Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-08-04

OF the former is Prof. Chemvier Of
Brooklyn. Some fifteen thousand PEG
pie we're gathered about the city hospi
tai all Sunday afternoon looking after
friends who may have been injured, and
late Wednesday evening the killed were
set at rs aud wounded 125.
The cause of this most sad calamity
appears to have been defect in the
boiler, which had been mended, aud the
patch got loose and gave way, the res
possibility for which does not yet clear
ly appear, and like most of such acct
dents, probably never will.
SCENES BY AN EYE WITNESS.
On the end of the barge office pier
which adjoins the Staten Island Ferry
slip, some men were fishing at the time
of the explosion, Seeing woman thrown
within about ten feet of him, one of them
threw her his line, but her hands had
been burned and refused to close on the
protfered aid. The woman was equal to
the emergency, however, and showed
much more presence of mind than two
thirds of the men who were companions
in misery. With desperation which
only the hope of life could have inspired,
she grasped the line in her mouth, and
held on to it pluckily until boat was
at hand to take her in. Many of the
rescued were badly scalded, and some of
them had wounds inflicted by splinters
of the wreck.
THE SCENE AFTER THE RESCUE.
Was as affecting as the explosion itself
was horrible. The efforts of the boat
men had saved many, but many had
sunk beneath the surface, drowning be-
fore the very eyes of those who stood on
the pier and witnessed their desperate
buffe ings with the destroying elements,
without being able to raise a hand to
help them.
ACCOUNTING sPECTACLEs.
Strong men were seen to cry as they
viewed the struggles of weak women
and little children for life, but alas, they
were powerless. All that men could do
was done, but in spite of all a large num-
Der of persons, probably the full loss
will never be known, went to the bottom
before aid could reach them. Bystand-
ers describe many scenes of noble devo-
ton.
The maternal instinct, strong even in
death, prompted more than one mother
to die that her child might live. A liv-
ing babe was taken from the arms of its
dead mother, who had held it above
water, and supported it and herself par
TALLY by clinging to a small fragment of
the wreck. She sank for the last time
just as the boat neared her, and the babe
was taken from her as she disappeared
beneath the waves. Another mother
placed her child of years on mere
splinter, bidding her to cling to it for
dear life, while she herself was sinking.
The child was saved, but the noble moth
er still lies at the bottom of the East
River. A little girl of seven, who had
been landed on the pier, cried loudly for
her father and mother, from whom she
had been separated in the confusion on
board the boat. An effort was made by
kind hearted, motherly woman of the
neighborhood to convince the little one
to go home with her, but it was in vain.
She persisted in waiting for her parents,
who we've among the dead. At last she
was removed almost by force.
These of course are only detailed Incl
dents of scene which was made up of
hundreds of affecting scenes Mothers
searching for missing children, husbands
for wives, sisters for brothers. All of
these were seen, and all were witnessed
by many man with fearful eyes. To
gave an adequate idea of the scene would
be impossible. There were so many
scenes enacting at the same time, and
amid SO much confusion and running
hither and thither, and general excite
ment, that even pen photograph is out
of the question.
GRAPHING FOR THE BODIES.
After the boats had rescued those of
the passengers who could be reached in
time a number of the boatmen returned
to the scene Of disaster ard began Crap
ping for the bodies of drowned. One
by one the bodies were slowly drawn to
the surface, the appearance of each be-
ing heralded by those on the pier by
smothered exclamation, "There's anoth-
er |"
OTHER INCIDENTS.
One of the most pitiful scenes in the
hospital was handsome young woman,