New-York tribune., 1880-06-13
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badly. Then the flames on board the NarragansetS e.
shot up and we saw them fixing up air ratss. We
rot on ono Of these and about half an hour sr'er-
ward were picked up" IL
PRESENCE or MIND.
John Beatty, o acommeroial traveller OF !orohto'
Can, is one Of the very few who escaped Win
whole suit of clothes He said: mad not gone
to bed but was louuging on my berth. 1t was aDous
10 O'Clock when heard the machinery cease work
for an instant, and jumped my feet that instant
the crash came. At the time the boat was struck
she did not heaye up or down bit but In less IMAM
five minutes she careened to one side, and began 10
sec there was danger. | rushed Win otner
passengers to the upper deck, and there the names
met us and we rushed back. procured hte-pre-
server and adjusted it as well as could ana "ene
on deck by way of the bow. The people were all
crowded outside, and were throwing every concelV-
able thing tables and chairs-even camp-stools-
overheard. One threw table and then jumped OH
It, He gave q loud hurrah, but the shouI was
hardly out of his mouth before he slipped OH IL ana
went under. The boats were att all art
on one side, and / could not reach tnem
from where / was When l saw the nre
gaining ground and there was nothing for it but to
take to the water 1 walked along the rail toward
the stern until the water was beyond my depth and
then floated off. was never in the water before,
but Aoated about comfortably enough. boat
came along, but said, Don't mind me for bit.
Pm all right. Shortly after got hold of rope and
the swell Hoated me up to another boat, and l got
in Two ladies had hold of this boat, and we tried
hard to lift them in but could not Their life pre-
servers caught against the side OF the boat every
time, so we held on to them until we reached the
steamer and then hauled them in.
Charles f. Russ, of No. 1875 Milk-street, with Mrs.
f. NJ Soule aud her fourteen-year-old daughter, all
of Boston, were found at the Cosmopolitan HOTEL
The gentemans wardrobe, when they landed from
the CITY of New-York consisted of pair of drawers
and one SOCK and borrowed Ulster The TWO
ladies were in nearly as destitute condition. A
gentleman called on Mr. Russ and immediately pur-
chased for him decent suit OF clOtLes the ladies
borrowed garments from the hotel servantsand went
out to mako their own purchases. Mr. Russ, in his
account of the disaster said my berth was for
ward on the opposite side to where the Doat was
struck, and right over the fire. The moment sue
was struck the lights went ont aud we were IN total
darkness. Then got out and looked at the sltua-
ton was on the port side OF the ship, she was
struck ON the starbOard. When saw her settling
down, concluded that the water must be rushing
in, so woke up Mrs. SOule and her daughter. who
were in the adjoining state-roOm. told them
to put on their llfe-preservers. / put on
mine. and then somebody shouted, Ali right ladies'
Won can dress" They began to pull their ife-pre-
servers eff again to dress, but stopped them. ana
while was hurrying them the flames burst out aud
we all rushed forward. said to them: You BAD
better Jump overboard it is better to drown tnan
to burn We saw no boats about, nor anything;
but we could hear people splashing into the water.
| jumped first but they remained and it was foItu-
nate that they did, for rowboat from this steamer
came up. They jumped of then and were picked
n
up Had they jumped when did they would have
persisted from the cold. l was in the water three
quarters of au hour. The first boat that came
told them to pick up the women and children.
There were lots OF children.
There was no panic at the bow. it was all asern.
Ibid not see any officers at all; they must have
been AFT where the panic was. l had four or iive
hundred dollars in my trousers pocket, but never
thought of that at the time. The StOnngtOn
lowered its boats as quickly as possible but they
could not tell how much disabled their own vessel
WAS and whether the boats would not be wanted for
their 0wn passengers. Many of the Narragansctt
passengers jumped overheard to escape the flames
and | think great many must have perished
women and children"
TWO HOURS IN THE WATER.
Howard Lapsley, tho wc-kuown broker of No.
Is Broad-st. was ON board the Narraganseit with
his nephew, Mccalf Thomas. boy sixteen years
old son of DIR. Thomas, of No. 204 Ffth-aye. They
occupied stater0Ons in different parts Of the
steamer and when the crash occurred were
unable to find each other in the dark
ness. Mr.. Lapsley descended to the
deck. but was driven from it bv thn
force of the flames. Fortunately he had secured
hfe-prcsarvcr, and with IL supported himself in the
water for two hours. His nephew had also gained
the deck but was shut off from his uncle by tn e
wall of fire rising in the centre of the vessel lie
was tempted to leap into the water. but fortunately
retained presence Cf mind to remember the danger
he would incur from exposure and exhaustion. He
succecdcd at last in finding room in the fourth boat
that left the Narragansett, and when his uncle was
taken on board ths City of Ncw-YOrk. mis- anxiety
for the lads safety was relieved by finding hlm
hnfn In,