, 1880-06-13
THE FATAL MEETING.

| AN~--~A- - -~-*
| EXCITEMENT IN BOSTON.
sstc.a1 Dispatch tt Ihe Chicago Tribune. -
BosToS, June 12.-All day long the offices
Of the Stonington Company and the Provi.
dence Railroad stations have been crowded
with people anxious for the safety Of friends
and relatives. The various reports and
rumors were builetined by tho officers upon
the windows, and at II O'Clock, under the in-
| iluence OF the reassuring report, "No lives
lost" the anxious crowds began to dlsperse.
\ few minutes later came the appalling in
telligellce, SONY about 200 saved' The sad
| story flew from mouth to mouth, and with
| white, terrified faces the men and women con-
cerned for the fate OF sons OF daughters, father
or mother, returned and besieged the clerks
for the truth. fearful ladies begged to be
| told the worst, II only the terrible suspense
might be removed. The feeling all day has
beer that the Company Is
SURPRISING THE FACTS,
rs the survivors generally agree as to the
! large number OF persons seen IN the water,
| Of whom there is now 10 trace.
| At II O'Clock tonight anxious search was
+ making for a list OF passengers who had
arrived here, but it will probably prove
frlitiess the strange faot being that
I 10 attempt was made in the early part
| Of the day to keep record Of
those coming On from Providence. Some Of
! the stories Of personal experience are thrill
ing. The most comprehensive is that of
MRS. CHRISTINE BAILEY,
Of Brooklyn, My. who was coming East to
| visit her sister. She says she occupied q
| berth OIL the main deck abput alnidships, and
| had retired fur the night, but was not asleep
| at the time the disaster occurred. Said: she:
II was lying i'll my berth when Iheard a
| dreadful crash, which sounded just as If the
/ boat had run into q stone'wnll. jumped
out of the berth, put a few clothes Oh,
rushed up the upper or saloon deck, followed
by great many others who had berths OIL
the sane deck. When I arrived there the
utmost confusion prevailed and for q few
secpnd5 l hardly knew what to>do. Finally
! sn officer shouted for everybody to keep cool
/ and put on life-preserver.' / then tried for
s0ue tine to find one, and finally succeeded
in getting hold Of one, fastcning'it around
me. BY that time the boat was all Oh fire,
and
PEOPLE WERE JUMPING OVERHEARD
from al parts Of The steamer. followed their
example, but hardly had struck the water
when a man with lady clinglng to hin,
caught hold Of LIE and tried ~ pull my life
preserycr off. / resisted to the best of my
ability, telling him that life WAS as dear to
me Us to him. After considerable trouble I
succeedeT1n getting into small boat, which
immediately capsizcd. throwing me again
Into the water. Ny chances for getting out
then seemed desperate But with the exer-
else Of all the strength couI muster I
padd1ed to another bout, only to find it
full of water, and all efforts to
turn it over were fruiuess. l then
saw another boat little ways off and made
for that. After considerable difficulty, 1
with several others, reached the last boat,
which WAS also partially filled with water.
Three times did we get into the boat only to
be thrown into the water again. | was de-
terinined not to die, however, il there WAS
possible chance of my being, saved. and il
ever person fought for 11fe did. The boat
last referred to was fastened to the steamer
Narasanset, which by this time
WAS BURNING FIKKcELY.
and despite all we could do, for there were
four Indies and one gentleman on board, the
flames scorched our facrs in a terrible man
ncr, and it did seeln~as f.there was>no posi-
bic chance OF our being saved. l myself saw
three children drown, to say nothing Of the
others who were floating around near the
wreck aud who must have been lost. The.
most agollizing to- me) part of the while
affair was to see the poor people in the
saloon deck suffer 81 terribly, for mauy Of
them must have been burned to death. l
had good opportunity to KNOW because
the boat into which / had climbed
was fastened to the steamer with
rope, and while in the boat waiting for
somebody to help us could hear the poor
creatures in the state-rooms on the saloon-
deck moaning and greal.iug in n heartrend-
ing manner. at the time am nov speaking
OF, the boat was all atite, which makes me
think they were
BURNED TO DE.ATH.
In fact it could hot be otherwise, for, placed
in the position I WIS, my face and hands,
were terribly burnet$''
as the lady uttered these words she showed
lrer hands, upon which wereblisters at least
two inches long, while her face and eyes
were badly scorcl,ed. The lower portion. Of
her body was also somewhat injured.
FINALLY" continued Mrs Bailey, "we
were rescued and taken on board the Ston-
ington, which Immediately put back to her
starting place with anumbGr OF rescued per-
sous. At Stonington we were given some
clothing, after which came through to Bos-
ton It is the hardest time ever expert
enced, and another such ! hope never to wit
ness. believe there must have been large
number Of persons burned to death ard
drowned, because there were at least 50o.per-
sons OIL board. Ny watch stopped at. 3:3o
O'clock, but just how long was In the water
it would be hard to say. To me 1t seemed
ages"
As soon as the injured lady arrived in this
city she was driven to her sisters home. She
is a widow with two children Aside from
the pain caused BY the burns anti the shock
to the nervous system, she is quite comforta-