The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-04-01
the GIBSON AND RoLNES DISASTER.

Tbs Cincinnati Gazette Of the a0tk ait. gives the fol-
lowing particulars Of this heart-rending occurrence
The stea,aers colllded about one and a half miles above
Iuyon. Ind, very near the bend in the rver where the
Iowa and Madison struck each other only a few weeks
.Inea Mr.. John L. conoway was at the wheel Of the
golmes. and a striker at the wheel OF the Gibson, the pi
lot We understand. not being at his post. Pilot Como
way blew the whistle for the ~statboard, which was not
answered by the Gibson until the boats were near each
rtber. The Holmes was in the middle OF the river, aud
A. Gibson qusrtering from the point on the Kentucky
Nae towards the Indiana shore. The q struck the
Holmes ON her larboard eide, near her forward chalk, and
she commenced sinking immediately in about forty feet
Of water. The cabin separated from the hull and foated
down tho river, with the passengers and crew hanging on
4, the wreck. The boat was not over thee minutes going
down. and bad not the hull separated from the cabin, the
los Of life would have been far greater than 1t was.
The Gibson swung round, and was run over TO the
Kentucky shore, where sho also sunk in twenty-five feet
water. Her cabin also parted and boated OIL, and was
met by the Caroline between Warsaw and the mouth of
IOQ Lick, with a fiat alongside and several men taking
rom the wreck boxes, etc. The cabin Of the Holmes
was caught about a mile above Rising Sun, and towed by
tbe steamer Kentucky to the Kentucky shore. No lives
were lost off the Gibson but OF the e~ighty-six passengers,
cabin and deck, ON the steamer Holmes, Jo1y-tW arc
ba !.
The following list of the stfrom of that boat. A French
man named Louis Dupon, wife and three children, re-
shipped from the Clara Dean at Cincinnati; Henry WEIGH,
wife and three children, of Wheeling, Va; . family of
seven shipped 81 WhcclihB, name unkuoWu, cOhAistiup
Of a man, wife, two daughters, and son David Gillen,
of Allegheny, Pennsylyania John Miligan, Of Rush
township, Tuscarawas county, Ohio John Vance, from
Wheeling, Va Saul. 0warth, wife and child, from Par
kersburg for Madison, Indiana James Caldwell, engi-
neer Hiram II. Griffith and sister, Emma Ann Griffith,
from Bridgeport, Ohio, for Burlington, Iowa Herman
Hold, wife, and three children, Pittsburg q Frenchman,
shipped at Cincinnati, name unknown a child, name
unknown, was found yesterday at the foot of Langhrey
island Thomas Mcdonald, --- Logan, and John
Evans. deck hands, and a colored fireman, -- Thorn
son, and two daughters, from Cincinnati and -
Williams, cabin boy. -Four Others are missing, but are
supposed 10 have come up on the Kentucky to this city.
The Holmes had hfty-six cabin and thirty deck passen-
gers,
The passengers saved were taken to the shore from the
floating cabin in skifs and conveyed to Aurora, whore
every attention was given them by the citizens Of that
place.
The excitement on the two steamers when the coils
ion occurred was immense. Men, women, and children
rushed to the deck of the steamer, screaming aud beg
ging assistance. The scene was heart-rending in the ex-
IRENE, and cannot be described