The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-05-28

Wreck or the Empire-Prosress Of Raising
Her-The Inquest.
FrsHxiLL. Saturday, May q, ls49
The bow Of the EMPIRE which hitherto rested on the
mud at lev tide, floats 1t all times. Forward shs
only draws feet of wateft Der regular drsught il
She has been raised about Is feet higher In the
than when she was lowest in it. The great object
h TO get up her STERN which is entirely down. espe-
eiay since tho bow raised. The intention Is to
swing 1t round to the shore when tho psrbuckng is
completed The breach in her starboard bow will be
stopped which will allow her to sink little forward
be tho case when her stern lifted The casks
being gradually extended aft and 1t 10 expected
the screwing operation and heaving will commence
this evening or TO morrow when the double row Of
hogsheads is completed. few were got aft of the
wheels this morning The work will proceed on Sun
day, and in fact night and day till it is accomplished
There was not much progress made yesterday after
The day wet that the wreckers, thorough
ly saturated as they with rain would not 20 on
and their place could not be supplied None but
wreckers do their work. They arc a. fierce, and
reckless and devil may set of fellows are to
DO found in the world They can live in tho water
their lower parts concerned, but they don't
like wet overhead.
There Is every sort of talked in some OF the
papers about the delay In getting the
If the would have gwen S65OO to raise her If
could be done like magic. No exerton Ia spared by
them the contractors for is the interest of both
have her raised possible the contractors
do not lift her within certain time, and unnured
when they found her. they got nothing, aud their
labor and expense are in vain. Every hour she lies
where she is there Is risk Of serious damage her
Mr. Boardman's skill in raising wrecks IL well known.
He is man Of great mechanical genius He has in
vented. you aware. the celebrated steam pump,
tor which he has patent. and makes considerable
annual sum for his permission to use it. The boiler
lies the deck Of . schooner alongside, If it
should be ssary to It, which will depend the
authority Of tho coroner, Mr. Churchill to detain the
wreck II consulting his legal advisers he finds he
prevent its removal till he is satisfied it contains
more bodies no will probably enforce his right.
1t is to be the owners would naturally wish to
have the nquests finished here instead of commencing
. third In New ork but then they feel uneasy
every moment and will feel till they their boat
in the Dry Dock The contractors equally anxious
expedite their undertaking and they say that what
bodies may yet remain below will DO found moro
speedily by bringing the boat to New York whore the
be let out Of her ct once than by searching
for them here delaying for the more slow operation
Of the steam pump Besides, the great difficulty is to
get far above the water that the steam pump
be made available for as long ~ the water can
get in over her main deck the pump can do nothing
mms weight of water she contains, to raise her
entire hull above that level Unless, therefore, the
coroner nterferes, u, ct a'ms she will be towed to
New York she Is sufficiently bu0yed up, fore
and aft for that purpose
1t is calculated that the expense Of raising her. tho
necessary repairs the loss Of freight and injury done
to what il saved will not be covered by less than
$50 COO She cost originally when she was built, in
1913 $4,000. She Is cecd-i. e her hull is lined
most other boats are merely brace aud this stands to
her owners now in keeping her together 1t wa. the
buoyancy, too thus created together with the huge
wooden frames In which her engines are bedded in the
lower cabin. and her horizontal cylinders, empty Of
out Of sight and saved many lives 1t is clear
this boat entirely sink, as long she holds
have their engines, she would have pro-
badly gone the bottom at once, Notwithstanding the
buoy xpcy from all other causes
Mr. I ucker, agent for the Empire, and brother of
Captain Tucker went last night to Troy with the
enigrants, who have been staying at Newburg waiting
that the company have agreed to pay them for their
losses, and to send them subscription has be-,
set foot here by the jury and others for those
dered destitute by this melancholy accident. 1t will
amount to about 500 and is to be- distributed by Mr.
James kanken, as he sees 1t is most needed.
Captain Robinson of the Noah Brown was here this
morning. and has just gone to Troy for some Witnesses
chiefly with view, understand, to sustain his cha
racter Mr. Smiths has been well supported By
Of the witnesses Indeed it docs appear that
the characters Of either Of these mpeached;
fer 1t is not alleged that there guilty intention
on either ride With regard to Mr. Smith il is evident
that If he had any malicious intention he could have
right through the schooner without the slightest
injury to his own boat and some pilots would have
perhaps followed that course instead Of that, no
sheered of and thus exposed the side of tho steamboat
to the bowsprt of tho schooner rather than destroy
the latter 1t would en- therefore, that In I'M
liable way he did net The schooner until it
was too late and then did the best his Judgment do
tated to mitigate collision that he deemed inevitable
If schooncrs and other sailing vessels compelled
by law to have lights in their cabins to swing about
ttaiboard just rs they want her to go, such sad
catastrophe the present would not have occurred
Tschirner, ISL Tenth street. Philadelphia nscare Of
Mrs Chapman, alleging that he IL n friend of Augusto
Springer. and enquirng about money which he states
DECEASED had his person, namely. $500, chiefly in
louis d'ors In the first letter. no states it in belt
No belt has been found deceased. In the second
letter received by the to day the writer
the money WAS in tho vest The was searched ut
first, and no money found, and was again produced
to-day Two dollars only were found upon deceased.
A inst nf hnW aQailv his Onnpn hou
been lost may mention a fact lady Il think her
name is Mrs 1uthD on the saloon deck aft, and
had her purse full Of gold in her hand. She dropped
it into the water the deck aud lost it. for she
then deep in the water that she actually walked of
the vessel into the river without knowing where she
was going She was picked by ono of the boats and
saved but lost her gold watch, the chain of it having
been in some way snapped in her struggles.
body OF q boy about IA years Of age was found
this morning at PoIypus Island which is situate about
two miles further down the river than where the
wreck now lies There BIO little doubt that it is
one # the bodies drowned the night of the acct
dent. Pieces of the wreck have been found in the
same direction.
THE INQUEST TODAY.
Tie jury met at nine O'Clock this morning when
MIR. Dubois, one of their NUMBER who had been de-
puod yesterday to to Poughkeepse to confer with
the District Attorney upon legal matters handed
in letter from MIR. Emmott, in which he distinctly
states that the Coroner has power whatever de-
tain the wreck He also maintains that the Coroner
and jury not bound to obey any subpoena from the
United States Marshal till the inquest is brought to
conclusion; nor need the witnesses obey such SUM-
Hons aro uiscnnlBeu the coroner and jury;
and the evidence must be returned i'm aedately to
the clerk Of Duchess county. and not the United
States Court. He adds that If any bodies found in
the wreck. when It arrives at New Y rk inquest
be held by the Coroner there the jurisdiction Of
the Fishki Coroner ceasing such bodies
removed from his county.
The body found this morning not having arrived,
the jury then adjourned half past ten O'Clock till
two.
BODIES MISSING
NEwBURG. Saturday, May 26-10 P. NJ
visited the wreck this evening. aud remained on 1t
for two hours looking at the operations of the wreck
ers. The process il necessarily slow but every
hour the noble boat Is rising. Mir Bosrdman is per-
fecily confident of his ability to accomplish what he
has undertaken. He has such fat in his hogsheads
that he says he could raise her keel of the
with tn, m. There nine chains extended under
her bottom, and three more to be added. These
chains connected with two pair of beams-a pair
each side of the boat running parallel with It, Be-
tween these numerous hog heads well secured. and