The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-17

Search Of my trunk; which pas Oh the oppo.
ate side Of the boat. / was driver. back by
the steam, and turfied and went down to the
lower deck. Az Iwas on the staircase vii.
liaIns passed me a Iffe.ioat he was behind
me with o man I didn't know; as I passed
through the laundry saw the chambermaid,
Lizzie Wallace, talking to the second stew
ard kept on; and went through the engine
room; was then Veil aft; and could see
nothing forward because of the steam and
flames that were crowding Inc; l stepped into
the wheel, and found several persons there,
among them Mrs. Constable; she was stand.
ing alone near the inside of the wheel she
looked at me, but said nothing Williams went
by me and jumped overheard; went out
on the deck, just abaft the wheel, and sprang
into the water; as ] jumped | heard Mrs
Constable scream; ] lost my float and swan
back to the wheel; Mrs. Constable was still
there, and q man named Lonan vast just
entering the wheel from the boat; as TN
dertook to get up, he, in his excitement,
accidentally pushed me off, and hrs. Cotlsta-
bic screamed again came up and caught
Lowman by the leg and climbed up until
reached the leg of an 1rishmat, and so reached
the wheel again; then saw Mr.. Constable,
who had constructed and LAUGHED float
from the deck Just aft the wheel he called out
to bis wife: "Now, Celia, come on, I'm really
he was then in the witter she stepped on to
the float, which appeared to be composed of
pieces of timber, and they went off down
stream that Is the last ever saw or heard
of them, and | think they were lost; as I sat
in the wheel | saw step-ladder floating
down near the inside of it; got hold of ;,
when two men seized it and took it away
from me, one of them renarking that he had
it; found / had got to swim, and took OF
my coat and vest; just ut that moment 1
saw German with a float, and asked
him to allow me one-half of it; he pushed
the float. toward me; l launched it, sup
posing that he would take one end of it, but
he turned away and went out of the wheel
don't know what became of him; never
saw him afterwards as / pushed out from
the boat a man, who had his leg terribly
Iacerated, and the foot nearly cut off, limped
to the side Of the boat and plunged in after
me; he caught ole ehd of the float and
climbed upon it; he was evidently crazy; FEM
dered so either by his fright or the intense
pain he had suffered I lay under the float,
resting my arm on it, and swimming on my
back !; he lay across it, clad only in his:shirt
presently he began talking to me. "Fm
cold, partner" he said. "Tm frozen pull
now, pull harder" He climbed along to-
wards my end, exclaiming, "Pull, nowl
pull, say 1 say, Pm freezing partner, and
you must pull the other hand, now pull
away" tried to reassure him, and told
him he was not half so cold as he thought;
that he must keep OH his end Of the float, or
1okI, T., ,1oI I,n
and kept muttering to himself. All around
me [ could see people struggling in the
river, and saw that some were still left on
the wreck. I could hear the piercing shrieks
and screams of those who could no longer
hold out, and who felt themselves going
down. The fire from the burning wreck lit
up the scene, and it was Il cherries one. As
| drifted down the river l heard the voice of
a weak old man, eXclaiming "My God, my
God, what can do? Have mercy on me-"
think he went down, for when l reached
the place where had seen him he was gone,
and didn't hear him again. saw no boat
about when l was in the water, nor did /
see any of the officers. Atlength we reached
the shorein Dog-Tooth Bend, on the Missouri
side. When we were in two feet of water my
companion let go the float and rushed up the
shore, through the willows, until he was stop
ped by the bluff. don't know what became
of him. saw the Belle of St. Louis coming
uD while was in the water. She was COM
ing along slowly, picking people out of the
river. She made two landings on the Illinois
side. While was standing on the shore a
man rowed in. He had skiif with three or
four men in it. One of them had been taken
from the wheel of the Oceanus, and was
perfectly dry. He had some matches in his
pocket, and we built fire. The pilot of the
Belle saw it, and came after us and took us
on board
The Belle of st. Louis picked UP thirty
four passenger, five of whom were dead, and
two of them died Oh the way up.
THE CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION
is at presenta profound mystery. It's stated
the engineer tried the five gauges and found
plenty of water in the boilers. and it is only
to a lack of water or solIc other negligence
that this terrible calamity can be attributed.
Old engineers contend that the bursting Of Il
boiler can be always traced 10 direct cause,
which inevitably involves some negligence
or carelessncss Another significant fact is
that steamboat explosions generally occur III
the night-a time when may be relaxed the
vigilance essential to the assurance of perfect
safety for contidng passengers.
The Occanus was almost a new boat, was
rated staunch in every particular, and was
one of the last boats on the river of which
such fate might be expected; and there
was manifcstly something wrong in her NAH
agement that conduced to her destruction
and that of the lives entrusted to her. The
theory that her striking upon bar was tho
immediate cause is untcImble, for such acct
dents are frequent, but like results are uu
fso,n, q In,Lic 1adnore