The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-07-02

L
rhe Awful Disaster ON Lake Erie--F Full
Partieuiars--Lfst of the lost and saved.
We take the following heart-rending particulars
rom the Cleveland, Ohio, Herald of the 18Th ult.
That paper savs: We are indebted to Dr. VIM
of Ouachiia, Louisiana, for copy Of
letter TO friend, describing the events Of Monday
morning. Dr. M. is an intelligent, cool and intre-
pid gentleman, who owes his escape from the midst
Of death, under Providence to his presence of mind,
and deliberate movements in the great peril.
CLEVELAND, o, June II.
About o'clock Sunday evening, got on board
the Griffith at Erie There were on board a great |
number Of deck or sieerage passengers, emigranis,
said to be 256 In the cabin were 40 or 10 OF |
these perhaps about twelve were ladies. The
crew, SO The clerk told me. consisted of about 30
persons. This morning the boat took fire about the |
chimneys, or, as | was told at the time, she was
on fire in the pipes' | was asleep, but was |
awoke by the rushing Of the hands overhead on the
hurricane deck. suppose they were endeayorlng |
to extinguish the flames.
A gentleman who slept in the berth under me-
jumped up and said there was something wrong.
told him no, that we must be near Cleveland, and
the noise was owing to the men preparing 10 land
My friend ran out the guard, and instantly re-
turned, telling me the boat was ON flre.t got
oui pretty rapidly, pulled on my pants, and took
small valise had in my hand, with the expectation
Of getting into some of the boats; indeed, at the
time, we were so near land, had very little appre-
hension of donger ! don'tsuppose at this time we
were over a mile from land, perhaps not SO much.
OF course there was much confusion, men who had
wives and children were in an awful state. There
was no one on board that knew, or that had ever
seen before, consequently, felt less embarrassed
than otherwise might As have said, l did not
at first see the terrible danger which was so rapid
iy approaching.
saw the mate on the starboard guard throwing
the lead, and directing the pilot how to hold her.
The mate looked SO perfectly COOL thought we
must be pretty safe. The engine was still work
ing and we appeared TO be nearing the shore rapid
w. / asked him what was TO be done, he told me
nothing The engine then stopped, but as the boat
had a good deal of way on her she continued 10
approach the Shore This all occurred 10, should
think, from three TO five minutes. The flames
were now raging in all the midshp part of the YES
sci. Isaw now the thing was out no boats were
to be seen, having, as / afterwards learned, been
all burnt up. looked about me for an instant,
and tried to make up my mind what was best 10 be
done. determined 10 get out on the bow or stem
alongside of the b0wEprif. did so, and held on
by the irons and chains about that part. By this
lime a good many had, imprudently, as thought,
jumped overheard
The boat was still making considerable Roadway,
and, Of course, all who went over, and could not
strike out vigorously, must have passed under the
wheels. held on, hoping she would strike in
shoal water. Il then thought she did not draw
feet water, understood afterwards she drew
about 73) l kept my eye on the ripple as the
water broke on the stem L saw Sue was losing
motion entirely and all hope OF her striking before
the flames swallowed all up was now gone. By
4 this time there were any number OF people over
board as for the scene board, it would be idle
| for me to attempt to convey any idea OF it, The
| danger imminent, so overwhelming, that
many think, were fairly Supplied with terror.
1t certainly appeared to me that the passengers
were more quiet, at least that there not such
a horrible uproar as might have been expected. 1t
may be, however, | was too much occupied with
thoughts for my own escape to jadge well Of what
was going on so near me remember, however, |
am describing, rather attempting to describe an
event, all of which transpired in a few, very few
minutes In fact, from the time | got out of my
bed till | took the wafer, do MT think that over
seven or eight minutes had elapsed. Well, | now,
with the view Of letting myself into the water as
easily as possible got down to the lower Deck still
keeping on the outside Of the steamer directly nm
der the bowsprit. | remained there for some time,
| perha, Aeainute more, still vainly hoping she
| would Strike.
/ The water around the bows was now mass Of
human beings, men, women, and children, hope
| lessy struggling for life. The boat was moving,
| but barely moving toward land as had no hope
| OF being able to swim more than few rods, de-
termined to let her carry as far as possible. She
/ soon, however, stopped or, at least, the motion
was scarcely perceptble. On the forward part, OF
bows of the lower deck, the mass of people was
immense all crowded close forward, some madly
and children, and rapidly following them to almost
certain death. | still held on and tried to form
some estimate of the distance to land, and conjec
tured it might be about three four hundred yards
now felt that my chance OF escape was extremely
slight.
In the multitude wildly struggling in the water
all around, did not see how even an expert swim.
mer could escape, and then people were dashine
overheard in every direction. | now saw that
could not retain my position much longer, the
4 flames were rushing forward at fearful rate in
few seconds, perhaps, that terrified multitude now
densely crowded deck and inside OF the bows
would be driven me, and probably carry me
with them to the bottom. Something occurred OF
board, what it was did not perceive but, at any
rate for an instant the attention least the looks
of these people were directed toward the after par
of the boat; at the same time, | observed tn,
water Immediately under me pretty clear; thos,
who a few seconds before struggled there having
mostly sunk lew had swan off | seized thu
4 favorable moment and dropped over | went un
der but found no bottom l swan little way be
fore rising, probably not more than ok or sever
yards; then made few strokes as rapidly pos
sble, to get clear of all others. | was appre
hensive would lay hold of me, in whicl
case | knew that with me all was over.
4 Most OF those who jumped over before the boa
E stopped, unless expert swimmers, must have beel
either drowned, killed by passing under tn
wheel. Many must have persisted in this way. II
+ every man who had either wife or child with him
there was hardly any chance Of escape. All suc
were irrevocably doomed All they could do wa
to plunge and drown together, | believe bu
one man, situated, escaped. As the steerag
passengers were mostly emigrants and in families
, it is easy to see how frghiful must have been tn
destruction. Many persisted who perhaps nigh
, have escaped, by going into the water with al
their clothes on; many were taken out with heav
boots and shoes on. Again, the situation Of tn
fire, by combining all lat least those who got to tn
forward part of the boat to very little spac
around the bows left but very little chance for AM
, one to do any thing.
The immense of steerage passengers, il
this position, when | went over, must have perish
ed pretty much altogether. They looked so utterl
helpless that, for them there was evidently no hop
whatever. Those who could swim, unless per
fecty cool, had almost as little chance of escape
those who could not. The immense number q
people in the water rendered it almost impossible
for any to get clear. That succeeded in dom,
so was, | suppose, owing principally to accident
and somewhat, perhaps, to my going under at first
: On the whole, after taking all the principal fact
into consideration, ! cannot see how il could b
expected that many could have escaped
As have said, almost all who went over befor
the boat stopped persisted by passing under tn
wheel. After the boat stopped, the time S
short not more than two or three minutes, tina
but few could get clear of the struggling an
drowning
Names Of Passengers and Cre,1 Lost, and botl,e
Sent 10 BgfdiO on he Steamer Troy
Clarissa Heth, aged % years; Francis HeLh age
3 years; Helen Heih, aged years and 6 months
named family, was saved He was resident Q
Nakx