Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-08-10
Who is Responsible.

Cnder the above caption the New \ lork
papers have been querying at length since
Sunday last where to lay the fearful re-
sponsibility of the Westfeld explosion
with its hundreds of terrible deaths, its
men, women and babes crushed scalded,
and blown into atoms. Upon the receipt
of the first information we hazardcd the
belief that upon the Board Of Inspectors
the blame would finally rest, being some
what aware, as is any one who has wit
messed the periodical examination of these
gentlemen, of the hurried and cursory
manner in which a large proportion of
them pursue their investigations. In the
dispatches from New York of this morn
ing we find the following:
VIM. w. Vanderbilt, Government In
spector, to-day made an official inspection
OF the boiler of the Westfield. He found
the material of the boiler good, and that
the iron was ofthe requisite thickness, but
discovered serious break in the inner
casing, which evidently existed long be-
fore the explosion. The outer edge of the
fragment Was much brighter than the in
ner, and from this fact and certain other
indications he has come TO the conclusion
that the inner casing was broken either
when the boiler was made nine years ago,
or gave away subsequently, when subject
Cd 10 sevy,c uesi. ue expressed the pos
Tive opinion that the boiler has for long
time been held simply by the thin outside
plating, and said he was surprised it had
not exploded before.
So much for the Governmental inspec-
ton, to which Mr.. Vanderbilt adds his
opinion, that this flaw could not be de-
tected by any inspector, as the outside of
the boiler was covered with felt, and the
inside afforded no indications of decay I;
and that the flaw could not have been de-
tected by sounding" In other words,
with coEmendablc sympathy for the gen.
tlemen who had preceded him as regular
inspectors of the Westfeld, Mr.. Wander
bilt desires us to believe that deep flaw
of long standing existed in that boiler, and
Of such nature as to leave nothing sound
but the outside plating, and that all this
could be discovered neither by outside nor
inside inspection, nor by sounding-all of
which we positively decline to do; as
will anybody who has ever struck a
broken bell with hammer, or kicked at
car wheel to see ifit was cracked.
The fact is, and it is thoroughly known
that in ocean steamers, as in inland, the
caution of the companies themselves is
worth twice to the travelling public what
the inspection of the Government is. 1t
is a known fact that though the laws of
New York requires Inspectors to examine
the inside of boilers, they hardly ever do
it; and certainly did not in the case ofthe
Westfield. How does Mr. Vanderbilt
know that they might not have seen that
flaw ifthey had examined and sounded the
inside of the boilery When few more
ocean steamers 20 down, when a few more
ferry boats explode, when few more
massacres have taken place, perhaps the
Inspectors may be held criminally respon-
sible for their criminal negligcnce.-Cm
Times and Chronicle.
The MAN sfHo WOULD BURN THE
PACIFIC OCEAN. readers Of the Tri-
6une will remember the ingenious and ad-
mirably told story OF Gregory Summer
field, the man who had discovered the
means, and was about to set the Pacific
ocean on fire. and who, in order to save
the world from such calamity, was
thrown from a railroad and killed by a
pious philanthropist Subsequently, two
persons set out to find the body Of Sum-
and met over his decaying re-
mains. A bottle containing the wonder
fol substance was taken from the corpse |
The two men quarreIed, and -ons Killed |
the other. The survivor carried off the
bottle and some papers belonging to Sum-
merfeld. These stories were told in a |