Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-23
CITY AND DISTRICT.
The Steamer Arrowsmith.

SERIOUS CHARGES BY THE EX-cAPTAIN-srATE-
MENT BY THE MANAGER
The fact that the steamer Anowsmith did not
make its regular trip down the river Yesterday
gave rise to number of rumors concerning the
condition of the boat. Captain Barker. who has
commanded the boat during the season. stated
that he had notified the company Thursday that
he would not run the boat any longer as they
would not make necessary repairs; that the
boat was all racked to pieces: that
it was not i'm good condition,
when IL was put on the river this season, and
that everything has been subordinated 10 making
money. regardless Of risk; that the boilers leak
ana short time ago one of the tubes was blown
out; and that i'm several places i'm the machinery
there are large holes, which have been stopped
up with wooden plugs. 81 can prove nv asser-
tions, said Captain Barker to a STAR reporter
to-day. The Arrowsmth was at her wharf to-
day, and when STAR reporter boarded her
Workmen were engaged in making repairs in the
boiler room, and also in ''keying" one of the
wheels.
WHAT THE MANAGER SAYS.
The truth is" said Mr.. Geo. r. Phillips. the
manager, 1--WE dismissed Barker and he is mad
about it. We dismissed him and the engineer
The boat was inspected on the 3lst OF May last
She is allowed TO carry fifty pounds of steam.
She has two boilers 20 feet long and 6iS feet in
diameter that are perfectly sound. The iron in
these boilers is one-thrd thicker than on any
podt III the river. lou CAL see lof yourself that
there is no weeping. The boilers don't leak o
drop There are no pine plugs liz them. The
inspectors have been down here 10 in
spect her. They come frequently to lock
after all the boats. They would be apt
to know If there was anything wrong She is
allowed much more steam than any other boat
She was tested at 81 pounds. She would carry
90 pounds comfortably, but she is never allowed
to run at full steam. The captain and engineer
were notified to go because we wanted to get
new men, Captain Wood has taken his place.
The company has been anxious for some time to.
get Wood, because they think he is the best
captain on the river"
THE REPAIRS
These repairs" said Mr.. Phillips. taking the
reporter down to the boiler-room. "are merely
in the way of Improvement to make her capable
Of higher speed. Everything here was new ex-
cept two pumps. We found that the boat was
coming up at III and 12 o'clock at night when
she ought to be here at nine; that she was making
fourteen miles an hour, when she ought to-
have been making twenty. With these old
pumps she couldn't make fast time. That is all.
They did not endanger the boat any. We could
have run her without these pumps. These
pumps put hot water into the boiler so that we
could get up high steam. These boilers were
made for fast boats. Only two of them had
been made before these i'm New York. Now
they are putting them into all the New
York boats They are SO strong that It
would be almost impossible to explode them.
captain of this boat You can say that she will
start on her regular trip at eight o'clock to-mor-
row morning. We stopped the boat ourselves
in order to make these repairs"
THE INSPECTORS STATEMENT.
Mr.. Lewis F. Clements. steamboat inspector
says he did not order the boat not to 90 down
the river again, but that having heard rumors
about the boat was present. He was not an in
spector of machinery, and had nothing to do
with the boilers, but on the strength of the ru-
had< .la.a1f
ers that they had better come and look at the
boat