The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-08-03

with her, but IL WIS IN VAIN. She r,ersist
ed in waiting for her parents, who were
among the dead At last she was removl
edalmost by force.
These oil course are only detailed Incl
dents OF \ scene which was made ND of
hundreds oil affecting scenes, mothers
searching for missing children, hus-
bands lof wives, sisters for brothers
All OF these We're seen, and all were
witnessed by many Il man with fearful
eyes. 10 give an adequate idea of the
scene would be impossible. There were
so many scenes enactng at the same
time, and amid SO much confusion and
running hither and thither, and general
| excitement, that even Il pen photograph
IS out OF the question.
! STATEMENT OF THE ENGINEER
The engineer of the Westlield Henry
Robinson, who has been Is years in the
employ of the ferry company, and is stated
! by the superintendent to be a very compe-
tent and trustworthy person, has been en-
gineer Of the Westfeld for about nine
years, His statement is very important,
as showing the probable cause of the ex-
plosion. He says that until within about
three minutes of the time of the eyplo
| sion, which he fixed at p p. NJ. he was
on the dock, and noticing the time was
about up, he went on board the boat. and
was approaching the bow when the evplo-
| sion took place. AS he was going for
ward he saw one of his fireman (PatriclS
Finnegan) standing in the door of the en-
CINE room. This man was seriously in
| lufed. Robinson states cmphatcally that
before he went off the boat, five minutes
before the explosion, he tried the gauge
cocks in the boiler and found them all full |
showing, if his statement is true, that there
was plenty of water in the boiler As he
passed away aft the boat he noticed that
there were q pounds of steam, and steam
was blowing off from the safety valve NJ
the time.
The boiler was inspected on the 10Th of
June, when pressure of thirty five pounds |
hydraulic was applied. The steamboat
inspectors gave Il certificate permitting |
twenty-seven pounds Of steam to be car
ried, and the safety valve was weighted |
and locked at the point. The engineer
states that no water was supplied to the
boiler after the boat left the quarantine |
landing on the way up, and that he com
menced to feed the boiler on leaving the |
lower landing and shut off the water after
leaving the quarantine. The reason as
signed for so much steam being in the
boiler is that when lying iii the slip steam
makes very rapidly.
The engineer further states that the
boiler was repaired, and thoroughly over
hauled last winter by the firm, who put in
new legs and patched it on the bottom.
He thinks that the plate which patched
the boiler on the bottom had become
loosened and finally gave way.
TIIr ,TI7.rrNr an, ,IpD,J,s-
This theory was mainly supported by
the statement OF one of the fireman. One
of the two fireman on board the West
field, named Bobert Crawson, was in the
fire room at the time of the explosion. He
says that fifteen minutes before the acct
dent he was on the head OF the cylinder
wiping it off; then he went into one of
the cabins for a drink of water and
thence into the fire room. While here he
heard kissing noise proceeding from the
rear of the boiler and went to see the
cause of it. He had gone but abont half
way the length of the boiler when he
found the steam so dense that he could
proceed no further, and turned 10 come
back, when he was struck in the face by a
flying splinter and knocked down. lie
made his way to the deck as fast as posi-
BILE. The Kissing noise which Crawson
heard must have been the starting of the
plate patching of the boiler and the first
premonition of impending disaster.
THE BOAT UNFIT FOR SERVICE ,
\ cursory examination Of the boiler as +
it rested in the bottom of the boat reveal
ed the fact that the explosion occurred at
the rear, and that piece about feet LONG
and 2 feet wide was torn out Of the Jacket
and thrown 100 feet on the dock. Another
AMI larger portion of the boiler was ,
thrown directly forward into the bow of
the boat The Westfield is a very old
boat, but has been reftted up of late, but
the passengers tn Staten Island say that :
it has been unfit for {: passenger boat for
some time past.
During the war it was purchased by the
United States Government and used as a i
and when the war closed came
into the possession of the Staten Island ,
Ferry Company. The Westfeld did not
contain as many passengers as on the |
previous trip, as the explosion occurred /
at the time of day when there are not a +
very large number of passengers >
New YORK, Aug. 1.
All Of the morning papers publish lists ,,
of the killed and wounded, by the explosion
OF the Ferry boat Westtield, on Sunday.
The Tribune states there are g. dead and t
123 wounded. The World gives the names ,
of Il dead, describes as unknown, and
names 30 wounded. The Times names
SO dead, , unknown and 1876 wounded t
The Herald names 65 dead and describes
% as still unknown. The Standard states
that there are "a dead and over 200 wound .
ed. Among the killed is David Dow of
Manchester, VT, who was visiting mar
rled daughter in Brooklyn. She and her ;
husband escaped With slight injuries.
Seventeen of the victims We're residents,
OF Brooklyn. Phillips family of six
persons, of East 45th street, N. y, We're
sitting in carriage near the boiler, at
the fatal moment; three We're killed and
oil hon. atill