The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-07-18


well a the schoolboy.
Quite an imposing ceremony took place in Brook
Ign yesterday on the occasion of the laying Of the
corner stone of new Catholic church. A full re-
port Of the proceedings is given on another page.
The annexed are merely the headings Of port' N
Of the contents of to-days inside pages Full Re
port of the Speech of Sir Charles Lyel at the CEys
tai Palace Banquet Indignation Meeting of the Ger
mans at Cincinnati Character Of the Sultan OF Tur-
KEY; Description of the While Sulphur 81 Gings;
Speech of the Minister Resident from Bremen. Com
munications relative to Detentons Raro Ads, and
the Hibernan Society List of the memberss already
elected to the Thirty third Congress Cor oners In
quests Obituary Notices Police and Court Re
ports Jersey City and Williamsburg News Com
mercal and Miscellaneous Affairs, &c.
The Empire Explosion steambos { Massacres
We showed, few days ago, that though
checked baggage on railway W as carried on
the responsibility Of the company, heads. legs
and arms were entirely at the risk Of the own
ers risk soconsidcrable in t'Ae present state of
the law, that railway travelling must involve
reckless spirit Of adventure and criminal dis
regard for ones own safety. We might safely
have extended the rule to steamers, or at all
events to those steamers which ply on the Hud-
sen. They are speedily achieving reputation
which is scarcely surpassed by that Of the New
Haven Railroad Itstood higher, perhaps, when
the owners and captains OF the Reindeer and
Henry Clay strewed the banks Of the Hudson
with the mutilated bodies Of their victims; but
if the exploits Of last year were more striking
and memorable, those of the current season have
~ A H. 80
Of determination the palm of superiority in
manslaughter will obviously appertain to 1853
The quality of the victims may be less illustri
Gus; instead ofmerchants and professional men,
they may be, in the words Of one of the proprie-
tors of the boats, only fremen and boys" but
the absolute loss of human life will probably
exceed that of any previous season. By the
close of the navigation, statisticians will be
abled to inform US what percentage of the total
number of passengers were killed or wounded
by accidents on board the Hudson river steam
ers. Without anticipating their calculations we
may safely assert their result will appal the
most resolute mind.
A fortnight has hardly elapsed since one of
the fues of the New World collapsed, and six
persons were killed and several injured. We
were then told that the accident could not have
been foreseen that boilers and machinery were
in perfect order that the boat had been struck
by lightning. &C., &c The evidence in support
of these various statements was exceedingly
loose and unsatisfactory. OF all the witnesses
whose testimony went to exculpate the captain
and owners that of Mr.. Renwick, one of the
United States Inspectors of Steamboats, under
Mr.. Davis new law, is the only one worth no
tiee. This gentleman swore that, having en-
tered upon the discharge of their functions on
lst June, the Inspectors had not reached" the
New World by lst July. They had spent thirty
days in testing the machinery of boats and YES
sels whose power to injure was not one hun
dredth part of that of the New World Thirty
days had elapsed since they began their inspec-
ton, and during all this time they had not
found spare moment to visit steamer in which
several hundred lives were daily jecpardised
We are not aware what progress has since been
made by the Inspectors; we presume however
that they had not reached" the Empire on
Friday, and we should not be surprised to
learn that the other Albany and Troy boats
were likewise reserved for more convenient
period. A striking contrast might be drawn
between the conduct of these gentlemen and
that of the inspector and his aids for Ohio.
There, by LIST February, the steamboat law
was in full operation; steamers had been
licensed, boilers had been condemned. engi-
neers had been examined, and those who were
inefficient or careless had been suspended
The results establish the thorough manner in
which the work had been done. During the
| four months anterior to the LIST OF June no ac-
cident had occurred, and no lives had been
lost while during the corresponding months
of 1852 no less than thirty-seven accidents
had taken place in the same waters, involving
a loss of four hundred lives. Equal conscen-
ticusness and energy on the part of our Com
missioners would have obtained like results.
and would have saved the lives of some score of
persons But to complain is to waste time.
Fifteen days after the explosion on board the
New World the city is thrown into an uproar
by the news of similar accident on board the
Empire. Reports, all equally inconsistent and
improbable, reach New York, and the utmost
anxiety prevails 1t is stated that sloop ran
into the steamer. and in consequence of the
collision. an escape Of steam. or, in plain
terms, an explosion took place by which several
lives were lost, and many individuals seriously
injured We shall not insult the intelligence
Of the reader by proving that mere collision
with sloop could not cause the boiler to ex-
plode. Most glaring defects in the machinery
must have previously existed. or so slight an
accident could not have produced such disas-
ter. Nor shall we seriously inquire whether,
on the night OF Friday, the pilot of the Empire
could not have seen the sloop in time to avoid
the collision. Recklessness of the most mex
cusable character both on his part and on that
Of the watch on deck, can alone explain so un-
accountable an occurrence. The details
piNen in another cnlnnn Will nhnd