Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-08-22
TESTIMONY OF S. s. How1sox.

i am President of the Potomac Ferry com.
pany I wish to state that Captain Gedney ID
left with all matters pertaining to our boats
he called my attention to the discrepancy be-
tween the certificates OF inspection, and told
him to see Mr.. Saville and Mr.. Lowry and have
1t rectihed at once.
CAPTAIN eRpNRY RECALLED.
At the time the inspection was made did you
give any direction to the Inspectors as to tn
number Of passengers you wished to carry2 A.
@. Did you direct any one else? A. No sir.
Q. Where was the captain at the time? A.
he was sick with the small pox; the boat was
inspected on the 2ith, he died on the 9Th OF
March.
Q. Who could 1t have been that told the in
spector to put in fifty? A. l don't know; MIR.
Boswell, the pilot, was acting captain at the
time.
Q. What day did you put up the new certih-
cate on the boat? A. About four or five days
after the inspection was made; the boat made
one trip without any papers; am positive they
were put up within week after the oath Of
March.
TESTIMONY OF BPHRAIM MASH.
Am a farmer; reside in Northumberland
county, Virginia; was q passenger on board the
Wawaset; was in the forward part Of the boat
when the alarm was sounded; went aft after
seeing the smoke; had been there but an in
slant when somebody came back and said keep
quiet, the boat will be beached in a moment;
then climbed mp on the deck by the metallic life
boat; something was said about lowering the
boat, when deck hand said let it alone; Hook
cd to see If any means were at hand to lower it,
and did not; 1t was showed overheard and q col
ored man jumped with it; l then climbed up to
the hurricane deck, and found the fire coming
up to the walking beam; then jumped into the
bow Of the boat and took an empty peach box
and jumped overheard little before the boat
stopped and swan ashore; L think on the port
side Of the hurricane deck passengers could
have passed from the aft forward up till the
time the boat struck; saw none of the officers
n mt faff n, f,ar LA.
have no doubt the intention of the officers
was good, but saw none of them but Mr.. Wheel
er attempt to rescue any passengers.
Y. D1d you see the engineer in the barroOm
A. have an impression did; 1 am not quite
positive of the fact; could not swear to it: IL
is distinct impression on my mind.
q. Did you see him take liquor at all? A. No,
Q. Do you think after the fire occurred there
was possibility TO extinguish 1t? A. No, sir;
do not; think If the doors between the saloon
had been closed, so as to have stopped the draft,
IT would have prolonged the fire until after the
boat beached, and it would have mitigated the
disaster; If the boat had been stopped, the small
servers distributed.
q. Do you think if there had been a fire de-
partment aboard that boat they could have
consider myself competent to Judge; 1 saw no
negligence, before or after the ire, on the part
of the officers of the boat.
George Parker, colored, a passenger, was ex-
amined, but bis evidence failed to elicit any ad-
ditlonal facts.
CAPTAIN GKDNEY, RECALLED.
The hfe-boat was on the hurricane deck, aft
OF the wheelhouse, with bow and a stern line
attached to let it down; have never exercised
the men in lowering the boats; boat was low
cred at several landings each trip, and there
was no difficulty in getting her up and down.
Tiffany Rich, colored, passenger, was ex-
amined, and testified that his wife and child
were burned up on the boat. No new points
were developed by the witness.
At 100 O'Clock the investigation adjourned
sine die. Mr.. Rose gave notice that the report
Of the commission would appear at an early day