Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1871-08-03

NEARLY TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE KILLED
AND WOUNDED.
ns.p AND WOUNDED . CHASTITY .p,or,c,,


As the Staten Island boat Westfield was
starting from her dock at the foot of White
hall street, N. Y, next to the Battery, at
! 80 o'clock. Sunday afternoon. with a
heavy load. composed mainly Of the usual
class of Sunday excursionists. to the num-
Der of about three hundred. her boiler
burst with tremendous explosion. SILVER
ing the upper works of the boat into a
thousand pieces. and Having open the whole
forward part Of the hulk from the very
keel. The spectacle OF the Inflated vessel
subsequent To the explosion j. beyond de-
scription. \ great and yawning abyss
stretched from abaft the engine room close
to the stern. and the deck seemed to have
opened like sepulchre to swallow is load
OF precious human freight.
la the dark hold beneath, the dead aud
dyiag were lying abou, in every direction
among the debris of broken timbers
>plinter> and heavy machinery. From
amdship To cutwater the boat presents a
vast hold filled with fragments OF spars
beams. flooring and bulwarks aud frag-
mrnts ~ iron.
Many persons. as in the case of Pro-
lessor March Chenevierc of BROOKLYN. were
blown bodily in the air, falling into the
water some have been hauled out by
boatmen with hooks, and otherwise. and A
large party engaged in dragging the bot
tom are constantly finding bodies
carriages rolled away from the Ferry
bearing loads of people burned and scald-
ell aud manglcd beyond recognition; great
tire department wagons rumbled along
filled with u horrid freight OF torn and
muddy bundles of clothes. with here and
there bloody head raised above the level
ot The mass to mark il as humanity. Fol
loving IA the track of these. were wagons
which turned down Pearl street. and
streams of people who were rushing like
mad from Broadway To New street 10 III,
first precinct station house, vher. the
Wagons stopped. \ va-. crowd filled the
street coming mp on to the steps Of the
house an the opposite side and ciamberlng
on the ratings and windows in front OF
the station. The popularity Of this vast
a',"mhiage was perfect stiffness. There
was uo convers alton, and the only sound.
were the hoarSe shouts aud orders of the.
p'iic" ana hremen who sought 10 drive
the crowd back from the passage way by
wh'ch the bodies were carried In.
~icNcniug details are given OF the ayon-
i'm. torture, Of the sufferers In the cen
TIE al tn" station room stood a woman
with her clothes torn away from her shout
d'r~, and cotton sticking 70 fearful burns
Nlf'si wv pIFi~l anu arms. from which the
water with which they had recently been
washed, drippcd mixed with blood. A
Knot Of people had been collected hy her
groaus. a. the Doctor spungcd aud dress
eel her wounds. Behind this crowd. in a
corner OF front room, lay eleven bloody
ahd btsmirchcd corp-es. In chairs be-
hihd the railing. lat two men and woman
fearful 10 behold, with bloody and scaidcd
hands aud faces. and one man internally
wounded who had fallen to the floor and
lay there curIed mp in agony.
The room In the rear OF this was very
III lighted, anil almost dark at.d tn every
corner some fearful shape wa sitting or
lying, moaning and gcsticulating with
>kinle-s, bloody hands. aud striving to ar
ticnlatr With ,co.chcd, scalded lips and
blacAcned Tongues
\ doctor was bending over an old wo-
man on 4 stretch-r on the door, who
screamed with agony ut every touch and
movement, and another woman sat Ia A
chair hlacAencd and mutilatel in A fearful
manner. begging for \ cup OF cold water
Wounded men lay about the floor I'm pools
OF their own blood and the fumes of wine
and brandy which had been administered
u them mingled with the sickeuiny odor
OF charred flesh
Men, women aud children. still alive.
would be brought In. scorchcd and bruised
and matilatrd 10 such degree that il
seemed almost impossible that life could
remain Around the corpsc- in tho front
room the crowd was ince-sant and was
constantly recruited from the people who
came in. Among the dead lay a man with
the back OF his head absolutely blown OF.
IL" Wa, SAID by some to be- a fireman
In the most interesting group was a
respectfully dressed woman OF thirty years.
apparently sewing woman, with a plain
wedding ring on her len hand. Her head
Wa crushed and her mouth was clothed
with blood.
I'M explosion WAS terrific John Maze.
III" pilot, wa~ blown from the forward pilot
house ~ feet into the air, falling on The.
boat and escaping without a scratch.
Johh frrclAnd wa- captain of the boat and
Harvey Robinson the engineer The lat
ter j. a colorcd man ahd the Indignation
Of ia" Passengers against hun /, ircmen-
dpu- though ht, friend, ,ay that he /, not
L" blame. The hoilor was Inspected by
John h. Mathews. l. ;. boiler IN -pector
on the 18th OF June and pronounced safe.
Robinson, engineer of the Westiield
state that he tried the cocks in the boiler
T." minutes before the explosion. and
found water 1T the upper cock. He states
further that u the tiu.e he look ed al the
steam gauge and there were 81 pounds of
steam on her boiler; also that steam was
blowing on at the SAFETY valve, showing
that the boiler was carrying the full ex
tent allowed by her certificate.
The cause of the explosion was proba-
bly, The breaking of the Joints of the plate
with which the boiler had been patched ON
the rear end.
The huge black smoke stack of tn. steam
boat lay like monster serpent over AN
entire family whom il bad stricken Ia ii,
fall. \ number of the victims were past
ANY chance OF recovery, aud their death
was only question OF minutes, or a few
hours at the most. One OF the saddest
and most affecting sights In the search for
the injured. was the discovering of several
little children and infants. whose tender
limbs and bodies were bruised in a most
horrible manner. Of course these were
nearly dead. The excitement on Staten
Island i beyond belief At every ferry
are crowd, Of women and children look
ing ont for missing ones. among whom are
many OF the most prominent Staten l.
landers.
Col. Much, a well-knoan ,nhab,t,nt.
was fearfully scalded about the arm, and
body.
The most reliable returns OF the disaster
make the total killed finy and Of the
wounded. one hundred and twenty.
----2-
RroaA and Chaa,a