Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-02-10
MURDER BY A CORPORATION.
The Aipena Disaster--.serdict OF
"a Jury--NON fcE Inc Prose
cutiOn.
Chicaro ARGUS for Jnnuarr.I

Chicago Argus for January.I
On the night of Friday, October 10,
1880, a disaster occurred on Lake
Michigan, which sent a thrill of hor-
ror throughout the land. Amid the
darkness and storm, the bowling of
the winds and the hungry roar Of the
waves, the steamer Alpena, of the
Goodrich transportation line, went TO
pieces end sank with all on board.
Seventy or eighty people, many Of
them prominent citizens Of their vari-
GUS regions, had entrusted themselves
to the rotten and water soaked death
trap. Through the criminal careless
ness Of the Goodrich company's mana
gers and government inspectors, nearly
a hundred men, women and children
went down forever amid the horrors Of
night and storm and mountainous bill
lows. Families returning from their
summer ramblings, a young minister
and his bride on their honeymoon
tour, wives going to meet their hus-
bands and husbands j%ourneying to re-
join their e~xpeetant wives, scores of
all classes and bound on all sorts
of orrands OF business and pleas
ure, relying upon the skill and
care of a great steamer company's
officials, were swallowed up together
in one vast, yawning, watery grave.
Not one escaped to tell the appalling
story. The watchers by the lakeside
waited anxiously, with strained and
fearful eyes, for some sign Of the clm-
ing vessel, that never anne Days
passed on, and then the tell-tale frag-
ments of the wreck began to drift
ashore -rottea timbers, decayed planks,
srongy nail hOles-and corpses, Day
after day, the dead bodies of the vic
tins Of a corporations recklessness
and avarice hOated in upon the tide,
and many a household in far-distant
cities aud states was Swallowed then
with a cloud through which no ray Of
sunlight will ever penetrate.
Who wss to blame? Was no one
guilty? Was it not a Wholesale muir
der, for which every officer Of the
Goodrich transportation company,
and every pretended steamboat in
spector who passed upon the Alpena,
was criminally responsible? Here is
the verdict of the Grand Haven cor
.oner's jury. rendered January 2, after
a long and careful Investigation
We the jury, find on the evidence be-
fore us, that the several persons found,
known to have been passengers on board
the steamer Alpena on the 10Th day Of
October, 1880, came to their death by the
laundering of the steamer Alpena. while
on her usual route from Grand Haven,
Michigan, to Chicago, illinois. We also
find that the said steamer Alpena was in
bad condition, ana unseawOrthy for a pas
senger boat, that her life-preservers were
in bad condition and unfit for use, many
ofthem having the appearance of having
been used by the passengers, and the fas-
Jennings broken oil, showing that said fas-
Jennings were rotten. We further find
from the appearance Of one of the life
boats belonging to the Alpena, that twas
rotten and unseaworthy; that said steamer
was manned by inexperienced sailors, ex-
cepting the captain and mates. We also
find, from the evidence of John Linkens,
formerly second engineer Of the Alpena,
that the holding down bolts Of the engine
bed-plate, were either broken or pulled
through the bottom of said steamer Alpe-
ma, that said Second Engineer Jenkins
was ordered to turn up said holding-down
bolts on every trip, and that when he
asked the chief engineer Of the Alpena to
report this to the chief engineer of the
Goodrich transportation company, he was
ordered to mind his own business and do
as be was told. We further find from the
evidence that in The opinion Of this jury
the Goodrich transportation company is
censurab'e and should be held response
bic for all damages"
That places the blame emphatically
upon the Goodrich Transportation
Company. A few days after the rem
dering of the verdict, the company
made or attempted to make, an assign
ment of all interests in the wreck,
which under an old act Of congress
it is claimed can be done, and thus es-
cape the just liability of its negligence.
No such ubterfuge should enable
them to avoid the full responsibility
which rest upon them. The laws Of
every land should hold a transporta.
ton company liable for all damage to
life or property that occurs by the un-
seaworthy condition of its vessels or
the carelessness or incompetency Of
its employees. And the inspectors,
who permitted the AlBena to pass as
seaworthy, should be criminally in
dicted. The United States grand
jury in New York, has just indicted
Supervising Inspectors John X. Mat
thews aud Austin Jayne for man
slaughter in connection with the Sea
wanhaka disaster, and they have been
held for trial in bonds of $1,000 each,
though that case was by no means so
clearly one Of criminal e~arelessness
and recklessness as that Of the lost
Alpena. A few such indictments and
prompt convictions will make steam
boat and steamship travel decidedly
eafor