The New York herald., 1872-10-11

ndux some ausarsd were crcwdes, when the
whole gave way ~ the faIiing OF che boom above
and an were precipitated headlong into the seal
ropes. Some threw their boxes overheard nrst
ana jumped after them. Othors took what
money they had-some a. much AZ three
thousand doilars-Gcd II round their waists.
and. thus heavily weighted. jumped into the
sea. To these circumstances must be attributed
the great loss Of life. for the water was perfectly
calm and the burning ship was surrounded by In
umerable boats the occupants Of which did every
thing In their power TO save life.
After everybody had left the ship the launch OF
the Italian corvette vittor Pisani came alongside
trying to sink her. But this was altogether futile
the shot having no eject upon the ships sides:
Efforts had been made before the captain left the
ship to hood the magazine, bus this place was In.
accessible. The tug was now alongside with 9
steam fire engine from shore, and although several
the ship burned all night and all next day. until!
Ave p M when there was little left to burn; a,a ana
GRAND BUT MOURNFUL SCENE
The soene from shore was grand ana tcrribie.
ment the ire had mado great leadway, and A..
tempts to save her had been abandoned: Luckily
that hes was little Of other vessels being
On Che Afternoon Of Sunday tho moorings Of tho
ship were cut away and she WAS tOwed over 10
Kanajawa. In doing 30 she foued the Decapols,
but did her no damage. She then f0uod the ship
cut away before the wreck drove PAST. She then
got foul Of the mracian and even set her on dre;
but this was soon put out ana the Thraclan silp-
ping her cables, got out OF danger.
REMAINS OF THE MARINE STRUCTURE.
All that isleft Of the America is her funnel mel o her
per There Is S @ @ Wood left %
box OF matches.
Loss OF LIFE AND NuM1EG M & or THE vnnr y,oTIMs aov
nine. viz Fifty ythree Chinese. three Japanese ana
three foreigners.
The foreigners were John II. Barker. engineers
storckeeper Joseph Lymert, steerage Waterman;
and Thomas b. Cook (colored), steerage COOK. All
the bodies have been recovered.
On the persons Of the Chinese were found bags
and pouches containing Mexican dollars, Ameri.
can gold coin and gold dust. About $1,000 has has
United States Consul. Undoubtedly there must
have been among the Chinese passengers large
caopna Ia haSe Usually managed 70 save rom $500
to 5000. This they always carry with them,
never buying drafts or giving 1t to the purser for
siderable OF this money has been recovered and
secreted away by wreckers. There were no Euro
Yoke Yokohepma p'I PASSENGERS had landed With their
effects during the day. The Hong Kong and
Shanghae passengers were ashore, but had lett
| all their baggage ON the ill-lated snip, ana, OF
| course, that was all lost.
There were about four hundred thousand dollars
on bGard This was PLACED In large
at work on the wreck trying to get this tank up.
| INQUIRY AS TO CAUSE.
How did the fire take paces When ! saw Cap
tain DOane next day and asked him this question he
answered that he could only account for It In one
Of two ways either 1t had been set on 1re or 1t
was the effect Of spontaneous combustion. Ho
was then under the impression that the fire COM
menced on the freight deck and so expressed him.
self on the stand during the otflcia investigation.
Inv n a
who saw the fire In Its tncipiency, and further by
the facts that had 1t been on the freight deck 1t
nicate to the steerage deck, where it was first seen,
and during that time 1t would have exposed
edly escaped by the ventillators that communicate
with the hurricane deck. Again, on the freight
deck were several boxes Of cartridges which did
morning, showing that the fire must have been
communicated to that deck after Its discovery on
the hay. Howl 1t viii be seen rom the testi.
money adduced at the investigation that the
steerage hatchway was the thoroughiare generally
used Tor coolies, &C., going down to the freight
wherever they have the opportunity, and they are
extremely careless as to where they tlnQw the still
burning ashes. But we see that U Apes quit
work at eight O'Clock; and althoul were at
frst oicer, this order was rescnded. PROBABLY on
account Of that ofcer rejecting upon the COM
bustible material that was IN the steerage
at nine O'Clock they were all driven out
las shown by the Official nvestiga tom. But it is
quite possible that one or two either stayed there
to sleep or made their way to that place after
wards for the steerage steward distinctly says that
one knowing the ship could make his way there
without being seen by the watchman, and the fact
that the steerage watchman was not the first to
give the alarm OF fire, although 1t occurred at the
and the further fact that he himself was burned,
speak very little In favor OF his care and watchfu
difiicut OF explanation NV own opnon is that that
one or two coolies had surreptitiously remained or
crept there, realizing M the fact that bales Of hay
that while there INDUCED In smoking and thus set
Tne story told by the two sailors OF the Lacka-
wanna is altogether unworthy of credence; the
conception OF the romance was evidently after
the fact and is to be attributed to that love OF the
romantic Inherent In the breast OF every sailor
especially o man-ofwar's man. In the first place
Japanese do never, In speaking among themselves,
Invariably speak their own language, OF which
these men do not understand word Again, II
there had been any design to burn the ship, where
perpetrators would rush to to tell their design.
Further, sailors are not noted for retcence. Yet
burning OF an American ship, takes no In
terest In the matter. makes no inquiries
sSSm a in %Sa, m Of sSSpe osnrS SaS tells eonm mis-
again, not being bound to keep It quiet, nevcrthe
less says not word about 1t TO any one, and, al.
OF II to living soul, not even TO the officers OF his
ship or his mates, until several hours after he has
been on BOARD the snip ana Two days after the nre
although they both saw the fire. Besides, the
Japanese women alluded to were examined. None
OF them knew anything about the fire till next
morning and the only basis for the whole yarn is
that when the sailors left the house the next morn
ing one or the women said, "Big Mclean ship
makee burn AS the boys overnight had lndulged
in considerable hrewater their recollectons of the
time when this occurred are not probably very
distinct.
Another rumor got started around the settlement
that the ship was set on fire by japanese, from
motives OF revenge. IL was stated that Just before
the Great Republic started on her last voyage to
san Francisco Japanese had been killed by two
ohcers OF the Pacific Mail steamship Company on
that ship, and his body had been sent ashore in a
barrel, and several Japanese who had been wit
nesses TO the deed were secured In the company's
coal shed until the Republic got away on investi-
CATION this turned out TO be all "bosb.o The whole
absurd story had been founded on the bare fact
that on board the Decapolis Jap had been Killed.