New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-22
THE ARROW EXPLOSION.


PrOOE1yn yrsVT1pY WOTIINk
connected with the explosion on The steamboat arrow
on the North River the 9TH Of August inSt whereby
several lives were lost. The following evidence was
Lola Murpbv sworn and exomined-I reside at No.
10 Lewis St. II. Y ON the fireman of the boiler
sbop of the Futon Iron Works since 1854. have IN
sr,cted the par If boiler OF the Steamboat AtrOw az
the nnint of rupiure Tuesday last only examined
one hue; the boat as lying at Nyack NJ The time
went in company with the foreman OF inc N"vrny
Works the lnc fractured was the largest hue
IA inches IN diameter. | found rent about
~ iuches high by about or inches wdei con.
slider that the iron not heavy e'ourh Tor boilers o
that class IL originally three x'rrnths 81 m men
tbck hut must have been thinner by the and use
OF six years. the ends of the ues wie very thin ana
hid been patched was informed by some one on VIC
boat that there but ~ pounds or steam on NJ the
time OF the explosion: III my opinion that amount OF
pressure would not cause the enposi"n THINK thoie
mut have been "a pounds Of steam 10 cause tne eApp
sion; the huc was sall conld not 20 ~ IT. u. cxh
inaiOn made occupied 10 inutes, got IN the nue.
ahout ~ nches ana then saw the hactuic by hent;
the boilers are connected with vslves. and by closing
the valves the steam be shut o nm one boiler INTO
the other n the vav. had been open nj the time 81 tue
explosion the would have escaped from both Doll
,rs md the engine could not have vork"d; thnkthe
exnlosion caused by an undue pressure ~ sieim;
could the quality of the iron III the b"eri
only examined its thickness oh.y made canhi OK
animation relation to tue exploded pacei TIE D"ies
were nado IN Newyork by nan named Miihgap
have understood that the owners al toe boat urpn'o
the iron: tie oremni of the Novelty WORKS, believe,
heard remarks about the poor condition OF the non az
the time the boilers were cing uced thihs Tue
boiler v az safe to carry % pounds of steam.
| Peter ID. Van Denburgh sworn sayn-l rcsne NJ
Haycrsrnw; am an engineers nave prrn an enSih'oa
since s.2; was on the stcsmbna New jersey, running
between New. York and CoXs lcSr; next was on the
EmDire of Troy Second FL ginerr Dninrd On hcr
unuI univ 1853; first thc Arrow In Alril roo;
changed from the I-aic y. Smith to the Arrow. the
Arrow only carries cugin, cr; passed M exanlnh
ton rs an engineer IN lrJJ he fore MI Konwck never
served nnv time as mnthi ISL but have worked III the
shop; do all my own ovcrhaulinf; TIC Arrow soyer
hauled In April by myself the boi ~ maktr ana Nr
Van TasselI: the boilers were pretty We'll worn we
took off some old itches rrs and put on new
ones as the Old leaked the flu swce pditb,J ana
other parts of the boilers where tci needed IL hhd
charge of the the 3 h II ST.. on the an luet
on the M trip we blew small hole IN one OF tue hnhl
nuos when near IarfyoWn left word for the boiler
maker to come board the next moinlnH
and put pine plug ~ the nous;
found the iron ihin around the rupture
That did net raise steam on the buiicr next dn!
only used boiler the next morning maze 'ic
usn,l landings ard arrived NJ 10 minutes n'r io our
usual time about a. the rn ram Is an the man
ldrck of the boat had no con'rrsn' WIN any W ,e
passengers The down TIP ON tie ON ls' nlt"r NJ
living ~ New YORK we blew oil tie water anh put
patch on the fuc where had Iut the pug there w"s
nn difficulty IA putting on pGirhi We 'Hn'ncrl 10
nie NJ on both boilers sbout r. and rii New YORK
ah az oc.ock. one steam gauge II oil tie mont oi to
engine: there /, ~ phon gauge near Tue IRE room;
n fireman can the caugt IL The 81 elnctouni We
he'd about 20 pounds al steam when we ltii The dock
think We were ~ about lV.ntlrth ~ wien the erpo
son took place; was IN TIE engine room NJ TIE VIZ
one of the frcmen duty Ia the hre.room at the
tine and the other changing us clothes the eA-
plufion did not make much noisri i'u the ehgih.
rom but went back as so,n the stean "Hrei
= away and slapped the cnginei CARED q" 10y
uunp and the amount of bose required by lw i"o
uoat-. water buckets and ME pics'l vers; saw tie
steam and water escaping ION the smokrpei did not
any jump "ycrbOardi tie boilers IRE eonnccleh
together; the connecting valve shuI ai'r the hue
blew cut Oh the All instant on the On Install.
about II a. NJ. / ordered the fireman TO OPEN ~
valve but do not know whether he "pencd u or not dd
not look g. II II bad beet opened nier ne poni
started; the steam cunld lot cscar u the valve was
slut. think the valve uveni the engine worked
about live minutes explosion; the steam did escape
from both bOi IL went down from - pounds 10 u,
the engine WorAing nj the time stopped her tue
gauge indicated I! pounds II steam whrn STOPPED
1.-THE engine; when ieturned 10 the engine room tere
wis steam IN The hietoom, but none IN the engine
room; do rot know Whist caused tic explosion; We
are SLOWED 10 carry % pounds 81 steam the boilers
were Inspected in Juyi TIE lnsp put so puund'
loi waier pressure on the boilers; Mr. Hopper
snid he had concluded to give me a certificate ioI
% pounds OF steam bnt MI. Douglnas examined
the lne and told tat account Of
tie iron be would allow hut 10 pounds,
w.ch carried until the certificate came, which al.
luwcd me 10 cary - pounds oi steam Mr.. Douglas
saia the hues tln Gaines assign any cause
Tor the explosion, unless there wss Nav IL the iron;
there two furnaces ~ each boiler some tine ago
tod passenger that we were only allowed carry ~
pounds OF account oi tie bol, beng old
n MIS- Van 1asse did not come down ON the Arrow on
the day OF the explosion saw her on the 4 smiih
about O'Clock that afternoons she vent mp In the
. Smith; the fireman iold me that his wife went up on
the smith account of getting sooner; Mrs.
Van asset on the Arrow on the Monday previous Ia
the explosion; she came down on the Arrow, Il yer
heard Van Ilssell Say that his wife should not so
, the Arrow the steam hud lot varied pound either
4 way at TIE time of the explosions te boat dnfted up
against the deck at the ,o of ihIrethst the engine
had been stopped before Icicbc the dock; the tide
Was running up at the time he nd when went back
TO the engine room that the plot nd ung The bell 10
stop engine; think there was so or 40 people on
the boat on the day OF tkc aecinchi.
Nicholas St Pierre sworn says-l reside at Nyack
am n boiler maker by prof ssloni served my time at
NpAf Bol :.
Smith Brothers owners Of he Arrow Tor tue last ~
years. look after their boats was sen FOR on thc t
. last. 10 60 to New York next morning; ! went and
e Engineer told me be wanted patch put on one 81
the hucs OF the Arrow; put pach took the cara
ana went home; when got there heard that the ARROW
had blown up, cane back 10 New loIk. tue patch
nut ON was about four inches nom the mouth Of tie
foe and aDout four inches square; went in The
boier Saturday night, and found thht the explosion
was IN the large hue, alb ut fous iect from the uouh,
and about 10 or IL inches long in the lower part cx
ahmed the fue next morning; put ON phtcn On the
boiler the day the boat was nspced by order OF Mr.
Douglass the ibSp ,ctor on testing the boilers He
found 4 small leak of the lues when Ar. Doug
lass ordered put patch tins on the same
end of the boiler that c1p"ded and about two feet from
the place where IL gave ou; think tue boilers were III
cary % pounds Of steam; the Inspector told me that
he thought tho hues pretty thln aud asked me about
them; did not know anything about the thickness OF
1.-THE 1ucs, could not get into tue nucs 10 cxrInine
them: Mr. Hopper, Of the inspectors, sgd, since
the explosion Inat he did not think any one was TO
blame. cannot tel what caused the EXPLOSION with ut
there was aw in the iron; TIE certificate says that
the boilers years old; never nenrI any say
Q they consider ed the boat unsafe.
Thomas McGee sworn, says: 1 reside al Nynck am a
boiler maker; in lir Smiths employ Tor II years.
aud up To one year ago when left his employ; never
did any work TIE Arrow; Capt. Smith requested
me TO the ARROW after The explosions got ~ the
Hue and examined the fracture, aud fund the iron III
good condition hOm sounding IT; thiLk there Was a
aw in the iron which worked through by usc the boat
generally salt water from the Me they leave the
dock in NewYOrk unti the, eturn; think the iron vas
an eighth of an inch thick In TIE iluc the iue was