Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-24

escape from the boat she went back to her
room and brought away her watch. That
is all she saved. Mother, Just before leav-
ing her state-room, threw over her arm her
blanket, shawl and the curtain attached to
the outer door of their state room, which,
when the door was wrencbed of, was pulled
down. Mothers watch, chain, breast-pin
and bracelet were pinned to the curtain,
but when. in dropping herself down, she
fractured her limb as before described, she
threw down her shawl and This curtain. |
asked mother whether, when bhe was SO de-
liberately fixing up these things, she
really realized how great was the danger
which threatened them. She said that not
knowing that there had been an explosion,
she was not aware, perhaps, of the great
ness of the catastrophy, and hoped that they
would get off in boats. 1t was only after
they had reached the lower deck that they
fully realized how exceedingly desperate
would be their chances of escape. Mrs.
Hoffner probably never left her state-room.
Mr.. Hofner thinks he saw her dress on fire.
l have just inquired of mother more con
corning the fate of Mrs. II. She SAYS she
thinks Mrs. H. vent out of the door, step
ping into the outer passage, and leaned
against the guard. Mr.. Hotiner says to her
rJumpP' She replied, al cannot see you"
You knOw she was very near-sighted.
More than grief for the loss of his wife is
the terrible torture of the thought that,
possibly, had he done something towards
trying to save her he might have succeeded,
and, then, we think he fears she burned To
death. Poor man, he left on one Of the
boats for Cincinnati again last night. lie
could stay in this place no longer, where
he was constantly hearing accounts of the
disaster. l went on board the boat with
him, and saw him safely ensconeed in one
of the best state-rooms. Those having the
1.-TWO 6ue" boiler are regarded as perfectly
safe. Our government has sent a Commits
sion here to investigate the cause OF these
accidents (how tame and weak seems this
word.( Col. Williams, of the U. s. A is one
of the Commission, and called upon Mr..
Hoffner Yesterday to take down his testi-
mony.
In writing, as I am liable to interruptions
every moment, my account of the partieu-
lars m iY seem somewhat "mixed up" Could
l be with you for a couple of hours, I think
l could tell you of many things shall prob
ably forget to write to you. Up to this time
it has been very difficult TO find out how
many were lost and saved, but here it is
now generally believed by those possessed
of the best information that there were 200
10 { and 50 saved. There were at first
supposed TO have been only 100 lost, but it
has since been learned that there were
many more aboard. A lady came in 10 see
mother this P. NJ, who had lost her father, a
man whe owned a plantation in Kentucky,
and was on his way 10 New Orleans 10 buy
supplies for it. Another, a Mr.. Wolf, from
Cincinnati, who had lost a sister, came in
this A. NJ, and was very much excited. He
has been since last Friday out in a skifi,
eoasting along the river up and down on
both sides from the place where the explo-
sion occurred to Grand Gulf, a place at, at
sixty miles below here and at Natchez, one
hundred miles below Vicksburg, the river
is covered with wreckers, watching for the
bodies, so as to obtain the rewards offered.
TUESDAY, P. MI am very sorry | did
not succeed in getting off my letter by yes
terday's boat, but hope there viii be one in
tonight. All the mails, both ways, are car
ried by the steamers belonging to the At
lantic and Mississippi Steamboat Company.
l suppose the letters are posted at Louis
vile or Cincinnati-perhaps at Cairo. In
a short time now they are in hope the rail-
road communication with this place will
be attended, with more certainty of making
regular connections. Mr.. Hofner and |
walked over some Of the heights at VicSs-
burg, yesterday. He took me out to see
the General in command of the U S. forces
here. 1t is Gen. Wood, of Dayton, and Col.
Bestow, whose wife has been exceeding
courteous to mother, and furnished Lizzie
Garfield with night clothes, dress, de.
Whilst we were at the headquarters there
came in two Southern planters to tell their
grievances their cotton had been seized,
and all that.
On our way up to headquarters we passed
several yards in which the rose bushes were
in bud, the Magnolia tree in full blossom
and the grass as green and fine and soft as
in May with US. At night / sleep with my
window open and a light covering only
over me, and a brisk walk about the city
leaves me in a profuse perspiration. My
cold, that long continued throat trouble,
seem TO have disappeared as by magic.
What a climate! Would that the people
were as genial! But you can ave no con-
ceptiOn of the bitterness of their feeling
towards the North and the existins H-"-
eminent. Pl~nta ions are exchanging
hands daily, and the old Southern planter
is moving away. Some, perhaps the major
part of them, are trying to make the best
of the present existing state Of things;
others, whilst retaining their plantations,
will employ only white labor; others are
determined to try TO import the Cooley.
This place was pretty roughly handled
by Grant. A building Just in front of our
hotel has a hole knocked through its front
big enough to pass through a peck measure,
and the church a little farther up the street
has similar holes or openings in its walls,
all done by the shells. But more of this at
some other time.
l have many letters 10 write for mother.
Give TO Mrs. Monroe our most heartfelt
sympathies for her in her sad bereavement.
We know no words, whether written or
spoken, can lessen for a moment her grief
for her loss. By comparison only can ons
who mourns with a grief SO intense as hers
derive any consolation. Death is ever ter
rible, but it seems to be ROBBED of something
OF Its bitterness when the one who passes
from us into eternity is permitted to speak
or whisper 10 US the parting word, to tell US
of a blissful hope in a blessed Saviour, to
thus fall asleep with kind friends to smooth
the pillow, and sOothe n comfort and as
suage the pain of the dying one. Those I
see about me here, their sad faces at every
turning, have no such consultations as 1
have spoken Of to assuage their grief. The
dead they mourn were III an instant sum
away, in an instant torn to atoms,
Or burned, or drowned, with no parting
word, or, if one, that of despair. A young
husband is here who lost his bride. They were
only eight days married. She was drowned
or burned, none can tell, with no burial-it
is hard, very hard. Another lost all his
wife and children, and some, like
Mr.. Hofner, bereft, in an old age, of a dearly
beloved companion. Let US not repine
our children be taken from US In
their young years, for we know not from
what they may be saved. Let Gods will
be done in al things.
There have been so many things to write
about that l notice by glancing over the
back pages of this, tina l nave written
as yet of mothers health, or of the
probability of our ever being able to dis
cover fathers remains.
Mother is doing nicely, so says the Doctor.
Every symptom right, andhe hopes the bro
Ken bone will quickly begin TO unite.
aer limb is kept in a box, where
t cannot be moved by her turning
n bed as she sleeps. He could not putt in
/ splinter very well as it is somewhat bruised
md swollen. The limb is strapped to the
Jox. The bottom of the box is covered with
layer Of cot on, and the space about the
limb in the box is filled with Indian meal.
says now she feels more pain in her
lncle than in the place where the limb is
broken. DR.. WHITEHEAD, though a young
urgeon in the ex-Confederate army,
to understand what he is
bout. We shall return, when we do, BY
+ , way we think mother will be able to 20
Eith most case and despatch. But have no
ear but that we will take every precautiOn
o return TO you safely. We will not proba-
ly be able to get away from here for 81
east three weeks. | would not for the
Torld run any risk of mothers limb having
Inflammation set in, or the bone, after once
haanma aanarafa1