Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-07-01

In clutching the boat, and raising himself up ny
his own muscular force that he felt himself safe
The boats with the persons who were saved all
ceived lbs persons and Is dead bodies. OF the
passengers saved a great number were sadly
burned, and many OF them greatly bruised. Once
on board they were treated by the Captain with
every attention.
Besides those who were taken on board the
Napoleon, few persons, Mr.. Hayes thinks not
more than twenty, succeeded In swimming on
shore or to some rocks in the immediate neigh
borhood Of the beach
Mr.. Hays was so long In the water as to have
brought on excessive cramps, which caused
swelling in his joints, and ficted him with the
most circulating pain.
While in the water, either hanging on 20 the
steamboat or TO the small boat by which he was
eventually saved, he was repeatedly grasped bv
unfortunate persons in the act Of drowning, and
at the moment when ne laid hold of the boat
gunneli ne believes that six persons chiefly wo-
men haa mold OF his skirts. These the boatmen
took in before they extended any aid and COM
fort TO him. ana during this final struggle for life
his sufferings OF mind and body were excessive
These were increased by the dreadful cries and
shrieks Of drowning persons going on in every
direction around him. These he described a.
being awful IN the extreme. Men women and
children were suffering the fortunes of fire and
drowning.
On one hand roor creature would he seen
peTched on an outside part Of the steamer, where
resting place could be obtained only bv the
closest hold with both hands and feet, and there
flames he or she had to take the fatal plunge into
the cold river below. In another direction stall
wart men might be seen seeking TO secure them
selves about the irons of the guards. or the pad
dies. Some of them lost their hold and sunk al
once. Others managed to hang on for a space,
but at last they had to give up from sheer fatigue
OF by the pressure OF other sufferers seeking to
secure the same refuge. Here families were pre-
pairing and determining to die together; there
the husband or the wife saw his or her partner
forever separated. Women with children In their
mn 10 mad into,
burning wreck until losing their foothold they
fell and were lost forever.
THR INQUEST.
The sixteen bodies brought up by the Napoleon
were, by the order Of Coroner Jones, conveyed to
the chapel i'm the Dorchester burning ground
He held an inquest upon them i'm the evening and
being anxious that the cause of the catastToDhe
should be fully investigated, he summoned 30 Of
, our most respectable merchants, only IS of whom
appeared They were sworn i'm the Grand Jury
Room, and at once proceeded TO the chapel 10
view the bodies
The medical gentlemen summoned on the oc-
caSion Were Drs. Nelson Holmes Scott Reddv
and Trudel. The Coroner swore them TO inquir,s
INTO the cause of the death of the sixteen bodies
IN Their view-whether they had come to their
death Dy Sunocation. bv drowning, or fire. Their
task was melancholy one but il was soon full
hlled. 1t was one of the most heart-rending
sights we have ever witnessed, to the cover
removed of these dead bodies, and look upon
what had once been health and happiness and
spirits under it. There were two grown up wo-
men cut down in their prime, quietly sleeping
with their hands entwined girl of fifteen
dressed up In her best, with silk gloves on, and
the neatest boots; boy. about twelve, smiling
even IN death, and whose epuntrnance was as
placid as If he had quietly gone to his rest ano-
thef about nine, with his arm around girl about
thiTteen-probdbly his sister another girl about
the same age, ard boy rather Younger; and
eight children, seven of them girls, not over six
wears old-all these were disclosed to cur view
Those poor darlings-those sweet cherubs Upon
thee the death angel came quietly but silently
thy eyes closed without struggle, and thy i'm
mortal spirits have passed to the sky
The medical gentlemen gave it as their opinion
that all the deaths were caused by droSninJ, and
were afterward discharged
The Coroner opens bis inquest tomorrow.
when the whole matter will be examined into