Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-01
NUMBER OF THE DEAD
REPORTS OH ENGINEERS!


NEW YORK, July 81.
1t is exceedingly doubtful whether the cause
Of the terrible explosion on board the steamer
Wcsttield, yesterday, will ever be ascertained.
The officers of the company claim that the boil
err was made of the best material, and having
been lately inspected, they cannot account for
the explosion. The engineer, Henry Robinson,
is said to be very careful, steady man. in whom
every confidence was placed by his Supcriors.
He went on board another boat Immediately
after the explosion, probably fearing that the
survivors would lynch him if he remained on
board the Westfeld and became known to the
crowd.
1t is impossible to state the total number
killed. The following names of killed have
been obtained in addition to those reported last
night: Mary Cary, No. 212 Waverly place;
Geo. Esassen, "a First avenue; John J. jerks,
Twenty-seventh street; Matilda NelsO Brook
Ign; Charles and Earnestne Ouch, children of
Joseph Ouch of Woodbridge, N. j.; August
Sturdinan, Carmine street, I. r. Ullman, II
Douglass street, Brooklyn; Margaret C. West,
Sackyile street, Brooklyn; John Raynor,
Cannon street; two children of MIR. Ward, l5S
Sackett street, Brooklyn; John Brown, 3D. At
lantic street, Brooklyn; Christopher Hink and
John P. Beech, 302 Tenth avenue; Mary Corey,
Al West Eleventh street; DR., Mark Chandler,
Clinton street, Brooklyn; Recruiting Sergeant
McDonough; Frederick Smith, 80 CORTLAND
street.
man named Nelson had seven children on
board of the Wcstfield at the time of the eXplo-
sion; one of the children is missing, another is
dead at the morgue, and five have been recov-
cred and are now at their residence so badly
Scalded that they will not recover. Large as the
list of wounded appears, it does not represent
nearly all OF those who were scalded and other
wise injured. Numbers of injured persons were
taken into drug stores by their friends, and
afterward removed TO their homes and their
family physicians summoned to attend; others
were enabled TO proceed home direct, although
seal led on the face, neck or hands, or bleeding
from cuts and Commissions. Many were able to
walk away with the assistance OF friends; many
reached their homes by means of the Belt rail-
road, the cars of which pass the Battery. Over
one hundred surgeons volunteered their aid to
the suffering yesterday. The soldiers stationed
at Governors island were instrumental in saw
ing many lives.
Thieves and pickpockets took advantage of
the situation and robbed the ferry house of
$500, and plundered the wounded indiscrimi-
nately. Thousands of people cOngregated
around Bellevue hospital this morning, eager to
hear something of friends supposed to be killed
or injured. Of the forty dead bodies brought
to Bellevue hospital twenty have already been
removed by their friends for interment. In the
morgue there are eleven victims yet unlecog-
nized On one slab are the bodies of a woman
and two children, on another those of woman
and child, and on another that OF woman.
There are five bodies of men, Most of the
DOulOS plGoShb lllSullul III
dition TO the features being swollen and dis
torted by water they have in most cases been
terribly scalded. There are about sixty injured
victims of the explosion in Bellevue hospital.
The surgeons state that at least half of them
are beyond recovery. About nine O'Clock this
morning the body of Matilda Nelson, aged sew
en-, killed by the explosion, was found in the
water at the slip of the Staten Island ferry and
removed to the station house.
Ldter.-The total number of deaths from the
explosion of the boiler of the Staten Island fer
ry boat yesterday, is, thus far, fifty-seven. The
following are the names Of the victims who
have been identified, in addition to those preYi-
ously reported Andrew Coyle, No. 81 Monroe
street; Isaac W. HAYWARD, IA Canal street;
Monroe Freeland, 80 East Broadway; Samuel
Phillips and Samuel Phillips, Jr., 1870 East For
ty-6lth street; Rachel Phillips, 224 East Forti-
eth street; Patrick Fenley, 65S Second avenue;
Eliza Reeder, 329 Madison street; Michael
Finn, 500 Canal street ; Lawrence McCor-
mick, "a Water street Mrs. Randolph
Uhlman, No II Douglass street. Brooklyn; Ar
thur Cheneviere, 246 Clinton street, Brooklyn;
VIM. Schaffus, Clifton, Staten Island; Mary
Mccall, 351 West Thirty-ffth street; Patrick
Landers, IFS Hillary street, Brooklyn; Mary
Friedhoff, 151 Thompson street; Emily Fried
hOf, Isl Thompson street; John Beck, $40 Tenth
avenue; George Henry Horn, Mott street;
Henry Korn, Myrtle avenue, Brooklyn; Louis
Neidhoff, SO Middagh street, Brooklyn; Geo. l..
Slots, Stapleton, Staten Island; Amelia Tigh, 8
Lewis street; Mrs. Catherine Chandler, Clinton
street, Brooklyn; Lawrence Mccormick, "a
Walworth street, Brooklyn; John w. Risley,
Atlantic City, N. j.
Seventeen killed and twenty-four wounded
were residents of Brooklyn. Thomas p. Powers,
inspector of boilers in Brooklyn, and eXamin-
ing engineer, inspected the boiler of the West
field to-day, and states that the explosion oc-
CURED from over pressure of steam, as there is
no appearance of low water On the contrary,
there is every sign that there was plenty of
water in the boiler. The afternoon papers are
filled with additional details of scenes at the
hospitals and the Battery, though they add
little of Importance to the facts already pub
lshed. The leading editorials are also all de-
voted to the great topic of the day, and all
agree in demanding thorough official inyesti-
cation of the causes and circumstances of the
disaster
The Evening Post, answering its own question
Can responsibility for disaster be fiXedP'-
says; "Ihe boiler of the Westfeld has this
morning been carefully examined for us by an
expert engineer. He discovers no indication
whatever that there was low water in the boiler,
or that the iron of il was burnt. 1t had, at one
time been patched to strengthen, and the
break began just at the patch, so that this must
have been precisely the weakest point of the
structure. Either it was too weak at this point
to bear the proper pressure, or else the pressure
actually applied at the time of the explosion
was excessive and unsafe.
The Post also says United States Inspector
Mathews, who certified June 18th that the boil
err was sound and might safely be worked under
pressure of twenty-five pounds to the square
inch, has served the government for many years
as inspector of boilers, and is believed to be
competent man, though he sometimes has been
accused of making superficial or careless eX-
amnationS. The presumption is that his in
specton was as thorough as that Of government
officers usually is. Concerning Robinson and
his share in the disaster, the Post declares that
the facts, as far as they have been ascertained,
indicate that he was terribly at fault. He adj
mits that when in charge of the boiler, permit
ted to bear working pressure Of twenty-five
pounds, he not only let the pressure rise to
twenty-seven pounds, but left it under
this excessive pressure, and went to the deck
for considerable time. This fact alone is
enough TO raise strong suspicion that he was
criminally negligent, but when we add to this
the fact which we are ready to establish, that,
on Sunday, July 49, one week before the eXplo-
sion, this same boiler was actually worked UNI
der pressure of thirty pounds to the square
inch, we cannot avoid the conclusion that
Robinson's conduct demands thorough inves-
tigation.
James A. Whitney, an expert in the matter of
steam boilers, also publishes, this afternoon,
the results of a careful investigation this morn
ing of the exploded boiler. He says he found
flaw four feet six inches long, extending from
a point in the right hand side of the boiler,
eighteen inches above the upper tier of flues to
d
metal having been parted clear through along
the line of rivets. 1t is here, undoubtedly, that
the boiler first gave way, the fracture having
been remotely caused by the expansion and
contraction of the boiler from change of tenn
perature. Mr.. Whitney also found the safety
valve apparatus rusty and apparently neglect
ed, so that it would require much greater
pressure to lift the valve than when originally
fitted for use. The boiler was made fourteen
years ago.
Commodore Vanderbilt publishes card this
afternoon, stating that he has had nothing
whatever to do with the Staten Island ferry COM
pany, nor with any other steamboat or ship
company, nor has he had for the last Ave years.
Z. R. Lowe, diver, who recovered the body Of
doc" Simmons and that of the stranger engi-
neer at the New Hamburg disaster, is searching
for bodies lost by the explosion.
Bernard Smith, age thirty, of rs Hamilton av-
enue, Brooklyn wife, aged twenty-eight, and
two children, one little girl and the other an
infant, were on the Westfield at the time of the
explosion. The husband is missing, and the
wife and little girl are dead, and the baby badly
scalded. Up to a late hour tonight, addi-