Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1849-01-26
From the European Times, Dec. 16.
AWful Disaster.

Dy which upwards oil seventy persons, men,
women and children, lost their lives bv suf-
location.
1t appears that about four o'clock on the
evening OF the lst Of December, the steam
er Londonderry left the harbor of Sligo
There were on board three cabin passen~
gers, number Of sheep and oxen, and
about $50 smigrants. The vessel was
crossing over to this port, whence the ma
jority Of the unfortunate passengers intends
ed to proceed as emigrants to America
Towards nightlall a heavy gale came on,
and at last blew with so much violence,
that shortly after midnight, or rather TO
wards one O'Clock on Saturday morning,
the decks were cleared of all except the
seamen. The Storage passengers, per-
haps one hundred and fifty in number,
were crowded into the fUre-cabin men,
women and children, all were driven below
driven, we say, because several struggled
against those who forced them down the
companion ladder.
After some difficulty, however, many
remonstrances, and much opposition, the
poor emIgrants were crammed into the
narrow compass of the fOre.cabin. com.
partmcnl little more than eighteen feet long
by eleven feet wide, and seven feet high
The space was capable only of accommo-
dating about forty passengers, and here
were nearly one hundred and fifty Of both
sexes huddled together ndiscriminateIy, the
old and the young, the robust and the sick
Iy, the adult and the infant. Meanwhile,
the sea was running high in the channel, so
that the waves repeatedly broke over the
steamer. Then it was that, through the
negligence of those who we've responsible
for the lives Of the people on board, mea-
cure OF momcntary convenience was adopt
ed W inch led Ia a catastrophe the like of
which has only occurred before in the noto-
rious prison of Calcutta. The companion,
the only aperture by which the fore cabin
received ventilation was closed, and over
the companion was nailed down a piece of
tarpaulin
This was at about midnight between Fri.
day and Saturday. The result proved to
be only such as common sense would tell
every one was inevitable. The dizziness
and qualms of sea-sickness were soon for
gotten in the uncomfortable sensations of suf-
location. Efforts were made to force
way out of the confnemtnt; they were
found to be unaVailing. Shouts were raised
10 attract attention; they were drowned in
the roaring noise of the storm. And then,
according TO the description of the few sur
Vlvors, ensued a spectacle such as sets the
Imagination Of the most morbid at defiance.
The steamer drove bravey through The tenn.
pest, while those who directed her remain
ed wholly unconscious of the frightfuI con-
tlict for life and death which was then ra-
g!ng Ill her very entrails.
The trampling and beating sounds with.
IN the cabin were rendered naudible bv
the throbbing of the pstons, and the shrieks
and groans of The sufferers only died away
with the gale toward morning. Not until
then were tire Seamen aware OF the dread.
iul tragedy which had been enacted under
their ieet. Out of one hundred and fifty
passengers who had been driven down the
companion ladder few hours before, sew.
enty two were found to have persisted -
Men, and women, and little children, hus-
bardS and wives, sons and mothers, were
heaped about the floor of the cabin in dis
order, some with their clothes torn from
their backs IN tatters, some with their hands
and faces lacerated, some with their features
trodden into a mummy by the iron .shod
'brogues' of their fellow sufferers: here a
father locked in the arms of his daughter:
there n sister clingirg to the corpse of her
brother, their countenances black and dis
torted with the commissions produced by
suffocatiOn.
The following is a description of the
scene which met the eye of the mate when
steerage passenger, who had at last forced
his way out, communicated TO him the ter
rible intelligence
1.-The mate ms family became alarmed, and
obtaining lantern, went down To render as
sistance. Such, however, was the foul state
OF the air IN the cabin, that the light was i'm
mediately eXtinguished. A second was OBJ
tanned, and it, too, was extngu shed. At
length, on the tarpauin being removed and
free access of air admitted, The real nature
of the catastrophe exhibited itself There
lay, in heaps, the living, the dying, and the
dead, one lrlghtlul mass of mingled agony
and death, spectacle enough to appal the
stoutest heart. Wen, women and children
were huddled together, blackened with suf-
location, distorted by commissions, bruised
and bleeding from the desperate struggle for
existence which preceded the moment when
exhausted nature resigned the strife. After
some time the living were separated from
the dead, and it was then found that the lat
ter amounted to nearly one,haf of the en-
tire number"
Capt. tombstone appears at length to have
been made aware that he had become a
MAN actor in scene Of the most horrible
calamity. But he was uncertain what 10 do
lie puts his steamer into Tough Foyle, but
II was twelve hours before he could make
up his mind TO pass up to the quay at Derry.
Lest it should be supposed that the above
extract might convey but an impression re-
celyed amidst horror and confusion, here is
how we find the condition of the Storage
cabin described when entered on Sunday
morning by the mayor and magistrates Of
Derry:
"The scene on entering the Storage of
the steamer was perhaps as awful specta.
Gle as could be witnessed. Seventy-two
bodies of men. women and children Iov nil