The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-05-28
Loss of the Steamer Empire.

O'Clock, for Albany, having on board large num-
Der OF passengers, among whom were many ladies.
AT about 10 o'clock, when opposite Newburgh, the
pilot Mr.. Levi Smith, discovered the schooner
| Noah Brown, with heavy deck-load of lumber,
bearing down al rapid rate through the channel
| apparently not discovering the proximity OF the
steamer. He Immediately stopped the engine, and
went forward to hail her. Although his voice,
crying to the at the wheel of the schooner TO
"Luff !'luff,' was heard in the cabin, it appears
that him for whom it was intended did not hear It,
The engines were then reversed, and, while the
| steamer still in the water, or making sternway,
| the schooner came upon her with a tremendous
| crash The bowsprt entered the forward cabin,
Just under the larboard guards, and so heavily was
| the schooner loaded, that she not brought up
till her very bow had also entered the Empire side.
| The schooner was beating down the river, with
a stiff breeze, when the collision occurred the wind
being from the South or South by East, and she
| the tack from the East TO the West shore of the
river She was owned by Mr. Snyder, of Troy,
| COai-deaier
| The pilot of the Empire measured the distance
| with his eye, and found it doubtful whether he
could get by the bow of the schooner, and for that
reason afforded her every opportunity TO come into
the wind while he could pass go upon the other
| tack. The awful scenes which now followed can
not he described. Most of the passengers had re-
tired for the night, and were sleeping in their berts.
| When she struck, and the water came rushing into
! the cabin, the men leaped from their beds and
rushed to the stairs to their lives. 1t is very
Nldfly III IOG~dTu CdpH were over
| whelned with the water before they could escape,
| though, TO all appearance, every one escaped. In
| the terrible confusion they trampled and bruised
each other. In the ladies' cabin when it was
found that the boat began to sink, the most awful
| CONSERVATION ensued. The screams OF the women
| were heart-rendiDg. Wives called on their hus
bands, and children chung their parents for safety
On shore, at Newburg, the first intimation of the
| dreadful catastrophe was the awful screams which
arose IRON the passengers, and the mournul toliing
nl f.a 20 bali Axao hrnrr h11o
| cut through into the ladies' cabin, and many thus
| liberated. One of the ladies was accidentally
| killed by blow on the head from al one of
| the holes-such is information from passenger
All this, including the assembling of the passen-
| gers on the after promenade deck, and around the
pilot house, occupied a period of less than eight
| minutes, during which the boat slowly and
| constantly settling down. floating meanwhile with
| the tide. When the water reached the furnace
fires, explosions, caused by its rush upon the burn
| ing Goals, occurred, which forced out the panel
work upon the deck and added still more TO the
confusion of the moment.
Shortly after, the steamer Rip Van Wrinkle Capt,
s.: Schuyler, bound up to Albany, and about two
miles behind the Empire, came alongside and by
admirable management, the passengers were speed
lily taken from their perilous position, the Empire
taken in tow and carried to the fats, where she
still lles-the stern caught upon the fiat and the
bow fioating-promenade deck even with the water
The steamer Hudson, bound for Hudson, also
asern came up and rendered much valuable as
sistance.
A passenger on board asslses us that he saw
many in their fright jump overheard, and he thinks
that not less than twenty lost their lives in this
way, though great portion of those who jumped
overheard were picked up by the small boats from
Newburg. The only bodies which have been
covered are those of two ladies and little girl.
One of the ladies is quite elderly, and is supposed
to be a Mrs. Noble, who was known TO be on board.
OF the other, nothing was ascertaned before the
steamer Troy left Newburg on her way to this city.
Gen. Davis and daughter of Troy, We're among
the passengers. Both, we are happy to state,
were saved.
The little girl was the daughter of Mrs. -,
and during the awful confusion at the time of the
collision the mother was running hither and
thither in her night-clothes, and with an infant at
her breast, calling upon all she met to help her find
her child. She was finally persuaded to give up
the search, and to go ashore with the other passen
gers at Newburg, in the hope that the child might
have been saved in the small boats. Soon after she
left the Empire the body of her daughter las sup
posed) was found
Ii is not known how many, if any. gentlemen
were drowned in the lower cabins. About $50 In
all were there, and none of those who escaped had
time to save more than they had upon them. Those
who were in bed and asleep were awakened by
the noise and and barely escaped with their
lives. There We're about go passengers on board,
all told and it is deeply to be regretted that no list
of those who We're saved was taken, and that the
number of them was not counted. The Captains
Office was buried quickly that the books, papers,
passengers lists and money were not recovered,
To the kindness of the people of Newburg the
passengers by the Inflated Empire indebted for
many comforts, which they will never forget.
The Empire can easily be recovered, so that the
loss to the owners will be comparatively trifiing.
The shock was sudden that the hull and timbers
of the boat were not materially injured.
The accident wholly resulted from the want of
proper lookout board the schooner or from the
natention of the man at the wheel. The least
regard to the sailing of that vessel would have
discovered to them the vicinity of the steamer. On
board the Empire every thing was done which
prudence could dictate to avoid the accident
LATER.-Later accounts from the Empire state
that eleven dead bodies had been found to-day, one
"a young LADY, in pumping water from the boilers
and it was supposed that twenty more will be found
in the cabins, when the boat is raised There was
no insurance whatever.
STILL LATER.-Seven more bodies have been
found on the wreck of the Empire, four Of which
have been identfed-ail taken from the upper
berths in the ladies' saloon. The lower berths and
gentiemen's cabin are supposed to contain - or 80
more of the passengers. The Coroner's inquest
sits at Fshkill landing. The boat will be raised
Tomorrow.
THE LONDON TIMES ON CALrFoRNiA-The
London Times of the lst May, thus discourses on
California
San Francisco probably never existed There is
but one suit in the pack of California delights.
Spades are trumps. They dig and wash, wash
and dig, and dig again. No slave drivers of Cuba
ever conceived such an amount of work to be real
liable from human instruments as is here per-
formed, where every man is his own task master.
There is no Sabbath, though party of diggers,
less abandoned than the Others, devised kind of
compromise between their profession and their dn
lies, and spent the first day of the week at home,
" In blowing away the emery from the gold and
making bags of cow-hide'' Provisions have found
their way to the colony in tolerabe abundance,
but sickness-a serious calamity where a doctors
visit costs SIX ounces of gold and advice another
ounce-was prostrating great numbers of the dig
gers. Who are the physicians or by what good
luck this single one of the learned professions has
found representatives the Sacramento. we are
unable to say. Ministers of religion there are
nome not even a Roman Catholic missionary, nor
any law. except that which American citizen
usually carries in his cartridge-box