The New York herald., 1878-02-25
THE FERRY COLLISIONS
Further Details of the Disaster to the
James Fisk.
BUT ONE PERSON KILLED.
The Crashing Encounter of the
Spain and Castleton.

The collision In the North River on Saturday night
between the ierryboat James Fisk ana the schooner
Jessie Crowley turns out most fortunately be far
less disastrous than had generally anticipated by
the police and tho Up to late last even,
lug additional casualties besides those chroniccd
In the HERALD Of yesterday reported. and may
now be hoped that tho rst apprehensous OF serious
loss OF lie will prove unounded. will also be
further below tnat the persons who reported
missing are satisfactorily accounted for or course 1t
is stIll possible that somc unknown pcrsons may
have been drowned, and that their bodies may have
hoated down to the bay the cbb tide. which was
running strongly at the time OF the collision but tho
reasons gwen by Air. Brown, superintendent OF the
Pavonia Ferry Company und the absence OF any IN
quiries for missing people, would sccm to warrant he
gratifying belief that the full of the calamity
was already recorded in tho HERALD Of yesterday.
THE FKnRy ooMPANYs SIDE OF rmg STORY
Mr. Brown, superintendent OF the ferry company,
nude an Interesting statement In reference to somo
important points To begin with, he claimed that all
the blame Of the accident must upon the captain
OF the Schooner Jessie Crowley. Lying the stream,
II WAS his bounden duty not only display promi-
nent signal hight, but, upon such toggy night, to
blow his log horn every few minutes. This
oil tho harbor regulations applicable also to tho
rivers Mr. Brown said that vessels generally which
were anchored In tho North River on that
night had Carried out these precautions. Two
vessels lay In the stream opposite Hoboken, and all
Saturday night they kept vigorously sounding their
fog horns Not only did tho jessie Crowley give no
fog signal Whatever to any passing ierryboats
other craft, but II vas indubitaby established that
she did not even display her light. Mr.. Brown said
that all the deck hands Of the James Fisk aud about
dozen disnterested passcngers-Mr. Dunhan, at the
Coleman House; Mr.. 1rueman and others among the
m mhar- 10 IN harm visiL
upon the schooner uut quite while alter the collision
On this point as to the presence or absence Of any
signal light on the schooner, Mr. Brown considered
that the testimony OF MIR. Durham particularly
was conclusive Mr. Durham had stated in presence
OF several witnesses that when he atcr saving him.
sell and the little boy, Henry Esser) clambered on
board tho schooner he found the vessel wrapped In
complete darkness and no gllmmer oil light
could be seen except what proceeded from u red hot
stove He stumbled over tho sleeping man, supposed
the captain OF tho schooner asked this som
nolent seaman why ir the world mad signal light
out The man made no reply Whatever but up
and silently proceeded to get an old aptcr0 which ho
LII by piece OF ropeyarn ut the rcdhot stove, II
was only then hat he put out the signal light, Mr
Dunnam calling out 10 him to be sure and hoist 1t
nigh enough In order to prevent another collision.
THE LIvg.
Mr.. Brown was convinced that tho solitary OF
death upd the injuries recorded In tho HERALD's
tailed account Of yesterday constituted the iu chap
ter Oi accidents. He hpd boen duty all Saturday
nigh, ana Yesterday Sunday until about two NJ ana
Another proof that theie WAS no such serious Of lie
US Had been generally anticipated by the newspapers
that the lie preservers were all iouuu strewn
about the rear part OF The cabin, showing that
passengers had all promptly nsd th,ther where they
were perfectly safc. luased Mr. Brown claimed that
when arst crash caused by tho tearing away
iron rails or sianchions occurrcd-and II wouia not
have passed of without loud crash-the passenger
nave been sufficiently warned vi the ,mpendinx
danger TO retreat 10 the rear portion o. the oabln,
which they did. Tue NUMBER oi passengers on
rAu lV
ovsrstAted In the first excitement Closer inquiry
had shown him that there could not been Two
hundred passengers 0ntne boat. sour Twenty-tnird
street ferry, said he s one that Is not very largely
patronizel, and so far IRON the boat being over
crowded, as II has been sated 10 somc qurte-s, Tho
deck hands OF the james FISK assured she was
scurcely luL believe that the budget oi death
HERALD viii conprise all the loss OF iiie re-
sui,lng from & .his calamity. Oar pecuniary damage
VIII DO about $500, anu, ! assure you, We are very,
glad TO have got OIL 50 lightly"
THE JgssiE CROWLEY.
The Jessie Crowley remained anchored In tho stream
yesterday ABOUT Two hundred tcst from the Bethuno
street slip. she Is small craft oi about huDured
anu Il ~ tons burden, ana panty shows tho damage
shc sustained in having her 0owsprit torn away la
looking at ths iraii vessel easy fatal
the collision would have been to her had Jerry
boaI-a monster IN conparison-sruck her midships,
iu which she would certainly nave gone uowD. The
captain o.! the Crowley, who Was the only person on
board when the collision occurred and last
asleep ut the tnIe either very willy very stupid,
tor he would ite about the accident except
the schooner displayed her signal lights and that tho
fcrrybvat lad timc 10 change when
It's pilot hrst noticed the jessie Crowley before hun.
Tne captain, indeed ntaned perfect composure In
reference 10 The DISASTER winch had evidently not
borne too heavily upon his mind. As lar could be
gathered from Ino statements OF the captain ana the
crew ,hey were determined 10 shit tho blame upon
the pilot Of ne ferryboat james Fisk
CONDITION JANIS FISK.
Another visit was paid yesterday afternoon to the
slip Of the Pavonia Ferry Company, 10 jersey civ
where the James Fisk was LAID no for REPAIRS for
more detailed examination OF the damage ed
by nor 10 tire collision large porIion Of tho
fnrW nd
tending ~ n length o! about thirty icst ana
wdtn oi about seven or eight, was almost
petoy torn away The disaster could be here closely
traced aud the exact point noted where tho bowsprt
aud catnead oi The schooner struck tho hood OF
the caDin, crashed through the door, carrying
away onohali aud leaving the other still IN us
pace; suiasacd tue bench OF seats on tnc forward
deck; pulled down Tue bench inside, and left
oi spnntered planks and blood tanned ropos, torn
rigging, broken guys and bent dtvits 10 mark
tnsir destructive course. The windows OF the cabin
ON thIs SHE, strange to say, were nearly all intact
ouly two wero snstterod ana thc4e ony partially
Covering II aoes but ~ small portion Vf the
boat, tho sight affords "a vivid Impress OF
vessels come together. On tho side the
boat Is perfect, ana floors, stanchons, Seats DOORS
other Tor the space already indicated almost every
thing Is torn away, and II looks though great
piece had been bodily taken out OF the Ierryboat.
But even on the other side, shat OF tue ladies' cabu
q coil Of rope stained with pale OF blood pre-
sents a sad remln lndcr OF the accident
Considerable surprise was Tested yesterday that
tho ferryboat should have hugged the shore closely
10 have come into collision with the schooner Tho
Jerry employees maintained that In the dcuso fog the
pilot could not follow his usual course in launch
ing bodily out across tho middle Of tue
river, but was obliged to hug the shore
more closely, rs the log was OF course lighter
along the banks than the of the river They
clam that under che circumstances he could moro
reasonably hope 10 sight any obstacles his way and
avoid u collision by hugging the snore. where the fog
was comparatively hgnt, than by striking out into
middle OF tne stream, where u Was Dense In refer
TO the question whether tho schooner displayed
u signal light or not another witness yesterday added
his testimony TO that OF Mr.. Durham, Mr. rrucman
and the others already referred TO- lAis Is boy OF
fifteen, James Brown. VINO was the Fisk at the
linc OF the accident In his capacity as bootblack
Brown positively declared that lgnt could bs seen
the schoon
MISSING MAN POUND.
Mr. w. G. Andrews, an ex,Judge vi Dixon, ILL.,, who
has or some time been stopp,ng ~ the Coleman
House IN this city, was supposed 10 have been lost
lie seen by some friends board tho Fisk lust
before she cit the dock, bu, could DC iouud ar
the collision. lie had merely gone on board with
friend whom he was scent on IRON the CITY. and
came ashore before the boat lett her slip No then
went 10 Brooklyn where no spent the nignt st tho
house Of Mr. John Rankin No. Clinton rtrsel and