Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-09-23
The Los. Of The Central America.

disaster to The Central America prompts us to
copy the statements which have been made by the
survivors. The item which follows show
HOW THE PASSENGERS WERE REMOVED.
Mrs. Harris, of California, gives the follow.
ing account: 'sln the afternoon Il am speak
ing of Saturday. it became necessary for us 70
leave the ship. The captain came and said
that the women and children were to go first.
A moose was made on the end of rope and
slipped over me, and l was lowered down.
The captain tied rope around me, and
think he was one of the men that had hold of
it when was lowered down. He was no
BILE man, and L shall never forget him as long
as live. When l began TO slide down, a
great wave dashed up between me and the
little boat, which threw the boat off from the
ship and left me hanging in the air with the
rope around my waist / was swung hither
and thither over the waves by the tossing of
the ship, until the boat came under me. l
was cropped suddenly into the boat when it
happened to come directly under me. AS soon
as got into the boat, looked up and saw the
captain was fixing a rope around my child,
and in few moments afterward he lowered it
down to me.
Even before got into the boat, when was
coming up the cabin stairs with the baby in
my arms, Captain Herndon saw that l could
hardly walk, from the motion of the ship, and
he requested one of the passengers, a GENTLE
man, TO come and assist me, which he did,
The captains kindness to me, and all the la
dies, was unremitting, and in the end he sac
riiced his life for us.
l was in the first boat that left the steamer,
and was the third woman in the boat. 1t
was the boat that was manned by the briggs
mate. Ten sailors were in it, and one of the
walters who belonged to the Central America
was ordered into it to assist in rowing. be-
lieve the number Of women was six. There
were also six children in the boat.
1t was long time before we got to the brig.
She was great way off, should think two
or three miles. She did not venture to come
near the steamer, for fear Of collision. 1t was
impossible to tell what might happen in such
sea. think we must have been two hours
and perhaps more, in going from one ship to
the other. AS soon as we approached the
brig near enough to get on board, l watched
a chance to spring at the rigging; and to get
hold OF rope. l had a life-preserver on,
which somewhat encumberrd me, and almost
prevented my escape l caught the rigging
with my hands, but my life-preserver under
my arms was so large that / could not get be.
tween the ropes. hung there for few mo-
ments over the side of the ship, in almost
equal peril as when l dangled at the end of
rope over the side of the steamer. was ex-
peeting every moment to fall, when the cap
tain caught hold of me, and pulled me in by
cutting off my life preserver.
The stewardess of the Central America, who
was taken off In the same boat that l was, fell
into the water three times before she could be
got on board. She mentioned to me that she
was hurt between the life boat and the brig
while she was in the water. A wave dashed
the small boat against the large one, and she
was between them. A life boat was swamp
ed in this way by striking the side of the brig,
but 1T was after all the people were out of it,
and nothing but the boat was lost Lucy died
as have already said. think her death oc.
Cured the next day. She was bright, ac-
tive woman, and was very much esteemed by
the passengers"
Another account attributes the injuries
that resulted to the stewardess. and which
caused her death, to the fact of her having
loaded her person with such weight Of trea-
sure. She was stout Mulatto woman, had
collected the money thrown away by the pas
sengers, it was supposed, and buckled it
around the body. The weight of this money
was the cause of her death, when she was
hoisted into the Marine, where she died from
having too much gold about her loins
GALL THAT HE HATH WILL MAN GIVE FOR
HIS LIFE"
The worthlessness of gold was never more
truthiully depicted than by this disaster. A
New York paper says:
ut is stated by many of the survivors of
the Central Americas passengers, that there
was seldom so large an amount OF money
owned by passengers as was in the case Of
those who came by the Central America.
Many were persons of large means, and there
were but very few whose immediate wealth
did uot amount to hundreds, while numbers
reckoned their gold by the thousands of dol.
lars. The greater portion of the passengers
were returned miners, ssme coming hither To
invest the capital they had realized in homes
10 live life Of greater ease as the result Of
their industry. and others to get their families
and once more 90 to the land of gold. But as
the storm continued to rage, less and less of
gold was thought Of, and when, on Saturday
1t became evident that they were likely at any
moment TO be buried beneath the waves
wealthy men Invested themselves of their
treasure belts, and scattered the gold upon
the cabin floors, telling those to take it who
would, lest its weight = few ounces or
pounds-carry them to their death. Purses,
containing in some instances $1,000, were ly-
ing untouched on sofas. Carpet bags were
openeu by men, and the shining metal was
poured out on the floor with the prodigality