Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-05-27
A TALE UkFOLDED
WHOSE LlGHTEsT WORD WOULD
HARROW UP Thy SOUL.
An Account Of the Sinking Of the Victoria
BY One Of the Escaped Passenger
yScarcsIy Family which ths Asgel
of Death Has Not Visited.
the ADDITIONAL DEAD RECOVERED.
DOWN TO DEATH.

Particulars Of the Victoria Disaster by an
I Eye-Witnsss Tale kun Of Frightfnl
Horrora
fosDoS, Osr., May 27.4This is the
city of the dead. Business is pract'
cally suspended, except such branches
as are connected with the arrangement
of funerals. In the poorer quarters oil
the city the authorities have been Civ
ing away collins. Tie medical men have
nobly responded to the calls made on
them. The mayor and municipal au'
thorities have put forth every effort to
meet the emergency, and 80 far as mon
ey and friendship can mitigate the griei,
nothing will be lacking. The citizens
were shocked at the sight OF fair women
and tender children being carried
through the streets
On Drays or in Carts,
but il was until the whole sale order oil
the mayor had been given that sufii-
cient pine could be obtained to enclose
the remains OF the lost ones.
The bodies still unclaimed are being
inclosed in shells and removed to the
drill house where they can be visited by
the friends in search OF the missing
ones. The story OF the disaster as given
by X. j. Montgomery, leather merchant
OF this city, a passenger who escaped
from the wreck. is as follows:
Montgomery says the
Steamer Was Greatly Overloaded.
He was on the promenade deck but does
not know what may have been going
ON down on the main deck, but is sure
the people he saw were thorougly quiet
and orderly. There was no chasing
about the boat nor pranks OF any kind.
AS soon as the boat started, however, she
proved to be deeply listed TO
the starbeard, and the passengers ON
the promenade deck were re-
ouested to move over to the port side
Some of them did so, but still the
steamer did not straighten up to any
perceptible extent. Again the passen-
gers were requested to move over to the
port side, though large majority OF
those on the promenade deck were al.
ready over there at this time, He looked
down the companion way and saw
Considerable Depth of Water on the
Nam Deck,
which, as he then feared, accounted Tor
the extraordinary listing OF the steamer
TO the starboard. A very short time
after this, and only moment or so be-
lore the disaster, the captain made
his way through the crowd, re-
marking, "If you doa't keep over
to that side (the porD you will
have to swim for it," At. this several
more OF the passengers moved over to
the port side, and the boat suddenly
righted and then listed heavily to the
port side, which was not more than
iorty feet from the bank, when down
she went with astonishing rapidity. To
save themselves those on the prone
made deck clutched the stauchions that
supported the awning over head, but
these
Snapped Like Pipe stems,
and second later the supports ot the
promenade deck gave way and the
whole wreck slid down TO the port or
shore side OF the hull into the water.
Montgomery caught hold OF an iron rod
or bracket OF some kind in the awning,
and holding to this managed to keep his
head above water for some seconds after
the collapsed promenade deck be.
meath his feet had gone into the water.
His position at this time was a terrible
one. Below the deck, which had sunk
from under him, he knew that scores
were perishing,
Drowning Like Rats
in hole, while the awning 10 which he
was clinging was rapidly sinking, bury
ing beneath 1t men, women and children
whose piteous shrieks rent the air on
every side. Mothers with children
clinging about their necks would beat
the water inadly with their hands, ard,
with their eyes starting from their SOCK
cts, utter shrek after shrek until at last
the half smo;hered
Cry, That Ended in sickening Gurgle.
told that they had gone down beneath the
flood. But even this was not the
most horrible Il Montgomery's
experiences. While he still held his head
above the water. lie felt somebody
clutching at his legs in what he well knew
were their dying struggles Drowning
mothers erasped him franctically and
piteously implored his help. Mont.
gomery asserts that there was no teeter.
ing or rolling OF the steamer from side
10 side. She was listed to the starboard
all the way up the river. till just at the
time of the accident. Then she
Rolled Suddenly TO Port
and went TO pieces, Just as one would
sweep a house of cards off table.
Montgomery is OF the opinion that an
upset would not have been attended
with half "a fatal results. Had the
steamer been properly constructed,
many or perhaps nearly all might have
been saved, ,hadit not been that they were
swept down by the sudden collapse OF
the tlmsy upper-xorks and buried IN
the wreck where strong men and pratt
Ting children were alike helpless. The
tonnage OF the boat was about nineteen
tons. She was fiat bot,ome1, scow shaped
and registered TO
Carry -Four Hundred Passengers
She was we'll staunchioned but there
were no braces, nan liIe Saving aPPaatuo
for 400 persons. She now lies In the
river with her top works all broken up,
Mr.. Parish, the manager. states that
the accident was the result oil overload
iny the vessel; that he had not been
able to ascertain from the number oil
tickets ssld about the number OF pas
sengers who were on board, but he esti-
mated them at from 500 I, 600. The
vessel cost about 5000 and is total
wreck, and as the insurance policy
covers loss by fire only it is not applica'
BILE in this case.
The Inspection Papers
The official papers bearing on the In
spection of the steamer, have been
forwarded to Ot,owa by Samuel Risley,
government steamer inspector. he look
ed on her as a safe boat for the river.
She was inspected twice last year, nrst
in May and again in October.
1t has been decided to place memor-
ial in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. All this
dsy one could not walk block with
out meeting some solemn procession.
Additional Dead.
Emma Jane Box, Annie May, Daniel
Dillon, a young Elglishman lately over
n l.