Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1857-09-22

dren were put on board of them. No ac-
cident occurred in getting them INTO the
boats. Five men manned each boat.
Boatman Black commanded one boat
quartermaster Frazier another, and chief
engineer Ashby the ,hire boat | heard
i; stated that Ashby was not IN charge of
the boat. Afterwards | heard the state
ment denied. The boats in charge of the
boatswaln and quartermaSter returned In
about two hours. Ashby's boat did not
return at all He said lie was coming
back, but, why he did not return, | have
not learned; but we understood, that the
men refused to come back, it being dark.
Frazier and Black Lad a second load.
This time their load comprised the re-
naming women and children on board.
Black came back third time, and got
within three hundred yards or so of the
steamer, when they called TO him from
the steamer not to come near, as the
steamer would shortly sink
| left in Mr.. Frazier's boat on the Sc
| cond trip Only one passenger besides
myself was in the boat. This gentleman
was the GILLIAN Consul. The balance
belonged to the crew of the Central
America | did not see the steamer
sink. According to Mr.. Blacks state
ment, she must have sunk about the time
our boat reached the brig Marine" We
met Blacks boat on the way. Black told
me that the men refused, after the
steamer sunk, 10 row up to the place, on
account of the danger of being swamped.
He returned 10 the brig "Marine'' about
10 O'Clock without a single passenger !;
this was the first either myself or the res
cued passengers knew that the steamer
had sunk.-( Statement of Z. a. Jones.
THROWING AWAY THE GOLD.
a great many OF the passengers were
miners, having considerable sums of gold
about them, the product of years of toll !;
but the love of gold was forgotten in the
anxiety and terror Of the moment, and
many man unbuclled his gold-stulled
belt aud flung his hard earned treasure
upon the deck, some hoping thereby to
tighten their weight and thus more easily
keep themselves aaoat, while others
threw It away in despair, thinking there
was no use for it in the watery grave
they were going to. Mr.. Chase SAYS that
.
sands of dollars which had been thrown
away and lay strewn about the decks, but
he did not think there was sufficient IrJs-
pect Of his Surviving TO use it to pay him
for the trouble. A Captain Thomas w.
Badger, of San Francisco, had $50 900
IN gold IN carpct-bug, which, Just be-
fore the sinking of the ship, he threw in
to the captains state-room.-( Statement
OF Mr.. Chase
ENHAUSTION FROM LABOR AND LIQUOR.
Many of the persons who were carried
down by the Central America" were in
their cabins and statc-rooms, some ex-
hausted by the continued tax upon their
physical energies in baliug the vessel,
and others, ii is said, intoxicated Those
who were unaccustomcd TO hard work
were now fatigued, and to stimulate them
selves 10 new efforts, liquor was passed
along the line Of men, and were largely
partaIien of. Some INDUCED TO such an
extent that they were at last stupefied,
and were carried TO their state-rooms by
their friends 10 recover their normal CON
dition.
SINGULAR INCIDENT OF THE BIRD.
The captain Of the bark which brought
It's to Hampton Roads, treated every one
with the greatest kindness in his power
He told me the following incident which
occurred immediately before he fell in
with us, as we were drifting about at the
mercy Of the waves on our pianks, Sc
The captain SAID: | was forced by the
wind to sail little out of my course be- /
fore | came up with you, and on altering
1t Il small bird few across the ship once
or twice, ana then darted into my face.
/, however, took no notice of this circurn-
stance, and the same thing occurred
again, which caused me TO regard the
circumstance as something extraordinary,
and while thinking on it in this way, the
mysterious bird for the third time APP
peared and went through the same very
extraordinary manmTrcs. Upon this 1
was induced to re-ahcr my course into
the original one, which had been steer
ing, and IN short lime | heard noises,
and on trying to discover what they pro-
ceeded from, discovered that was in the
midst of people who had been ship
wreckcd.-( Statement Of b. NJ. Leo
STATEMENT OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER OF
THE CENTRAL AMERICA.