Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1868-12-26
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., he ssssuaia. lsai, ssFs uisusds5siest
/ BY lLs taii'i slsirs uaiil 10 sss 80 late
~ .Faii he esli,sisa. Ils AniT.ea siTars
ale taHri s,aiss ssi iVfH.Ti 81 che
uhsslLousr cutting ihroush Der suaia sud
ilio he hu !. A. tAs same ilms, qlanliiy
Of psIoleu,a ia bsrTsl', ~as ihTosa doHn
anl scattered over The boal, shish tex ore,
aud a, oues suV,lopel The uRissl State
ia sheet Of limsi ihs oil, as ne bsTFvls
buTnsi .hrVush, sPrssd,ns o'sr tie il'sl
for . large space aioand the leal, The
Amrrie., backed 0ui aud Hsnl 10 ihs shore,
laAl,d hsr passengers, sud rslurssl 10 tie
uailed siaIrs, aud IN las effort ~ save thu
pas,, ngors from tie l-lssr boAl, VAS her
self yn'slapsl Ia tie destroyed sleneni'
lsll beats we're sa'lrsly destroying AID
suhk.
Finy-one persons lost ,hslr lives, among
whom No no, 90 onr, Nc, Wm' Losgs,
IRON Texas. The isl Of The saved sm
braces over 800 names. The Coar'sr-Jour'
nal gives the following sIalvavHs as shou-
ing the cause Of the collisions
Tho important statement is that
the boats were about two hundred
yards apart when the NhlStles were
blown" That WAS an unsafe dis.
lance ut which 10 be in uncertainty
as to which side each Of the boats
was to take in passing, Bnt there
IN even more important aud pcrti.
nent testimony than this, Mr.,
Milt, Wood, pilot OF tho towboat
Lake Erie No. ), wGs II passenger
on the America, the the ascending
boat lie heard the Americas sig,
nal, two whistles, and answer of tho
United Suites, ono whistle, That
WAS Il piaiu contention between the
pilots OF the America aud tho Uni.
ted States Tho ascending boat,
thu America, gave two whistles,
which was us much as to say, IL am
going to the right"-that is, MS they
were running near the Indiana
shore Il will take the middle Of
the rivcr!" Now, il tho United
States had answered with two wills.
ties she would have meant, "That's
right, | will go to the right also
that is toward the Indiana shore.
Tho boats then, certainly, would
have passed safely. But the United
States answered with one whistle,
which was to say: "No, ! am going
to the left /; | will take tho middle
Of the river; you must take the In
diana shore" The contention went
on. The America repeated her
double whistle, claiming tho mid
die of tho river, and The United
States repeated her single whistle,
also claiming it. When Mr.. Wood
himself a pilot, heard this, he knew
there was danger, and when he
heard the signal bell in the cngi-
neer's room, first to stop and then
to back, he knew the peril was i'm
minoht, and jumping up, the crash
occurred, when the Americas steam
had escaped three times on the
backward movement: and hc had
Just time to save his life. Now, it
is well known that the boats run
ming against the current can be
more easily handled than those run
ming with it so it is tho common
law Of tho river, that. other things
being equal, the ascending boat shall
give the river, or the choice of sides,
in passing to the descending boat.
The descending boat has added to
her momentum that Of the current,
and is not so well in hand. But we
find the America, the ascending
boat, insisting upon her claim to
the rivcr--that is, to 60 to the right
while the descending boat was
claiming that she herself should go
to the left This, of course, would
bring tho boats in collision if both
were obstinate and it did cause the
disaster unless there have been ex-
traordinary inaccuracies in the tcs-
timony.