Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-05-30
rus oxrAalo DisAsr.R.

prsciats the causes Of the recent terrible
disaster near the town Of London In
southwestern Ontario, whereby over two
hundred men. women and children were
drowned. The boat 10 said to have sud-
denly collapsed like an egg SHE'LL"
which leads ~ al to wonder what sort
Of boats they have in that part Of the
country for river navigation. Former
rssidsnts Of the town near whore the dis
astsr occurred. vhs are now In this Sec
tion. declared that they cannot understand
It. They say that little stream VA not
considered navigabls ss al. % far up a.
London, OF Vas not until within the last
few yssrs. Ths Thames" jsstnsly 20
named because the town was called
''London." 10 . small stream or creek
which runs through the town and for .
distance Of nity or sixty miles. smptyins
into Lake 81. Clair. . Enall lake on
nsctsd With the main river between Lake
Huron and Lake Erie. The lower part
Of the stream Wal nsvissbls enough for
small craft, and two OF three years ago.
By the construction Of looks and dams ct
. iavor,bls point. II was made nsvisable
up a. far a. London. which IL . town Of
twelve or Aitssn thousand inhabitants.
I. was the Queens birthday. and .
grand picnic ct an eligible point on the
river, iour or Ave miles below town. wa
the main feature In the celebration Of
The day. Three little steamers we're
broush. into use. transporting the picnic
sxcursiouists. and the Victoria, the one
that was wrecked. was the largest OF the
three. II was . Hat-bottomsd scow with
an upper deck. which Il appears vas not
q very s.ronsly-built affair and not prop
srly braosd. On her last trip. returning
with the sxsursionists. she Wal very
much overloaded and top-hsavy. there
bsine between six and seven hundred
persons crowded upon her. most OF
whom we're upon the upper deck. 30
long a. this heavy human cargo could
b kept evenly distributed all was we'll.
and the passengers might have been
safely landed at their destination. but Z
passing boat race inducing . rush to one
aide Of the deck. nearly caused the boat
to espsiss. The alarmed passengers oil
rushed to the other side. and caused the
boat not only to turn quickly over In
that direction. but to such an extent
that the boiler actually rolled out OF po-
.ition III certainly oosld not have been
properly sssursd) and went crashing
on. through the side. inducing. prsciPi'
ts.ius and followed BY the grand COL
lapse and crash Of the upper works. the
Embraced s~tanehions giving way and pre-
eipita,ins the whole living freight over
board into the little river.
The resulting scenes Of horror and
death have been already sufficiently
DEPICTED, and the question 10 naturally
s,k.d a. to Who must Be held rsspsn'
,ibls and to blame for the terrible eatas'
,rophs. The little steamer Wa doubt
l.ss safe and capable enough OF carrying
suitable load. but not sueh . fatal!
excessive overload - shs was known =
have on her. One account says:
Tho accident was certainly due 70 gros
csrslessnsss. The boat was ovsrcrowde'
to . iisgraceful extsnt. and the manager
George Parish, was expostulated with o
several At Spring Bank. and urged not .
lot the boat 20 out In that ovsrorowde'
condition ; but he II reported TO have n
piled: IAN right, ! know my business,
or something Of that sort.
It 10 evident that the idea OF improv
ing the opportunity TO "maks hay Will
the sun shinss" RAJ uppsrmqss, an
the greed for making money induces
the management Of the boat to tax
desperate chances. The passenger
themselves must also share the blame
for they ware fully conscious Of the fac
that the boat was o~vsrorowdsd. IN
distance home. however. was 20 short
and the river 20 in~signincant, that the
only laughed d the danger. shouting .
the boat occasionally carsensd from sid
TO side "Lst her sink; we'll only hav
to wade ashore" In smooth water
and with the shore on either side o
near. they did not appreciate the DANCE
till the fearful crash and harvest o
death came. Whoever may Be proves
responsible and the most to blame, thi
fearful disaster will long bs most sor
rowfully remembered BY the hundred
OF bsrsaved ones, q . grievous lesson
cruelty taught, ct . terrible expense.
--I al.A AZ. l.ss N~s- Z,