The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-08-03

VOLUME XI.---NUMBER J
.HE NEW YORK DISASTER.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE
EERRT-BOAT EXPLOSION
Graphic Account OF tie Catastrophe
The scene of Death and Desolation-
Cause OF the Accident, SC.
The appalling catastrophe which occurred
in New York, on Sunday afternoon. by the
explosion of the boiler of the ferry-boat west
field, at Whitehall Street Ferry, by which a
large number of persons were killed, and a
still larger number manned for life, has al
ready been quite fully reported in THE-NEWs.
We take the following highly interesting ad-
Gtional details from the New York papers OF
Monday:
THE EXCURSION.
The laboring classes and others, says the
Herald, who toll from morn till night, Six days
In the week, without q single days resplte,
make Sunday day of out-of-town excursions
In the summer time. Among the many places
near by which they resort to for q breath OF
fresh air Is Staten Island. It Is only;a 6rle1
dreds every Sunday make 1t sort OF duty
they owe to their wives and little ones. VINO
during the week are pent up In foul-sme Hing
tenements, to so to the island and spend an
hour or. two away rom the heat and dust OF
the city in the midst of shady groves aud cosy
pookerles close By the sea. The weather yes
terday was everything that could maze peen pee
About noon it became too warm for comfort
In the close streets, yet on the by there was
a refreshing breeze which proved most CRATE
full to the excursionist just emerged iron his
Hsuffocating tenement or dingy attic. Ever
Rboat that had padded Its way to the lsland
every part, and nothing occurred to mar the
general pleasure Of the day until
TIE FERRY BOAT wEsTFIELD
slid into her slip about quarter-past1. She
had but few passengers on board when she .r-
rived, but she had taken down to the Island
an hour before: fully seven hundred persons.
This time an immense crowd of excursionlsts
were impatiently awaiting her arrival behind
the gateways, and even while, she was being
made fast to the pier, hundreds could be seen
rushing down Broadway and from the BROOK
speed, fearful lest they should miss the boat,
which 1t would have been well had many f,il-
ed to reach. It was just after the dinner
hour, and nearly every man was accompanied
by some female relative or companion. Many
had their entire families with them, vile and
children. When the passengers from The
island were safely landed, the gates were
thrown open, and then began the rush for
choice seats on the part of the hundreds who
were In the ferry-house and behind the picket
ed enclosure. The crowd seemed to be unu-
sually large, and y q =
THE woMEN AND CHILDREN,
as usual on all excursions, predomlnated In
point OF numbers. great many, principally
young men, without female companions, made
their way to the forward part;of the boat on
the lower deck. The great bulk ct the crowd,
however, went. up stairs. Everybody endea.
vored to get seat on the front part OF the
boat, just IN front of and alongside the pilot
house, round the base of which AN sort OF
bench nailed fast to the side OF the cabin. Along
the cabins, inside, and behind them at the
stern, every seat was occupied In very short
better view Of the surrounding scenery IN
going down the bay and getting the full bene-
ft of the breeze. the greater portion OF the
passengers took possession of that part OF the
boat forward of the wheelhouse. Those who
could not find room on the benches, and who
were able to capture stool, took up as COM
fortabie position as they could get Just IN
utes after the gates on the pier had been
thrown open, the forward part of the boat
was literally packed with men, women and
children, so much 30 that 1t was quite impos-
sible for person to get around from the side
of the hurricane deck to the other without
the removal OF an entire line OF the movable.
seats. Those who had been unable to secure
seat of any kind, in looking upon the laugh
ing, gay-hearted crowd that filed the small
space near the wheelhouse as they good-na-
turedly joked about the unfOrtunates who had
been too slow in the rush up stairs to get even
stray box to sit upon, little thought how
thankful they would, ia a brief moment, have
reason to be for their misfortune.
1t was now lacking three or four minutes OF
the hour ofsstarting. The children were run
ming about the deck amusing themselves In
game OF tag. A little group Of tolly-looking
fellows, accompanied BY seyera! women VINO
In the middle of the thickest.of the crowd, had
already opened g. series of j0cose story-telfngs,
and. loud roar OF laughter every once In. q
while from the listeners told how they were
relishing what they heard. In fact, everybody
had already settled himsslf and herself as COM
fortably as possible for pleasant tineSof it
during the sail down the bay, and not one OF
within q few feet OF them was huge mass Of
plate iron, hid den from view, beneath the deck,
which In second was tocarry :ss.':ss &.
-, DEATH AND DEsoLATIoNi s:s;;s &
to many happy home The engineer started
at this moment from the pilot-house as the
bells were to be rung to "go ahead" The
lines were cast of, the gang planks drawn In,
and the pilot stood to his post, when OF sud
den there was q loud crash, a sound OF kissing
steam, and the boat shook from stem to stern,
as though she had been struck BY an iceberg.
and in q second, the forward decks were 4
thrown high into the air, and ieli In all direc.I
tions In q thousand pieces. The boiler had
exploded. The scene that ensued beggars
description. The wheel house was thrown
high Into the air; the hurricane deck In front
of it and alongside Of 1t was torn into shreds
and scattered. In every direction. The deck
beneath, near the bow, was rent asunder by
the force of the conclusion. The boiler crash
inginto the forward part of the hulk, carried
with 1t everything that lay In Its way. TAe
der az If they had been reeds, while the en-
tire hold was:lasd open, aud down In the midst
of all the heap Of broken iron and broken rails
away down In the hold, from which the
steam was gush.2g In thick, sufocatlng CLOUDS
Jay
A STRUGGLING MASS OF MEN,
women and chiidren-each In his or her agony
tearing bllndiy at the other to reach pace of
e&fety: Some lay on the edge of the broken
part OF the lower deck, crushed and 'mangled
almost out of all semblance to humanity, while
In the water, near the steamer, were crowds
of the passengers struggling TO get near the
boats which put out from all sides to the