The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-09-24
DAILY DISPATCH.
Incidents OF the Central America
Disaster.

OF his fundamentally in saving some of the pas
sengers, Capt johnson, of the brig Ellen, says:
SINGULAR VISITATION or BIRD.
'nst before SIX O'Clock on the afternoon of Sep
tenber II, was standing on the quarter deck with
| Two others OF the on the deck at the sans
! time, besides the man at the helm Suddeulv a
olrd hew over around me, Just grazing my right
shoulder. Afterwards, it flew around the vessel
!n~h II again commenced to fly around my head.
| IL soon New at my face, when 1 caught hold of il
ana made 1t prisoner. The bird il unlike any
| bird ever saw before, and don't know it's name
ne color OF Its feathers a dark iron gray; it's
body WAS a foot and half in length with wings
thfee ana half feet from tip to tip. 1t had
beak full eight inches long aud sort of teeth like
siIa4i hahusa" In capturing it, it gave me good
plte on my right thumb Two of the crew who
assisted IN tying its legs were also bitten 4, il
| showed to bite at everybody had its heAd after
wards cut OF and the body thrown overheard
THE BIRDS VISIT REGARDED As A WARNING
When the bird flew to the ship the bark was going
little north Of northeast. regarded the apnear
| ance OF the bird an oIneD and an Indication m
| me that / must change my course. accordincIv
headed to the eastward direct, should not h1p, ds
ttated tTotH my course had not the bird rsstl D,
sttP and ad Il not beez for ttis change Of course
%ao 20. nors foe IN ''tut S'tc passengers Of the
Tue BARK ENCOUNTERS THE CENTRAL AMERICAS pAssEy-
GERS.
About o'clock Sunday morning tho helmsman
! and myself, who on deck We're suddenly
q distance
/ from the vessel. At first could not tell what
| the cries were. In amoment the agonizing shreks
As it seemed of hundred human voices was MAIN
| ly dlstlnguistIable. at once knew that We must
! be in the vicinity of wreck, and Immediately
| reused every man on board In less than a min
ute found that we were surrounded with persons
floating in the water. The darkness of the night
made it impossible to them but the yoices call
ing for aid rang III my ears from every direction
| AS soon as possible the lashes of the small boat
we're cut ana thrown into the water with ten men
! in it. 1t had hardly touched the water when six
| men, who were in the water. grabbed hold of il
| and turned ii keel upwards. It was soon righted
and the men taken in and put on board. The work
! of rescung the drowning men was proceeded with
| all possible dispatch.
! Besides the efforts being kept up by the small
beat, three life buoys were thrown overheard and
ropes were suspended from the sides of the vessel
| that the passengers might get hold of them. Al
together, torty-nine persons were picked up and
taken on board. Additional lights were put IN so
that they could be from all sides of the ship
| The utmost effort was made to catch the cries of
any who might be in the water. With the heavy
sea that continued to roll, and the noise on board
and whstting of the wind through the ropes it
was difficult to hear any distance. Five persons
! were pickedup after daylight The last person
who was rescued at S O'Clock in the morning
only two of the forty-nine were able to be of any
service in rescuing others or ministorng to those
who had been rescued. These two were Captain
| Badger and MIR. \. j. Easton The rest, from hav
ing remained 50 long in the water were exhausted
The ship lay to till ii A. VI. Sunday morning in
the possibility that additional survivors might bs
found. Finding no more headed the brig for Cape
Natteras and landed the rescued passengers at Nor
folk on Friday, the 18th of September.
SEEKING A COMPANION.
One man, floating in solitude. and terrified at
his loneliness after shouting himself hoarse to find
d companion, saw at length a man with two life
prescrVers fastened abont his body drifting towards
! him. His heart leaped for Coy at the welcome
sight, for the feeling Of desolation which had over
come him was terrible to endure. lie called to the
other to join him, if possible, and made every ex-
crtion to meet him halfway. There no reply
| but the other drifted nearer aud nearer. A wave
threw them together. They touc!Ied. Tho living
man shrieked in the face of corpse. The other
had been drowned by the dash of the biliows or
had periohed from exhaustion.
SEND NJ LOVE- TO Ny DEAR WIFE
One man called to another, in our informant's
hearing, If You are saved, Frank, send my love 10
my dear wife, but the friend appealed to ans wered
only with a gurgle of the throat lie was washed
off his plank, and perished his comrade spoke
1iany were desirous Of separating themselves as
far as possible from the rest, being fearful lest
some death-struggler might seize hold of them and
draw them under. Others, afraid of their lonel
ness, called to their neighbors to keep together
Generally, they strove cheer each other as long
as they remained within hearing
NOBLE CONDUCT OF QUARTERMAsTER RAYMOND
The rescued passengers from the Central Ameri-
ca appear unanimous in their opinion as regards
the intrepid and noble conduct of David RAYMOND
quartermaster of the ill-fated steamer. lie made
three trips with Of the life-boats between the
steamer aud the brig Marine, and tried hard To
get some Que to accompany him on another trip
and while pleading for assistance in his work OF
humanity. the boat III which he stood was stove in
| beneath him.
IIGERaLrTT OF THE HAcKNEN.
When the survivors reached New York in the
Empire City, they were taken III carriages to the
hotels the haCkmcn all refusing to take paw for
the hire of their carriages carrying the passengers
gratuitonsty.
DESPERATE STRUGGLE IN THE WATER.
w. I. Fletcher, Of Maine, thus describes the
scene that ensued just before and after the sinking
Of the steamer:
About o'clock, just previous to the ships going
down and as all stood forward, / said to the
men-"Ihere will never be many die again AS
cooy Boys lei US all die like true Californians" !"
Al old man, who had been mining for years
in California, from the same place in Maine my
self named David Smith, of quite religious turn
OF mind. felt hope OF rescue. His last words,
a moment before we went down, were the exciama-
ton, MY God, we shall all perish!" Isuppose he
was lost Life preservers We're plenty; and eacE
had securedoue t0r himself
is soon the water struck the hurricane
deck she made one pitch forward, then she pitched
astern, aud struck in an instant and went down as
quick as Lightning. I hose the stern went of
first, those on the bow hast l Was forward, and
was one Of the last that went of. l must have
gone under fifteen or twenty teet-So far at least
and long that l hal to breathe i'll the water
things to cling 10, and got hold of a door, which
held on to about fifteen minutes, till three Irish
men grabbed it, when left il, as l was becoming
30 numb that was obliged to warm up by little
swimming exercise.
Though Il large quantity of material was float
ing about, still there good deal of desperate
struggling and fighting to appropriate articles
promising the most security. / next got hold vi a
trunk, but it fell to pieces. But flour bar
rel directly came in my way; in cllnging TO II
soon got chilled, and had occasionally TO leave 1t
and swim TO get warm. But did not let 1t get far
ont of nv way. / observed the lriShmen still
fighting for the door the last ] saw of them, and
they are doubtless lost. After while came
across board concluded the board was better than
the barrel, and SO swopped. l was floating about
in this manner for ten hours or more. When !
heard the waves coming would rise up and they
would go over my shoulders. l was picked up
Sunday morning about six clock.
THE w0RrllLBssNEss OF GOLD.
1t is stated by many of the survivors OF the Cen
trail Americas passengers that there was So idom
so large an amount of money owned 10y passen-
gers as was in the case OF those who came - the
Central America. Many were persons oi large
means, and there were bnt very Jew whose ILL
mediate wealth did not amount to Aundrcds while
numbers reckuned their gold by thousands of ttJs-
lars. The greatest portion oi the passengers were
| returned miners, some coming hIther to invest
the capital they had realized i'll hopes 10 live life
OF greater the result of their industry, and
others to get their families, and once more to 60
to the land of gold. But as hc storm continued TO
rage, less and less Of gold was thought OF, and
when, Saturday it became evident that they
| were likely at any moment 10 be buried beneath
| the waves, wealthy men diyested themselves Of
their belts and scattered the gold upon the
cabin floors, telling those TO take it who would;
lest its weight-a few ounces or pounds-carry
them TO their death.
Full purses, containing in some instances, $1,000,
| were lying untouched on sofas. Carpet bags we're
opened by men, and the shining metal was poured
cut the floor with the pr0dgality of deaths de-
|
| been rescued, opened and dashed about the cabin
$4,000 i'll gold dust and told him who wanted TO gra
ty his greed for gold to take it, BUTT was passed by
untouched AS the verest dross A few hours before,
h. h..x.o In