The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-04


denial made by the agents, Of the line. and
their plea that Il would 10 moro expensive 10
run into Halifax than TO take on board in
England double supply Of coal. The fact
That the vessel WAS actually short Of coal b
conclusive evidence that the denial IL worth
less; the further fact that the space that
should have been devoted to coal could be used
for freight. at large profit disposes Of the
special plea This is now tho verdict Of the
people, and we can see nothing that win be
likely to secure its reversal ........ - ,t.
The evidence that fixes incompetency or
neglect on the unfortunate commander of the
lost vessel ! is terribly conclusive. His own
story convicts him Of both these Grimes. He
was approaching coast notoriously treach-
erous and bristling all over with dangers. At
midnight he judged that he was only forty
eight miles from Sambro Island, and he was
steaming along at full speed, making. as he
supposed, from eight to twelve knots an hour.
Where. then, should have been his place
but on the bridgea No officer of oven,
ordinary prudence would run his vessel,
on the strength Of his reckoning,
at full speed on rocky coast, and Captain
Williams, with q thousand lives in his charge,
should, even at his own calculation, have hove
to until morning. But Captain Williams
went to bed Coolly and comfortably he
s'turned in at midnight, and left orders to
be called at three o clock in the morning. He
was called at that hour, but by q messenger
different from the one he had expected. At
three o'clock. when, according to this off,
GERS reckoning" his vessel ought to
have been about eighteen or twenty miles
south of Sambro light, she ran crashing
on to Mars Rock, about twenty miles 70
the west and seventeen miles to the north Of
this careful navigator's reckoning" Rush
ing on deck, he found the effect Of his fatal
recklessness before his eyes. He saved his own
life. and four hundred men escaped with
theirs but, as he laments, every woman and
child persisted. No wonder that the COM
mander calls this s'terrible," for he must feel
that the life Of every lost passenger
was at his mercy, was in his keep
Ing; Ing wssss Lost through his criminal
incompetency Of gross neglect Of duty.
No wonder that he thinks with horror Of the
fate of every woman on board, from that
CHASTITY corpse dashed in the rigging, with its
staring but sightless eyes, its frothing lips
and its fingers covered with glittering jewels,
to the poor, weak mother in the steerage,
pressing her ocean-born infant to her breast
in the convulsive grasp of death.
Unhappily, in this miserable medley
- ;vcoc,ookccor oV,1 hJ~c.Jo~c kLo~o 5oor
not appear to have been single
officer capable of keeping sound
and manageable vessel of rock-bound coast
on starlight night, or man on board
who. after the calamity happened, had the
courage or the humanity to make an effort to
save . helpless female or child. Even the
one boysaved owed his life to his impor-
tunity. His piteous cries compelled attention
to his peril 1t is horrible to think that two
lines in our latest dispatches may explain the
whole story :-s'Some of the crew were
insubordinate and beyond the control
of the officers during the voyage"
What a terrible picture is here A reckless,
careless commander, incompetent or needless
officers o crew Of rufians, whose first thought
in the face of horrors such as might have
touched the heart Of q savage, was the plumber
Of the dead! Now, sswhat are we going to do
about it?" Is this calamity to be nine days
wonder and then to pass away and be for
gotten? Is no punishment to be melted out to
the guilty parties? Is this steamship line
and others to be suffered to continue to risk
the lives of passengers in ships short
of coal, commanded by incompetent officers
and manned by insubordinate crews2 So far
as the HERALD is concerned we shall insist
upon thorough investigation of this terrible
event and upon full exposure of the facts.
We shall hold all the parties implicated to o
strict accountability, and, whether this awful
calamity has been due to the greed Of the
company, to the criminal neglect of the
officers, or to both, we shall not cease to use
our earnest efforts to lay the truth before the
public and to do our best to protect the lives
which the owners and commanders Of ocean
steamers appear to hold at so cheap rate.
THE NEWS FROM CUBA special telegram
to the HERALD from Cuba, under date of
Havana the LIST instant, brings statement of
q report which was then current in the city to
the effect that General Portilla had been cap |
tured by the insurgents. The revolutionist
cause was still in stubborn progress
against the authority of the Spaniards. The
hopes of the people were cheered by numerous
assertions from the ranks of the Madrid mill
tary and the surrender of q couple of army
positions to- the patriots. Then there were
really painful interior tribulations caused by
the high price of beef. This dinner crisis had
been produced by combination of the
butchers and slaughterers. The people were
likely to unite against the league Of the provi-
sion capitalists and compel them by force to |