Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-08-03
Inquest OF the Victims Of the Elk.
PlOslOn.
NEw YORK Ju1v 31

men or practical mechanics able to render
an intelligent verdict according to the evil
dence, and place the blame for this ap-
palling calamity where it properly be-
longs. The jury will view the bodies at
the Morgue, and permits will then be
given by Coroner Keenan, for their remov-
al by relatives or undertakers. By order
of the Coroner, no permits for removal
were granted yesterday or last night.
THE CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION.
No theory is offered by the officers of
of the company for the disaster. The en-
gineer of the Mortified says that when
the Westfield steamed out from the island
she had four cocks of water, and from the
fact that only a slight report accompanied
the explosion, he thinks there could have
been but small head of steam on. Mr..
Stevens, Secretary of the Staten Island
ferry company, says the that there was
government safety valve attached to the
boiler
NUMBER OF PASSENGERS.
|
The collector asserts positively that there
could not have been more than two hum
dred and fifty persons on board the boat.
The Westfeld being an extra boat, and
but few persons being aware that it had
been placed on the line, he holds that it
was not possible for so many to have been
on her as though she had been on regul-
ar trip.
SYRACUSE CITY OFFICIALS IN THE DIS
AsTER.
His Honor T. f. Carroll, Mayor OF
Syracuse, N. Y, and Aldermen Jacob
Levi, G. O. Bradley aud William Phillip
son, City Clerk, S. W. Sherlock and Chief
Engineer Philip Eckel, composing a COM
mittee appointed by the Common Council
of the city of Syracuse to investigate the
workings of our fire department and to
examine various patterns of st am fire ap-
paratus, arrived in town Oh Saturday and
put up at the Grand Central Hotel. AL
derman Bradley having friends in the
upper part of the city, went thither,
while the rest of them determined upon q
sail down the bay. They were among the
passengers on the Inflated steamboat and
narrowly escaped with their lives.
STATEMENT OF MAYOR CARROLL.
Mayor Carroll says: L was standing
on the main deck, leaning against the rail,
reading a newspaper. Mr.. Eckel and Mr..
Sherlock were standing beside me. Mr..
Phillipson and Mr.. Levi were sitting in
the forward cabin. Suddenly there was
terrific explosion the violence of which
hurled me into the air, and | fell into the
hold among a confused mass of dead and
diving men, women and children. l was
nearly covered with the debris, and al
most blinded by dust and dirt. Recover
ing in a moment, l CROPPED my way
through the darkness and clambered out
without assistance. 1t seemed as though
everything I took hold of was red hot.
NV hands were dreadfully burned. A
Jet of steam struck me on the forehead
and some falling pieces Of wood or iron
bruised my ankles as | was cropping my
way out. The scene was frightful and
the groa.s of the wounded appalling.
With the explosion, the air seemed rent
with shrieks. I finally made my way
through the debris and as the cloud of
dust cleared away L gained the dock and
was assisted to the landing. There was
no premonitlon, no sound ofescaping steam,
but while all were gaily chatting or look
ing about the explosion took place, with a
heavy rumbling sound, like the blasting
of rocks. l saw people hurled hither and
thither and then with me all was
darkness for moment. l hope never
to behold another such fearful scene.
MR.. sHERLoCK's STATEMENT.
I was standing alongside Mayor Carroll
smoking cigar and watching the people,
when I was suddenly hoisted into the air.
It seemed to me that I never should come
down, but I did, and fell headlong into
the water, sinking I know not how many
feet deep. The splash into the water
brought me to my senses, and being an
excellent swimmer I rose to the surface
NV head came in contact with something
hard, and believing l had risen under the
bottom of the boat 1 held my breath and
struck out toward the light Reaching
the surface I was helped out of the water
by the people on the wharf.
LATEST PARTICULARS OF THE CATAs-
TROPHE.
The total number of deaths from the
explosion of the boiler on Statan Island
ferry boat yesterday is thus far seven.
ty-nine.
Concerning Robinson the engineer, the
facts as have been ascertained indicate
that be was horribly at fault. He admits
that when in charge of the boiler, it was
permitted to wear working pressure Of
twenty-five pounds. He not only per.
mitted pressure to rise to twenty-seven
pounds, but left it under the pressure and
went to the deck a considerable time
| luiS lhCI hiOu6 W Idiec sus'
picion, that he was criminally negligent.
James Whitney, an expert in matters
of steam boilers, publishes this afternoon
the result of careful investigation this
morning of the exploded boiler.
He says he found flaw four feet six
ihches long, extending from the point or
the right hand side of the boiler, eighteen
inches above the upper tier of the fues tc
a point ever the center of the boiler, the
metal having been parted clean through
along the line of rivets. 1t is here un.
deubtedly that the boiler frsti gave way
the fracture having been remotely caused
by the expansion and contraction of the
boiler from changes of temperature. The
boiler was made IA years ago.
| Commodore Vanderbilt has nnbiisbed q