Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-01
Pathetic Incidents

of the disaster, l remember well the
death of two little children. All the even
ing they played about the saloon, prattling
gaily with the passengers and seemingly
wrapt up in each other. When bedtime
came one Of them said, ''Tiss me, mama;
tiss me, for am going to Sleep" and saw
them no more alive. This morning their
bodies were washed ashore on the beach,
clasped in each others arms. They were
beautiful as in life, and their countenances
bore placid smile as if death was painless.
Our boat capsiZed close by shore, and it
was q sad sight to US who had gained our
lives when we witnessed the struggles of
those who were unable to withstand the
terrible under-tew, and were drowned in
our faces. Their upturned faces and de-
spairing looks will haunt me to my dying
day. Mr.. Sheridan is much Frustrated by
the shock he has received.
A Vivid Description.
Another passenger states that he asked
the Purser if any damage was done by the
collision, 70 which the Purser replied 'of
course not, it is of no use for these small
crafts to run into us, for they can't hurt us
any way" l went back TO the state-rOom
and laid down. Had scarcely closed my
eyes when felt the ship settling under me,
aud aroused my wife at once. This was
about twenty-five minutes after first heard
the crash. l opened my state-rOom door
and found the saloons full of people, many
not dressed and all in state OF feverish
anxiety. They were breaking up furniture
and trying in wild way to build RATS.
All the life preservers had been taken down
and one man had three buckled about his
body. Cork mattresses were strewn about
the saloon generally. Some two or three
Dropped ON their Knees
and commenced to pray, and one woman
shrieked violently. There were quite a
number who were beside themselves and
Jumped overheard in delirium, but most of
us kept our wits about US. We launched
and loaded the life-boat, and threw over
board bales of cotton to which VIC had pre-
yiously laShed women and children, and
tried in the short time to build RATS. Our
time was limited however. We felt the
vessel sink slowly and surely beneath us,
and all hands made a rush for the hurricane
deck. The boat seemed to sink beneath
this deck, for when it had reached the level
of the water it floated away, forming a raft
of itself AS we drifted towards land the
water seemed
Full of Human Bodies.
They drifted about, some one way and
some another, the most going towards land.
Our raft proceeded steadily on this way till
we got close to the shore, when big breaker
threw us all in the water. l was one of the
few who were saved.
Captain Richie, of the revenue cutter
Moccasin (which saved II lives, and took
thar, fpnafhar with IT hnIin5 rNialyaA
near the wreck, to Stonington late last
night, states: The scene was
Awful and Heart-rending
to those engaged in saving the perishing,
and can only be realized by the experience
of fathers looking for their children, hus-
bands for their wives, and mother for her
child, son for his father and sister for a
brother. 1t beggars description.
A Watch Hill dispatch states the wreck
is scattered for fully mile and half along
shore. State room doors, bedding, baggage,
broken masts, and in fact all the miscella-
neous floating articles of the upper deck
may be seen far and wide, and 1t requires
some surveillance to ward eff thieves who
would wantomly appropriate articles be-
longing perhaps to the dead. The deck
hands seem to believe The leak
Might nave been
temporarily stopped with sail cloth, had
the carpenter been set to work before the
water made such Roadway, and all agreed
that the vessel might easily have been run
ashore in time to prevent loss of life. 1t is
reported the vessel had already begun to
lurch and settle from the quantity of water
in the hold when the fireman first gave
the alarm and it is almost certain the water
reached the fires in a very few minutes
afterward. There seems 20 be an impress
sion that this awful calamity would have
been averted had the captain when the
collision first occurred taken the trouble to
60 below and personally examine the dam
age done. But
The Saddest Thing of All
was in the saloon of the Narragansett
where sat young woman poorly but neat
ly dressed, weeping silently near the spot
where the dead body of her husband lay.
She was asleep when the collision occurred,
but was awakened by the shock and told