The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-08-18
A Very Sad Story.

life IS written In the HERALD's special
despatch from Newport published to-day.
There are no very novel features in the
tragedy itself 1t is the old, old story of a
young girl whose life has been blighted by
IN unfortunate attachment, who for some
reason is parted from the object of her
love, who cannot live without him, who is
tired of life, and who, "rashly importunate,
goes to her death" There are the GUS
tomary accompaniments of such tale;
little keepsakes, pawn tickets for diamonds
that were perhaps the lovers gift. and the
last few lines asking the one for whose
sake death is sought to forgive and think
kindly of the dead. This is all there is Of
the commonplace story OF Miss Roche,
young woman about twenty-three years of
age, who, on Saturday afternoon at six
o'clock, threw herself from the deck of the
steamer Bristol. Captain A G. Simmons,
on the out trip off Hunts Point, and was
drowned.
In the details of the distressing event,
however, there is much that is happily out
of the common way. This poor girl-''one
more untortunate"-gave such marked evil
dences of her mental anguish before she
committed the act of self-destructlon that
it seems impossible to understand the care
lessness or indifference of those who, after
observing her conduct, neglected to keep
proper watch over her, if not to place her
under actual restraint. Had she walked
up to the purser's Office and informed him
of her intention Of committing suicide by
throwing herself from the deck she could not
have given him better reasons than she did
for anticipating such result and providing
against it. Her actions and her words
spoke, rs plainly as words and actions can
speak, of her mental alteration. From the
time she lett her key and pocketbook with
the purser until the moment when, after
her bitter outcry that she was call alone,
she laid her cloak on O chair in the saloon
and passed out to cast herself into the water,
it must have been evident to all that she
was temporarily insane from grief or some
other cause. Yet no one moved finger to
save the poor girl from her fate.
But what will be said of the conduct of
the officers of the steamer Bristol after the
unhappy girl had made the fatal leap?
The HERALD's interesting story of the
tragedy refers to the fact that the boats of
the Old Colony line, to which the Bristol
belongs, are advertised as making every
possible provision for the safety Of their
passengers, and the statement is put
forward that each boat Of the line is sspro-
vided with all the improved life saving ap-
pliances." Yet this poor girl was left to
drown in broad daylight without single
effort on the part of the Bristops officers
to save her. OF what use are call the
improved life saving appliances" if
no one on the boat takes tho
trouble to use them while human being is
struggling for life in the water? For who
can tell whether, after the fatal plunge, this
girl did not cling to life and pray for help?
We hesitate to denounce the conduct of the
captain Of the Bristol as harshly as it
seems to warrant. But his excuses for his
inaction are insufficient. He heard the
danger signal to stop the boat, but he
sounded it by mistake. What right
had he, in charge of hundreds
of lives, to ''think" anything about it, or to
venture to countermand the danger signal
to stop by signal to go ahead until he
actually knew what had caused the alarm ?
When he learned that passenger was over
board his Imagination again came to his aid,
and he Thought" the girl must have been
killed by striking on the guard, and as they
had gone so far it was no use trying to save
her. The principal excuse made by the
captain, however, is that the tide, the
wind and the narrowness of the channel
prevented him from turning the boat and
it would have imperilled the lives of the
rest OF his passengers to have dropped his
anchor.
While we give the captain the benefit of
this statement we are bound to say that the
difficulty in this distressing case seems to
have been the absence of all discipline and
rule in regard to the course to pursue in
such an emergency. No one appears to
have q special duty to perform in
lowering the liieboats The captain
thought the first officer had sent out boat.
The first officer thought the captain had
done SO. The deplorable fact remains that
no boat had been lowered at all and that
not an effort was made to snatch this poor
girls lite from the waters.
1t is to be hoped that this event may
teach the Old Colony line and its cap
tains that there is something else
necessary for the safety OF passengers
than merely crowding their steamers with
life saving apparatus. 1t ought to be the
work of only q few minutes on such q
steamer to lower boat when person is
overheard, and boat practice ought to be
perfect and under stated command. If this
had been the case on the Bristol this poor
girls life might have been saved. 1t is to
be hoped that it will be the case on oil the