The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-08-11

at work about the wreck. filch1ng every
caddY of tobacco and other bit of cargo, aud
with hearilessness almost incredible. doing
nothing to discover the missing persons.
The citizens of Aurora, however, especially
the pastor and the ladies of the United Pres
byterian Church acted nobly in sl!eviating
the sufierings OF the injured and supplying
clothing for the rescued.
INCIDENTS AND SCENES.
HEARTLEssNEss AND CowARDICE-BRAvERY
AND SELF sAcRIFICE-THE WONDERFUL
ESCAPE OF SOME LADY PASSENGERS.
There are numerous instances mentioned
of the heartlessness which characterized the
conduct ofsome ofthe men who, possessed of
the means of saving life, with devilish
GOODNESS kept away from the wreck until
such time as they could pounce with their
greedy talons upon the valuables floating
about upon the surface. -Four ladies stand
! ing inside the afterguard on deck at an ear
I ly stage of the fire, saw man not more
! than a hundred yards distant towards
the Kentucky shore standing up
J in his skiff looking towards the Durn-
( ing ship, which lit up with l1rid glare
the surroundings for great distance. They
beckoned, and reinforced by the colored por-
/ ter shouted till they were all hoarse, but the
man gave no heed to their cries for help.
/ The ladies, Mrs. Eastman, Miss Sturgus,
! Miss Williams and the chambermaid, Mrs.
Jones, were afterward all saved by their own
stupenduous exertions. We have recorded
above some incidents that exhibit "man's
| inhumanity to man." and show to what a
! depth of mesnness men may descend. We
f, have heard of incidents that exhibited the
Mr.. William Taylor, the chief
clerk, was standing on the forecastle
of the burning boat, after having done
| ali within the power of man to save life and
property when his attention was attracted
| by woman near, screaming "Save me! save
| mep' Mr.. Taylor turned TO her and said
- Madam, will do the best 1 can. Follow
my directions and you may be saved.n
{ Taking up light trunk wooden box that
| was standing near, he cast it into the river
and told the woman to jump in and take
hold of it. This she feared to do, and de-
clined. The box fioated away. Mr.. TAYLOR
endeavored to persuade her that to Jump in
the river after the box was her best chance
for saving her life. He then took up
a valise and cast it in the water, re-
questing her to follow, but still she held
! back Next he laid hold of a berry stand.
and cast it in, but still she would not enter
the water. BY this time the beat of the fire
had become uncomfortable, and Mir. Taylor
jumped into the river and swan ashore with
great difficulty, and left the woman OIL the
deck. He would have cast the woman her.
self into the river, and thus compelled her
to make an effort to save herself, but he said
that fshe had drowned in that case, he
would have continually seen her in the act
of drowning the remainder of his life. One OF
our reporters was telling MIR. Frank Thomp-
Baker, when the latter gentleman exclaimed
referring to Mr.. Taylor: 81 remember that
man. He was noble fellow. L was on the
America when she burned in 1868, and that
same man was clerk on her. He did every.
thing that a man could do for the passen-
the last man to leave the boat. And have
no doubt he did as nobly on the Pat Rog.
ers- He is good man." Ferdinand Reutz
bar keeper on the Pat Rogers
jumped into the. river and caugh,
hold of plank that was hold
sitting on top. He told the others that il
they would get down and take hold of the
edge of the plank, all could be saved. One
was permitted TO remain on top, because be
could not swim. AS they fioated along
they observed a little child floating helpless
MIR. Reutz proposed that his party paddle
toward the child with their hands and feat
and endeaVor to save ii. All agreed, and
they had the satisfaction of placing the child
in the arms of man named
Jenkins, on shore, who lived near
the scene of the accident, but
the little thing died i'm his arms afterward.
john V. Hughes, mate, who was so badly
burned, is said to have been the last man to
leave the burning steamer. He received his
injuries by leaving the boat on the larboard
side, and attempting TO swim ashore, when
the wind was blowing the heat toward him.
The side of his face nearest the boat while
swimming is horribly roasted.
-Four of the five ladies rescued owe their
lives to the exertions of the man named
HUFF, who appears to be the owner of float
ing photograph gallery, which was moored
to the Kentucky side of the river. The result
of this her0's activity shows what might
have been done had not many of the men
in skiffs been actusted by purely mercen-
airy motives. All honor to Mr.. Huff.
Il ~ WONDERFUL PRESENCE OF MIND.
The first to leap into the water were two
ladies, Mrs. Eastman, the postmistress of
Hanover, Ind, and Miss Sturgus, an sm-
ploye OF the the department of the interior,
at Washington. With rare presence of
mind, Mrs. Eastman chose the aft end of
the boat, and hastily whispering a fes
words of instruction in her friends
J ear, leaPed into the water, her arm