while she was being made fast
to the pier hundreds could be seen rushing down
Broadway and from the Brooklyn ferries, hurrying
along at the top of their speed, fearful lest
they should miss the boat which it would
have been well had many failed to reach.
It was just after the dinner hour, and
nearly every man was accompanied by some female
relative or companion. Many had their entire
families with them, wife and children.
When the passengers from the island were safely
landed, the gates were thrown open, and
then begun the rush for choice seats on the
part of the hundreds who were in the ferry house
and behind the picketed enclosure. The crowd
seemed to be unusually large, and
THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN,
as usual on all excursions, predominated
in point of numbers. A great many, principally
young men, without female companions, made their
way to the forward part of the boat on the lower
deck. The great bulk of the crowd, however, went
up stairs. Everybody endeavored to get a seat on a
the front part of the boat, just in front
of and alongside the pilot house, round the
base of which ran a sort of bench nailed
fast to the side of the cabin, Along the cabins, inside,
and behind them at the stern, every seat was
taken in a very short time; but, owing to the
prospect of obtaining a better view of the surrounding
scenery in going down the bay and getting the
full benefit of the breeze, the greater portion of the
passengers took possession of that part of the boat
forward of the wheelhouse. Those who could not
capture a stool, took up as comfortable a position
as they could get just in front of those
on the benches. In two minutes after the
gates on the pier had been thrown open, the forward
part of the boat was literally packed with
men, women and children, so much so that
was quite impossible for a person to get
around from one side of the hurricane deck to
the other without getting a passage made through
the crowd by the removal or an entire line of the
movable seats. Those who had been unable to secure
a seat of any kind, in looking upon the laughing,
gay hearted crowd that filled the small space
near the wheelhouse as they good naturedly joked
about the unfortunates who had been too slow in
the rush up stairs to get even a stray box to sit
upon, little thought how thankful they would in a
brief moment have reason to be for their misfortune.
It was now lacking three or four minutes of the
hour of starting. The children were running about
the deck amusing themselves in a game of tag. A
little group of jolly-looking fellows, accompanied
by several women who sat beside
them, closely huddled together right in the
middle of the thickest of the crowd, had already
settled a series of jocose story-tellings, and a loud
roar of laughter every once in a while from
the listeners told how they were relishing
what they heard. In fact everybody had
already settled himself and herself, as comfortably
as possible for a pleasant time of it during the sail
down the bay, and not one of the laughing crowd
ever gave a thought that within a few feet of them
was a huge mass of plate iron, hidden from view
beneath the deck, which in a second was to carry
DEATH AND DESOLATION
to many a harpy home. The engineer started at
this moment from the pilothouse, as the bells were to
be rung to "go ahead." The lines were cast off, the
gang planks drawn in and the pilot stood
at his post, when of a sudden there was a
loud crash, a sound of hissing steam, and the boat
shook from stem to stern as though she had been
struck by an iceberg, and in a second the forward
decks were thrown high into the air and
fell in all directions in a thousand pieces. The
boiler had exploded. The scene that ensued
beggars description. The wheelhouse was
thrown high into the air; the hurricane deck
in front of it and alongside of it was
torn into shreds and scattered in every direction.
The deck beneath, near the bow, was rent asunder
by the force of the concussion. The boiler crashing
into the forward part of the hulk, carried
with it everything that lay In its way.
The heavy timbers of the deck were
broken asunder as if they had been reeds, while the
entire hold was laid open, and down into the midst
if all the heap of broken iron and broken rails --
away down in the hold, from which the steam was
gushing in thick, suffocating clouds -- lay
A STRUGGLING MASS OF MEN,
women aud children -- each in his or her agony tearing
blindly at the other to reach a place of safety.
Some lay on the edge of the broken part of the lower
deck, crushed and mangled almost out of all semblance
to humanity, while in the water, near
the steamer, were crowds of the passengers struggling
to get near the boats which put out from
all sides to the rescue.
The hurricane deck forward of the shaft was
hurled in fragments into the air, every person on it
being hurled along with it and falling either dead
or horribly mangled on the lower deck or into the
waters beneath. The smoke stack fell at the
same moment, the wheelhouse crashing drown
at the same time, and the combined weight of the
two crushed in what little remained of the decks,
the whole mass falling into the hold below, carrying
down with it every unfortunate who had not been
flung into the river by the explosion. A bystander
states that he actually saw two men fall into the
water headless, and three others without the slightest
vestige of an arm or a leg.
The scene was one of heart rending horror.
Shrieks rent the air upon all sides, and
above the din and confusion made by the groans
and moans of the wounded was heard the shrill
shriek of some woman, who, beneath a mass of
broken timbers, lay writhing and struggling.
in a vain effort to get free. The Police boat and
boats from Governor's Island were soon on hand,
and their crews worked energetically to save those
whm had been thrown into the water by the explosion,
or who had, in the horror of the moment,
sprung overboard. A very large number were
SAVED BY THE BOATS,
and everything was done that could be done to alleviate
the sufferings of the wounded, who were
brought ashore and laid upon the wharves. In a
short time after the dreadful accident the streets
near the pier began to fill up with an
excited crowd. An hour after the occurence
there were fully five thousand people
in the vicinity of the Battery, and it was as much
as the police could do to keep them back from the
slip where the shattered boat was lying. As
quickly as could be the wounded were taken in
wagons and ambulances to the nearest station
house -- that in New street -- where they
received all the attention that the surgeons could
bestow upon them, and were afterward sent to the
hospitals. Some of the dead were frightfully mutilated.
Many of the bodies were brought to the station
house immediately after the occurrence.
They presented a horrible appearance. One
man had his head blown almost completely
off, only a portion of the forehead and face remaining.
Among the dead was one woman apparently
about thirty years of age. Her head had been
crushed in by a timber falling upon her from the
hurricane deck.
The scene In the streets as wagon
after wagon passed along, each with its cargo
of horribly mangled bodies created the greatest
excitement, and In a very short time the
intelligence of the horrible catastrophe was spread
all over tne city. Hundreds of persons who had
friends on board the boat hastened from up town
in the direction of the Whitethall slip when they
heard the news, and soon the crowds became so
great that an extra force of police had to be called
out to preserve order.
How the accident occurred no one seems to have
any correct idea as yet. It is said that the boiler
was patched some time ago, and that the new piece
must have "given way." The engineer states that
he had only twenty-seven pounds of steam on, and
that the boiler had been in use for nine years.
People must await the result of the Coroner's inquest
to get at the full facts.
THE CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION.
The Westfield -- the Engineer's and Boatmen's
Story.
The Staten Island ferryboat Westfield, which blew
up at the Whitehall landing, was built in 1863 and
measured 220 feet over all. She carried a low pressure
beam engine of ten foot. The boiler, which
was tested by the United States lnspector, John K.
Mathews, on the 15th of June last, was built by the
Sissor Ironworks.
THE VSUAL COLD WATER TEST
was applied, and, to all appearance, there existed
no flaw. The Westfleld had one safety valve, 28
inches area, which only allows 25 pounds
pressure per square inch. In addition she
was furnished with one locked safety valve, as
prescribed by law, loaded to 27 pounds per square
inch. The object of the "locked safety valve"' is to
guard against the indiscretion of the engineer, and
this end the United States Inspector seals
the valve so that as soon as the steam mounts beyond
the pressure allowed it blows off. The engine
is low pressure with cylinders fifty inches in diameter
and ten feet stroke of piston; boiler twenty-four
feet long and ten feet in diameter, twelve feet width
of front. Last year's certificate expired on the l9th
of June, and the inspectors had been notified and
examined the ship, issuing their certificate on the
15th of Juue.
A FLAW MUST HAVE EXISTED
in the shiell of the boiler, for it is very unusual for
boilers to burst in the shell, most of the flaws occurring
near tne furnace or in the steam chest, the
end of the shell was driven by the force of the explosion
into the hull of the ship, but no other part
of the machinery was injured. The engines are
placed at one end of the boat and the boilers at the
other. The force of the explosion was not sufficient
to seriously injure the hull of the vessel.
At the moment of the explosion, half-past one
o'clock P. M., the vessel was lying in the dock just
preparing to move out, the end of the boat where
the engines are situated was towards land, with the
boiler end out towards the water. As is usual, tne
majority of the passengers had passed through in
order
TO CATCH THE COOL RIVER BREEZE
during the passage, and when the explosion took
place it spent its force in the direction where the
least resistance was offered, blowing the hapless
crowd of pleasure-seekers into the air. The explosion
was not loud, nor was its force very great, as
the upper and hurricane decks only are blown away,
the solid hull of the steamer escaping without much
injury. In a moment the water was covered with
fragments of the decks and
THE PALE, FRIGHTENED FACES
of men, women and children were turned appealing
for help toward the shore. Many of the poor people
who clung to pieces of the wreck had received
serious injuries during their fall, and the blood
poured freely from their wounds. Those whose
good fortune had kept them in the rear part of the
steamboat, rushed back to the landing stage in
terror for their lives; but as soon as the panic had
abated many of them returned to afford assistance.
At the moment the boiler burst men and women
and pieces of the wreck could be indistinctly seen
high up In the air throngh the clouds of steam that
for a moment obscured the view. In an instant the
steam cleared away and revealed
THE SCENE OF HORROR.
The pilot, who occupied the pilot house immediately
over the boiler, was blown up into the air
and came down on the hurricane deck, miraculously
escaping without sustaining the slightest injury.
Captain Freeland and Henry Robinson. a colored
man, who was engineer, were standing in
the rear pilot house when the explosion
took place, and both escaped without
injury, though it was at first reported that Robinson
had been killed. So little was ihe force of the explosion
that the Captain at first thought that one of
the South ferryboats had run into him; but the cloud
of steam dissipated this notion and revealed to him
THE EXTENT OF THE MISCHIEF.
A piece of iron four feet in length and about sixteen
inches broad, somewhat wedge-like in shape,
which had formed part or the boiler, was thrown on
to the landing of the HERALD wharf, but fortunately
did not injure any one. About two hundred peopie
were on board the boat at the time of
the explosion, upwards of one hundred of whom
are supposed to have been injured. Almost as soon
as the vapor had cleared away a number of gallant
boatmen were on the spot making gallant efforts to
save the poor wretches who clung desperately to
pieces of the wreck, or grappled or dragged for
those less fortunate whose injuries
RENDERED THEM INSENSIBLE.
Among the men who so distinguished themselves
in the work of humanity the following deserve special
mention:--
James Holland.
Thomas Bournan.
James Condy, attached to the HERALD.
Mlchael Quigley,
John Delaney,
Patrick Collins, Battery boatman.
The gallant fellows picked up over fifty people
and landed them in safety.
HENRY ROBINSON, THE ENGINEER,
who is a colored man of a good deal of intelligence,
and reputed one of the best and most reliable men
in the employment of the company, states that for
twenty years he has been an engineer, and that
he has spent sixteen years in the service
of the company. He has the usual
engineer's certificate, and states that he
has passed at least one examination. It appears
that it is not necessary for the engineers employed
on this ferry to have certificatees. Robinson was in
completed charge of the Westfield at the time of the
explosion. At twenty minutes past one o'clock he
went
DOWN INTO THE FIREROOM
and saw Patrick Finnegan, one of the firemen, and
inquired how the water stood. Finuegan answered
him that it was all right, but in order to see for
himself he approached the boiler and tried the third
cock and found the water flowed, and therefore
considered that everything was right. On
quitting the fire room Robinson went to
the engine room and saw that the boiler
carried twenty-seven pounds of steam and then
left going on to the dock, in a couple of minutes
Robinson again went on board and into the pilot
house, where the captain was standing. After a
few minutes' conversation In the pilot house
Robinson was about to descend, when the explosion
took place. The only cause which Robinson could
assign for the catastrophe was
THE EXISTENCE OF A PATCH
on the boiler, which, he says, may have given way,
though he says that he examined it so late as Thursday,
and that it appeared to be then in a safe condition.
Beyond this Robinson could not give any explanation
of the explosion. The fact that Robinson
seems to have had some doubts as
to tne soundness of the patch on the cylinder
of the boiler suggests some very
unpleasant reflections as to the value to be placed
on the certificates of the United States Inspectors,
who are supposed lo have examined this boiler so
late as the 15th of June, which is the date of the last
certificate shown by the secretary of the company to
the HERALD reporter. If any doubt existed as to
the perfcct soundness of so important, and
SO DANGEROUS A PART OF THE MACHINERY
no certificate should have been issued. This is a
matter which will demand the closest investigation.
The following is a full list of the crew of the Westfield
and the injuries received by them:--
Captain -- Isaac Freeland, not hurt.
Assistant Pilot -- James McGee, slight wound.
Engineer -- Harry Robinson, not hurt.
Firemen -- Robert Casan, slight hurt; Patrick
Finnegan, seriously injured.
Deck hands -- John King. not hurt; Michael
Agnew, not hurt; James Holiday, not hurt; Charles
Rent, slight wound.
Cabin boy -- John Slack, uninjured.
Chambermaid -- Jemima Jackson, uninjured.
The police mention with high honor for bravery
and humanity the names of Michael Quigley and
Patrick Collins, who rescued over one hundred persons
from the water at the imminent risk of their
own lives. Also the names of Charles Doane, Charles
Henderson and Michael Knowles, who spent the
whole evenng and night grappling for the bodies
of the dead.
A BOATMAN'S STORY.
The following simple, straightiorward narrative is
told by one of the gallant fellows who struggled so
bravely to rescue their fellow creatures from a
watery grave. The story is affecting in its rough, sailor
like simplicity, and appeals to the heart more than
the most sensational story could do. It is the
statement of a man who did his duty and seems scarcely
to think that he has done anything more:--
JAMES CONDY, HERALD BOATMAN.
I was in the HERALD shipping office at the time of
the explosion, and, looking out of the window, saw
a volume of steam and ran out on the barge office
dock. I jumped into a small boat and pulled round
the end of the pier in there. I saw
a number of people hanging on to the
timbers of the dock, but as there were men on the
dock with a ladder shoved down, trying to get them
out, I turned my attention to the people in the
water. All about the end of the pier the water was
covered with fragments of the saloon works,
scattered about at thirty feet distance out from the
lock. In every direction men, women and children
were
HANGING ON FOR DEAR LIFE,
to the pieces of floating timber. Nearly all of them
exhibited wounds about the head and face, and appeared
to be greatly frightened. I saw a child
lying on the top of a pretty large piece of the woodwork
which was floating about in the water, and I
at once pulled for it. When I got close I
picked up the infant, which was about three
months old. When I took it up it
didn't appear to have anv life in it. I
placed it on one side of the boat, and rowed to where
I saw a woman clinging to another fragment about
four yards away, and when I took her in I found
she was
THE CHILD'S MOTHER.
She was awfully excited, and when she saw her
child she picked it up and put it in her lap. She
said she had had three other children with her, and
did not knew what had become of them. The poor
woman, whose name was O'Neil, was dreadfully
overcome with fright and seamed not to fully recognize
her position at first. Close by these was a nice
looking young girl, about fifteen years old, dressed
in white, also supporting herself on a piece of the
wreck. I got hold of her and pulled her into the
boat. She cried to me, "Please take me in," and
after I had safely got her into the boat
she told me her name, Mary Bauman,
living iu avenue C. She was in great distress for
her mother, who had accompanied her on the boat,
and whom she believed dead. However, when I
landed her, some time after, she found her mother,
who appeared to have
ESCAPED WITHOUT INJURY.
When I had the girl safely In the boat I went to
the assistance of a man who was clinging to a
piece of wood at about six yards from me. After
some difficulty I handed him into the boat. He told
me he had had a boy with him. After I landed
him near the White Horse slip he found the
child who was not injured. Bradford complained
that his leg was injured, a little boy, about fifteen,
supporting himself on the fragments, asked me
piteously to take him in, as his leg was injured and
he could not swim. Several men were
SCRAMBLED INTO THE BOAT
without my help, and I put them safely ashore. I
think in all I put seven ashore. A number of boats
had rowed in immediately after the explosion and
were all busily engaged in trying to save the people
in the water. Only for the small boats having
come in so quickly a great mauy
more would have been drowned. Among the boatmen
whom I noticed actively engaged tn the effort
to save the lives or the people, were Thomas
Bresnaham, a Whitehall boatman, and James Holland,
Whitehall boatman.
THE FIRST NEWS OF THE EXPLOSION.
Mr. Edward Carlisle, of 17 Park row, was standing
yesterday afternoon, with three friends, in front
of the Stevens House, near the Staten Island ferry.
Suddenly
A QUICK THUD WAS HEARD,
and all eyes were turned in the direction from
which the sound came, some minutes elapsed, and
no news arrived of the cause of the mysterious
sound. In a few minutes a man, accompanied by a
woman, rushed out of the gate of the ferry houae.
At first It seemed as though he was laboring only
under excitement, but before running far he exclaimed,
"OH, MY GOD, SAVE ME!"
He fell down, and a group gathered round him.
It then becaun known that he was frightfully
scalded and was suffering intense agony. He had
been picked up out of the water, and in the
madness of pain had rushed through the gates of the
ferry house into the street. He was taken
to the hospital, but died before arriving
there. It is not known whether or
not the woman who rushed out with the poor fellow
referred to was acquainted with him. She had
hardly got outside the gate of the ferry house when
she fell to the ground. Her arms and legs were
frightfnily burned, so much so that it was necessary
to hold the flesh to prevent it from falling off. The
poor creature died on the way to the hospital.
A HEARTRENDING SCENE.
A father had gone down to the ferryboat with
four of his children to proceed to Staten island.
He, with two children, stayed for a few momenta
outside the ferryboat station to buy some apples.
The other two children had gone on board. Suddenly
the frightful explosion took place.
HUNDREDS OF HUMAN BODIES
were flung luto the air. Shrieks of agony resounded
on all sides, and the disconsolate father,
frantic with excitement at the loss of his two children,
rent the air with his cries.
A SCENE WORTHY OF THE GRACCHI.
At this time two young men, the flesh actually
dangling from their bodies, rushed out of the
ferry gate. They were in frightful agony,
but, despite all their sufferings, they clung to
each other with singular aliection. Their strength
seemed gone, and both were every moment
on the point of falling, but the other, with sudden
and seemingly superhuman devotion, clung to the
other. The face of one was a mass of blood without
burns, that of the other one of burns without blood.
They staggered to the nearest drug store, and were,
for the time, lost amid the terrible excitement of
this sad scene.
THE SCENE ON THE WATER.
Grappling for the Bodies of the Victims.
The gloomy river with a hissing noise having
caught in its arms and folded in the mangled
victims, resumed its wonted expression; the hearts on
shore that stood still in the terrible moment of the
explosion beat quick in agony of horror; a wail of
grief escaped the widened lips or the survivors'
and all was over. No, not all. Now was to come
the realization of the extent of the catastrophe.
Fourteen or fifteen boats, manned by excited volunteers
from the shore, dashed into the slip and immediately
prepared for the work of searching for
the bodies. The water fronting ihe Custom House
barge office and the river for some distance
up and down, was littered with the
debris of the wreck, and this mass of
floating stuff too well indicated where the
unfortunate victims had sunk to rise no more in life. Little
wicker baskets, canes, hats, shawls, handkerchiefs,
ties floated on the surface or were washed against
the piers. Then planks and pieces of various parts
of the upper deck bobbed up and down in the tide
or drifted out to the eager river, but the boatmen
paid little attention to these. They
GRABBED, TUGGED AND PULLED
with terrible energy, and soon the placid water bubbled,
and all the spectators on the shore, and those
in the boats fixed their eyes intently on the
broad-shouldered man who, standing in the bow of his
skiff, was hauling strongly but slowly up from the
bed of the river something that glistened white
beneath his hand. A moment of intense anxiety -- an
eternity of expectancy for the lookers-on, many of
whom had friends or relatives on board the ill-fated
steamer, and the object floated to the surface. A
moan escaped from the assembled crowd on the
dock and the body of a little child was token on board
a boat. With dripping hair and arms spread out
Ihe poor innocent was laid across a thwart. Its face
was dark and gathered up, as if it died in agony,
while its clothes were torn from its body, scarcely a
shred remaining. But there was no time for examining
closely the condition of this
THE FIRST FOUND VICTIM.
A shout at once startling and horrifying drew attention
away to another quarter. On the dock,
with wild eyes ami dishevelled hair, a woman stood
shrieking and wringing her hands wildly over her
head.
"Oh, my God! my God!" she cried continually,
"where is my husband and my son? Oh, my son!"
She made a movement as if she intended to precipitate
herself into the river, but was held back by
people near by.
"Look, look!" yelled a man in a boat, as he pulled
a skiff quickly to ihe opposite side of the slip,
"Look! here he is, here he is!"
The unfortunate man, who seemed to be a sailor
or boatman, acted as if his reason hail deserted him.
Leaning over the side of the boat until his face
almost touched the water he gazed with distended
eyes down into the river, watching, with an expression
on his face of intense agony, nor that which he
dreaded to see. Not a piece of dress or iron bolt
this time tried the strength of the boatmen
HAULING AT THE GRAPPLING LINES.
It came slowly. Something below seemed to hold
it in the bed of the river. What couid it be?
"Perhaps two bodies locked together," suggested
a boatman.
"Or one imbedded in the mud," said another,
as he tugged at the rope.
The excitement of the boatmen was naturally very
great, though not so intense as those on
shore. Presently the men at the rope felt
that the object they had grappled was yielding,
and soon after the water bubbled and
boiled beside them; and then, to the inexpressible
horror of all, two human feet, partly
covered and swollen, burst out. of the water. The
form of a full grown man was in full view. The
poor scalded clay was taken gently but quickly into
the boat and as quickly landed. And so the work
went on. Boats of the Dock Department, from the
shipping and from different slips in the immediate
vicinity hurried to the assistance of those already
at work, and so the work went on hour by hour.
As the evening grew apace ami the news of the terrible
disaster spread far and wide through the city
a number of
PEOPLE WHO HAD FRIENDS ON BOARD
the Westfield secured boats aud rowed about the
river outside the slip, anxiously waiting the result
of the labors of the men grappling for the bodies.
The painfully eager faces of these grief-stricken
people was reflected on shore in the horrified
countenances of the great crowd that had now
assembled. With clasped hands, white faces and motionless
lips women stood gazing on the water,
from which now and again some mangled
human form emerged. Not many were recognizable.
Torn with spiinters and swelled to an unnatural
size by the steam escaping from the boilers,
they presented a most sickening sight. The feeling
of those who had reason to believe that their relatives
or friends were numbered with the dead can
be imagined, but no words can describe them.
Fathers bewailed the loss of children, children
fathers and mothers, and strong men wept tears of
bitter agony, and mingled with the grief of the
mourners was wild, uncontrollable passion.
"Ah!" exclaimed a gentleman in a boat, as
another victim was hauled feet foremost to the surface.
"Ah! will God punish the murderers of my son?
Is God just?" And he hid his face in his hands and
moaned aloud.
"Your son may not be dead, sir," said a boatman
near him; "he may not have been on board."
"Let me alone, let me alone," sobbed the gentleman,
in agony, "I know he is dead; I feel it.
MY GOD, MY GOD!"
At half-past six the body of a little girl, apparently
eight or nine years old, was recovered immediately
in front of the Barge Office. She had on a white
frock, embroidered on the front, near the neck, high
laced shoes, white stockings, fastened with red and
white garters. The eyes were of a light blue hue, hair
dark brown and luxuriant, worn plain. The face and
limbs were bloated and slightly discolored from the
effects of being in the water. The body did not
seem to have sustained any injuries with the exception
of two light bruises on the forehead, probably
caused by striking against some of the
debris, or
coming into contact with the spikes about the barge
piers, as the body was swept along by the current.
It was taken on a stretcher to the First precinct station
house. Shortly after the recovery of this body
a girl's slipper was flshed up, with a large square
silver buckle on the front, together with a ladies'
parasol of black silk with pink tips and white
handle.
This was
THE LAST BODY TAKEN UP
before darkness set in. The men in the boats were
exhausted with thelr labor and had to be relieved by
others. There were volunteers by the hundred
ready to take their places, and there was no delay
on that account. But it became necessary to have
lights, and these were soon procured.
Owing to the fact that the eddying current prevented
the bodies from floating out into the river,
the search was more successful than at any other
time of the tide. The killed and drowned were kept
by the tide within about fifteen yards of the spot
where the disaster occurred, and it is quite posBible
that all have now been recovered.
But the search was continued far into the night.
Lights glimmered on the river, and the din of oars
and the heavy splash of grappling irons fell dismally
on the ears of the throng still on the Battery.
THE WIND SUNG A LULLABY
on the solemn water, the tide washed monotononsly
and mournfully against the piers; while the stars
threw a sickly, uncertain light down on the scene of
human misery and human woe.
REMOVING THE DEAD AND WOUNDED.
The promptitude of the hospital officers was commendable.
In about twenty-five minutes after the
explosion ambulances from the Centre Street Hospital,
from the several police stations and from
Headquarters hurried at full gallop to the scene of
the disaster. Their arrival was greeted with cheers
by the great and excited crowd assembled at the
Battery. With
THE AMBULANCES AND CARTS,
the former for the injured and the latter for those of
the victims who were past all human aid, was a
large and efficient staff of surgeons, with a plentiful
supply of bandages and medicines indispensably
necessary on such an occasion. The ambulances
drew up before the ferry first, the surgeons leaped
from their seats and went to work with
a will. Theirs was a terrible work. The groaning
wounded -- men, women and children shattered by
splinters and scalded with steam -- writhed on the
ground before them. To take them gently and put
them in the comparatively easy ambulances was the
work of a few minutes. But every moment there
were others coming. The dead claimed attention.
Heads or feet foremost, up they came, stark,
staring, and with swollen limbs and torn flesh,
stiff in the embrace of death, with eyes staring from
their sockets and their faces contorted in the agony
of the moment of dissolution, they were lifted on
the Battery and from thence to the carts. Nothing
but
SOBS AND WAILS OF GRIEF
were heard on every side. Relatives and friends of
the agonized occupants of the ambulances followed
up Broadway, chilling the hearts of the spectators
of the mournful cortege and eliciting mournful
and heart-rending cries. The carts
rolling up from the Battery with their
lifeless loads of mangled human clay also
had their following. With each ambulance were
one and sometimes two medical attendants.
There was no lack of assistants. Mew York was
stirred to its centre, and never was more humane.
A driver and a single attendant was deemed sufficient
for each cart load of dead.
SCENES ON THE STREETS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
OF THE BATTERY.
The scenes along the streets in the neighborhood
of Whitehall when the explosion look place were
scarcely less horrible and agonizing than those
within the slip itself. Every avenue leading to and
from the Staten Island, Hamilton and South ferries
was crowded with light-hearted men, women and
children, who wore on their way to the boats that
were to take them off rejoicing to suburban pleasure
places and enable them to enjot "the poor man's
holiday" in the open air; but when
THAT INFERNAL CRASH
took place the laughing and the cheerful chat
suddenly ceased. The moving throngs stopped as
though each individual had been just stricken dead.
Every face turned pale witn inexplicable terror.
People glanced with horror into one another's faces,
afraid to ask what had frightened them. This
lasted a moment or two; but as the
agonizlng and almost unearthly screams went up
again in rapid and increasing succession from
inside the gate of the Staten Island ferry house, the
people on the streets, as if moved by one and the
same irresistible impulse, rushed towards the scene
spot would soon find their efforts to repel the crowd
unavailing if they had not been rapidly reinforced.
Those who heard the noise and saw some of the
EFFECTS OF THE EXPLOSION
ran down to Whitehall at the top of their speed.
Everybody who saw another rnnnlng followed in
the same direction aud asked no questions, and soon
the crowds filled the Battery park and all the
avenues of approach for several blocks distant. The
news must have spread through the city in an incredibly
short space of time, for within an hour
THE WHOLE POPULATION
seemed to be surrounding the place. How the
tidings could have spread so rapidly is a mystery,
seeing that not a human being moved up town or
in any direction save that of the Battery. All
through the afternoon and late into the night the
tide of human beings poured down every street and
swelled the sea of people that covered every available
foot of ground in and below Bowling Green.
People who had no interest in the result except that
excited by
HUMAN FEELING AND SYMPATHY,
looked pale, anxious and horror-stricken; but the
looks and actions of those who regarded the
presence of some dear and near one on that boat as
probable or possible, neither pen nor pencil can
describe. Children cried piteously for missing
parents, and parents, with their marrow frozen,
remembered that tlieir children had gone out yesterday
with some friend, who expressed an intenion
to go on a trip down the bay. Men and women
rushed wildly up to perfect strangers to them and
inquired alter some missing darling, as though
everybody must be thoroughly acquainted with the
victims and knew their fate.
WOMEN FAINTED
In the open streets, children screamed in affright,
and strong men and manly boys bowed th >ir heads
In silent grief, or rushed madly about in a delirium
of excitement and miserable uncertainly. The first
to arrive at the scene was
CAPTAIN UHLMAN,
of the First precinct police, who did excellent work
with his men in keeping back the obstructing crowd
and aiding tne earnest and skillful workers who
were busy rescuing the wounded and thc dying.
Soon after came
INSPECTOR JAMIESON,
whose timely assistance was of great value.
DR. SHINE
was on hand very early, and went in with a will.
Many a poor scalded and stricken victitm will have
to owe his life aud the remission of counyless lifelong
momeuts of agony to the indefatigable Doctor.
THE FIREMEN
came down with their usual speed and spirit, and
did noble work.
THE BATTERY BOATMEN,
especially two named Michael Quigley and Patrick
Collins, immortalized themselves by their daring
and untiring exertions to save the lives of their
fellow beings.
THE AMBULANCES
from the City Hall Hospital flew down the street at
a fearful rate and flew back again loaded with
suffering humanity. The insurance patrol wagon
became a useful volunteer, and brought up several
loads of the scalded wretches. Several private carriages
and express wagons came to tne rescue and
did splendid service. When these vehicles passed
the crowds on their way up the streets with their
BURDENS OF HUMAN WOE
and misery, moans of sympathy burst forth from
the people and blessings were showered on the
heads of the rescuers. As each load of boiled and
scalded bodies of men and women and tender little
children passed by, people groaned and cried with
horror; while the attempts of so many to peer
into the wagons in dread expectation ol
recognizing some loved and lost one,
were pitiable and heartrending to see. All the
afternoon, while the work of relief and mercy was
going forward, the thousand-headed masses of
people remained in the neighborhood fascinated
and horror-stricken by the scenes they witnessed,
and which they never can forget if they lived fifty
lives over.
STATEMENTS OF EYE-WITNESSES AND
OTHERS.
Statement of Doctor Daniel McEwan.
Doctor Daniel McEwan give the following '
graphic and interesting account of the accident.
The doctor was one of the earliest medical attendants
on the grounds and did good service in ministering
to the needs of the unfortunate victims. We
prefer to give this account in his own words, as the
narrative of the particulars of the various cases
adds much to the vividness of the conception of the
disaster. Says the doctor:--
I live at the Eastern Hotel, within a stone's throw
of the slip where the accident took place. About
one o'clock I heard the explosion. It was a
HEAVY DULL SOUND,
that seemed to carry with t, even at the moment
you heard it, a peculiarly dreadful significance. I
had never heard an explosion before, but I
apppeared to feel at once that something terrible had
happened. I rushed to the window, looked
out towards the spot from whence the
sound had come, and I saw the smoke rising from
the Staten Island ferry house and the crowds of
people running there. At first it was mostly steam
that rose up, but soon heavy
VOLMES OF DENSE SMOKE
slowly ascended in the air. I could not see the boat
from my window, however?only the ferry house.
As soon as I comprehended that there had
been an accident, I put my Instruments
in my pocket and ran down stairs to the site of the
disaster, people were then coming out of the ferry
house, some of whom said that they had been passengers
in the boat injured, but that they had escaped,
having luckily been in tne after part of the
boat. Thev were all greatly terrified and excited.
soon afterwards I met a man who bad been
WOINDKD.
His own was badly hurt. Splinters of wood had
penetrated the fleshy part of the forearm, some of
which had penetrated right down to the bone. It
was bleeding profusely, and this showed that the
injury had not been caused by scalding so much an
by direct violence. I had scarcely looked at him,
when a number of other persons, yet more severely
wounded, claimed my attention. They were
PRINCIPALLY FEMALES.
The most came out of the ferry house, running as
though greatly frightened and fleeing from some
terrible danger. Most of the injuries were caused
by frightful scalds, and appeared to be rather painful
than dangerous or fatal.
In nearly all the cases the parts of the body which
had been uncovered by clothing had been dreadfully
injured by the steam and hot water. The skin in
many cases had
PEELED OFF THE FLESH,
like a glove and was hanging down in shreds. Thw
sights thus to be witnessed were piteous in the extreme.
I noticed that the palms of the hands were
generally more injured than their backs. There wu?
but little bleeding, the absence of which
is, indeed, usuully a characteristic of scalds.
The wounded, the females especially, were
greatly excited and screamed with fright and
called out for their friends. The crowd
that had gathered round sympathized with
them, but did nut seem to know in what way to
afford relief.
The worst case l saw at this time was a boy of
about ten years of age. The
STEAM SEEMKED TO HAVE PENETRATED
beneath his clothing and to have reached every
square inch of his body, and to have scalded him all
over, without, however, producing any deep-seated
injury in any one particular spot. His skin was
injured from the crown of his head to the sole of
his foot. He was clad, too, in pretty
thick and whole garments, though they were not
very handsome or costiy. I ripped off his clothes
with a knife as quickly and as carefully as I could,
but in spite of every precaution the
INSTRUMENTS RUFFLED OFF.
in the operation. The poor boy writhed in an agony
that seemed unendurable, and he screamed incessantly.
He was absolutely out of his senses with
extreme pain. He cried loudly for water, and we
procured him some, as well us some brandy, as
speedily as we were able, and a good
draught somewhat soothed him. Some one
had by this time procured some lint and
carron oil (carron oil consists of equal parts of
sweet oil and limewater); and I dressed his wounds
as well as I could with the appliances at command
and had htm carried Into the ladles' reception room
of the ferry house. He seemed somewhat relieved,
but was still suffering terrible torture. In the course
of a few minutes, while I was attending to him,
TEN OR A DOZEN
other cases, more or less injured, were brought out
of the wreck. The boat was at this time lying
moored by chains to the wharf. Smoke was still
rising from the forward part of the boat, which
seemed, however, much less dilapidated than might
be imagined. The smokestack had gone and the
whole fore part of the vessel was in ruins, but the
aft portion was unhurt, and people could pass to
and fro without the slightest difficulty.
THE FIRE ENGINES AND LADDER COMPANIES
arrived about this time, prepared to extinguish the
flames, but they were chiefly useful in extricating
the dead and wounded from among the debris in
which they were lying, and in this way they did
good service. I did all I could for the
wounded as they were brought into the ferry
house. Most of the cases were injured upon the
hands and face. I dressed the scalds with oil and
lint, and calmed the minds of my patients as far
as possible, as they still appeared to be very apprehensive
of further injury, and I encouraged them
to bear up under the agonies they were enduring.
Some or them were in a state of mental excitement
that it was positively painful to witness. None
of these cases, however, were necessarily
fatal, and but few of them were even serious, so I
walked down to the end of the pier to where another
vessel -- a sort of tugboat -- having heard the explosion
and seen the need of succor, had come and
moored herself across the ferryboat. I got on
board and as fast as the bodies were brought from
out the wreck attended to the injuries of the
victims.
The first case that particularly attracted my attention
was a woman in the
VERY AGONIES OF DEATH.
She could not articulate, and died in scarcely more
than two minutes after, being brought under my
charge. Her external injuries, however, appeared
to be slight, but there was a
bloody froth issuing from her nostrils
and mouth, her face, however, was calm in expression,
and I doubt much if she preserved enough
sensibillty after the first shock to be conscious of
pain.
The next case was that of a man -- I think he was
a German -- who was raving with pain. He
GASPED FOR BREATH,
as though respiration were extremely painful and
difficult. He also was made to speak or swallow.
His face was smeared with blood, where he had
been struck with splinters of wood. His greatest
injuries, however, seemed to be in the mouth and
throat, which were terribly swollen by scalding.
Next to him, strange to say, came his natural foe,
a Frenchman. The poor fellow was handsomely
dressed and wore
A GREAT DEAL OF JEWELRY.
He had a large solitaire diamond in his shirt
bosom and he had a carbuncle pin in his neckcrchief.
He kept repeating
MON DIEU! MON DIEU!
I asked him In French if he suffered much, and in
reply he pointed to his head and then to his
stomach, but he seemed unable to explain intelligibly
the nature of his sufferings. He was badiy scalded
over the face, and the hot steam had seeked up his
arms, and, as I found out by ripping up his pantaloons,
up his legs also. We plied him well with
brandy and water, and dressed his wounds, after
which one of the deck hands put a coil of rope under
his head for a pillow and he seemed a little relieved.
The next case I attended to was
A LITTLE BOY,
eleven years of age. His countenance was pallid
with suffering and his face was swollen up in many
places with water blebs (blisters). He cried out
"Water ! water !" without ceasing, and every now
and then writhed from side to side, as though his
sufferings were too great to be borne. I divested
him of his clothing, and found that
both arms to the shoulder, the neck and the whole
surface of his back were badly scalded. The scarf,
or outer skin, peeled off with his clothing. In spite
of our efforts to prevent it. He also appeared to
have been injured internally by the steam, as his
mouth and throat were so swollen that he could not
speak. I noticed about him, as also about all the
other victims, that his
TEETH WERE UNNATURALLY WHITE.
The cause of this may nave lieen simply a natural
beauty; but, perhaps, also the steam may have
acted in some way upon the tartar. I can't say exactly
If that was so or not, though.
I then saw a young fellow, whose only injury had
been caused by
A BLOW
from some heavy article on the small of the back.
He complained of a great deal of pain in the part
affected, hut this was relieved by a deck hand placing
underneath him an extemporaneous piilow of
some ropes and things.
The next case was
A BABY,
nine months old -- a male child. No one seemed to
claim it, and I suppose Its parents or friends had
been fatally injured. It whs badly scalded -- poor
little thing -- in both legs and arms and upon the
face. I think, though, it will recover all right. It
was still lively and cried vigorously with pain, but
it was not at all apparently weakened by suffering.
I then despatched a lighter case -- a woman with a
sprained ankle, but otherwise uninjured.
A woman was about this time
GOT OUT DEAD.
The lips and all the vascular parts of the body were
blue, but there seemed to be no scalding. I suppose
shee was killed Instantaneously, before the water or
steam reached her. After death, of course, it is
impossible for a scald to raise blisters. Her skin,
however, seemed parboiled -- very white and unnatural
in appearance.
Again I saw a little child without anv friends to
claim it. It was slightly bruised, but that was all.
No blood, no scalds, no injuries of any account that
were perceptible. How it escaped I can't say.
Perhaps it lay in its mother's arms when the disaster
took place, but was unhurt by the shock that left it
motherless.
After leaving the boat I came
TO THE HOTEL
where I was told there were some fifteen or twenty
Other wounded people. These cases wore not, as a
general thung, so serious as I had previously
eon. One of them, though, a woman, was the
worst case of scalding I witnessed. Her name was
Mrs. Finlay. Both arms, both legs and all
around the body were scalded deeply -- right down
to the true skin. It was agonizing to listen to her
shrieks. She entreated the people around her to kill
her, or shoot her and
PUT HER OUT OF HER PAIN.
1 gave tier an injection of morphine, and after having
bathed the wounds with oil she seemed greatly
relieved.
There was also a sad case in which
A WHOLE FAMILY
Were Involved. There was a young English woman
who had arrived in the country but a very short
time, and had been taking a little excursion with
her brother-in-law and his wife. All three
case was that the first woman had intended
to bring her child of eight months old with her, but
it had been taken sick that morning, and she had,
therefore, concluded to leave it at home. Her injuries
were very serious. The head, face, neck and
forearm were pretty badly scalded. She had a very
HEAVY HEAD OF RICH BLACK HAIR,
which contrasted badly with her pain-worn and
anguish-stricken face. Her sister and her brother-in-law --
husband and wife -- had fallen together
through the deck, but their injuries, though painful,
were not necessarily fatal.
I was too actively engaged to be able to estimate
the number of killed and wounded. In my opinion,
however, most of the scalding cases were not rery
dangerous. The immediately fatal injuries were
mostly caused by direct violence.
