, 1864-06-12
AWFUL CATASTROPHE
BURNING OF A HUDSON RIVER
STEAMBOAT.
From Thirty to Forty Drowned.


the New York md Hudson line, LETT Hudson night
hefore last at her usual hour With heavy Freight
~ d an Unusual number Of passengers. When q
II ain deck which vas slowed with bales Of hay,
ard Increased With such amazing rapiuity, envel.
opinE 60 large SnIlace at once, that it, caase waa
rom to ,haye causht the.e1rom. Ons account Is
that 1t came from the 1amp-room, and another sup
poees II was occasfoned by the caralrsa smoking
A ve.y few minntes showed the inpossibllsy Of
exsincnishing It. The boat was therefore beaded
for shore Wttl the utmost speed, aud was favor
ably beached tHD miles above HI Ids Park.sZ3
Mr. Child, one Of the cerresponacnts u this
newspaper. was passenger On the Berkshire. ana
81, es ut this statement Of tie c.sassrophe:.
tern, below he main deck, resdne, bnr bad ialien
asesp in d cbnir. He was partly conscious Of 3
comnotion- ana Of men rnrnin. up stairs, when
Then be- eeard eses Of ps nt he Is snl
10 alarm ioDd eroueh 10 awake peerle hid been
given below. his Was not far from ten OF LOCK-.
Hc ran up the two flights ot saairs~ to the large
cut Of their rooms IN dire confusion. Capt. Pow
trs was telling them to 60 clear forwnrd to the
bin. The engines wers working win greasqpeed,
and the boat headed for shore. get the flames were
dr!s!ng thIenrh the boat with such Incredible r.
ielled TO Jump from tho boat before Il sim: K the
shore. H therefore remained at, thinkln it
better to jump into the water abatt the whee, than
IL.
lieving eorne nuet stil1 10 sleeping there,
he detcendcd and shrleked o1f that the
men hss SSs 4R az u m eDa % s ss 9sss
way to escape. The smoke bad become 80 danse
he could not gee any more LEFT their ber;hs, and
p GeDs o r. " tis ss main s asa th,
men, a lady and two children, and the two colored
cham mbermaide. Then The bow struck, and the
vessel was aground, in very shoe1 water forward,
Ge9n wafer II. 1NnN h{0fpfnr
the hairlesne deek, was wrapped IN ames no ross. r.
under The terrific dr4f, Mr Chiid climbed np =
way1o eet forward Nas 8 climbing over the Wheel
1eIow ,SaI they could do The rame, the1 did not
etart. The entire space between tho wheels u1s
mas Of FIRE. Persons were then leapina overheard
defiant: Here the water was not over three feet
deep. Right ahead of the etara'oasd whecl-horse
.T9 t. e ass oae sa7 n52
would jump into that bosrid water,' A. they
overheard, ard saw her getting toward the sho.c.
On the port eide the water was little deeper,
and there appeared to be some struggling. A
when Mr. Child isit the boat. md they b re seemed med
to be.ong to her. He vaded to very small rocky
island, right aheam Of tho sea.e'. to sec what
was in the water there. holding on to o hawser,
down which was running blazing butter, melted
1tom The catk1 on deck. She Kept changing her
land 10 hold On to tho blazing hawBer, dipping
tie other hand IN the water till they were doubt
1eet 70 burEed that she could not use then longer
thtn icli OF and drowned. Capt. Powers, Mr.
Child ard another man swan out and tried to
reach hcr, but the heat was so intense they were
obliged to return. It Was said that this lady WAS
Mrs. Bullock. of New York. and the two children
ioet with her were hcrt. Tho two colored cham
bermatds we're also loet. One little boy got
ashore who vas nearly frantic that his grand
mother must be lett to perish In her state-room.
The second waiter nnd 1uother waiter named
John j. jackson were lost.
A Mrs. hills and child were not TO be found. The
frst body picked up in the wafer was that Of lis-
tie boy, four }cars Old, unknown. The list OF pss-
singers was not saved. The c1erk said there was
hot far from 120, OF whom about one-fonsth were
women. Not over fifteen women weye seen on
shore. The Captain and officers were se;Epos-
seseed and energetic In all that they did: bul Mr
Child ie quite positive that no safhcent alarm was
sounded In the ladies' berth cabin. At on the main
deck, 1or in the mems cabu 10 it Ia probable that
several q. least peehed in their bertha OF were be-
wlldered by the emoke and 1ost IN the PASSAGES.
Not boat was lowered away. OF the few unfoItu-
uates at the etern might have been rescued.
From the time they abandoned oil effort to put
out the fire rnt the vessel struck 1t ten or df
teen mfuu,ee. The engines continued working for
fse.hinutes after ahe ran aground, and the eteam
vas rnehng oul from al the valves, that the boilers