Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-18
IxaInnsIeHr,s IDEAS.
or the Cause. OF fhe seiote,a san, :,

or the Causes OF the SetotoAA afDp DING.
The interest in the investigaSe N seems
to have abated, judging ffe~., the dimin-
ished attendance of ys'. erday, less than
half the number VIII. N attended Saturdays
session being prssent
Capt lngle bright, of the Tomas, was on
the stane. nearly all day. The Captains
evidf.nce, while II was explicit as to par
oculars, yet lacked in force of statement
and Conference, Long, Mccain and Hof-
man all surprising him in facility of mar
ration and positiveness Of statement.
MONDAY MORNING SESSION.
John A. Stillwell called-Am As years
old; live at New Cumberland; am moul-
der. / was on the Scioto on the 4th OF
| July; got on at Wellsville. / do not know
much about it, do not know what boat
ran into us was on the lower deck on
the west gnard side when the collision oc-
CURED i was standing nearly egsinst the
stairs by the side Of the stairs. had been
there about five or ten minutes before tne
vessels struck. The only signals heard
was two blasts from the Scioto. We were
about one-third from the Ohio shore when
we struck. She was running straight with
the Ohio shore, or nearly so. did not
hear any signal from the Tomas. She was
nearly onto us when took notice OF her.
/ think she was pointing little toward the
Virginia shore. / do not know anything
about the workings of the engines OF the
Scioto. was not in the pilot house. l
tried it once and it was locked. do not
know how many were in the pilot house
paid no attention to how many were IN 1t.
I do not know Mr. Keller. first got &C
auainted with him after the accident i
did not hear any person say Keller was
drunk. do not know how far to the lett
the Tomas was, and do not know how much
closer to the Ohio shore she was than the
Scioto, but she was closer. was not very
long but do not know how long, about one
minute from the time saw her until we
struck.
To Doyener-As soon as she did strike
nv first thoughts were to jump on her II L
could, and as / saw / could not Jump on
her ran back about two-thirds the way
along the boiler on the Virginia shore TO
skiff, and was in the act of putting the
skiff into the river when she struck L was
about one minutes time and she sank fast
1t was not over a minute getting into the
water, could not say whether any pas
senger on the the Tomas could see hole
of thirty-fye feet in the Scioto when she
struck and pulled of. have lived on the
river all my life. could not say what side
of a boat would sink first
Columbus Stewart is near sighted, accord
ing to my judgement. do not know
whether that is the reason he never learned
the river. could not say whether the
Scioto was heavy loaded or not. There was
good crowd Of passengers on boord.
was everywhere except the pilot house:
There were some who had liquor. | did
not see any dead drunk, that is, down.
iGapiain Dovener objected.) There were
mot a great many drunk, and not 200
drunk, i am certain. ] did not notice any
persons living down on the lower deck,
drunk. do not know whether Stewart
made application for pilots papers or not,
and was refused on account OF his eyesight.
] could not see straight across the stars,
but could see the shore. quarterlng from
me. could not say what was the position
of the Scioto some time before the wreck
ing.
CAPTAIN INGLEBRGGHT
was sworn-Am Al years DID, am master
and pilot of steam vessel. We left Mar
tins Ferry about 3 o'clock, and it was I'M
derstood that when we had come to a nice
shady place we would supper on shore,
and return to Martins Ferry early in the
evening, but it had been raining and was
raining when we got to Wellsburg, and
wanted to return, but as there was a drum
mer aboard who wanted to go to Steuben-
vile we went. Had supper aboard the
boat We took on coal at the first works
above La Grange. Supper was about finish
ed when We arrived at Steubenville, and |
was to leave there about 8 o'clock; not |
later than that. 1t was all of 90 minutes |
after when We left Steubenville. | was |
IN no NH or Tod nd haH
down into the engine room. | think l |
heard the signal of the Tomas, which was
one blast. l thought no more of it until |
heard the answer or the other boat, which
did not see. 1t excited me a little, and
went up to the hurricane deck, and as
they got closer told Jack he had better
back her, and he replied 81 am already
backing" l then got the positions OF the
two boats, which were almost parallel to
towards the Virginia shore and al
most instantly she struck US. The
Tomas continued to back until she
swung clean around, and as soon as we were
clar of the wreck | halloaed down to Dan
McCan, or Sex McSwords, l don't know
which, to turn on the syphon pump. While
We were backing around went down and
got the skiff off into the water, and Sex
McSword got into it. | then went onto the
roof again. The first thought that struck
me was that we ought to go to the wreck,
but then thought there was too many.
Capt. Smith came onto the hurricane deck
at the same time, and l think that he
halloaed down to some one to go down
into the hold and see if there was any hole
in her, and then we went to the Ohio shore
and let our passengers off We then went
to the SciotO. l noticed that Hoffman was
at the wheel The first two loads We APP
preached the wheel house head on, and
think we slowed her in a little the first
time, and our men assisted the people off
the top of the wheel house, and as soon as
we had about 100 on would back Off and
the third and fourth trip I took them off
Just forward the wheel house. After we
had them all off and our passengers on
board, and the proposition was then made
that We would take the ladies OF the S9ioto !
up to Steubenville, and our passengers
weuld get off and wait. A dispatch was re-
ceived stating that train would be here |
soon. We had prayers on board. Capt
Wheeling, and hardly would consent to go
ashore, and then We heard the whistle Of
the approaching train, and all that
wished to come down came with US.
about fifty passengers on board; not sixty,
at most. None of my passengers were
hurt. w. Sword got little hurt. HE is
part of my crew. could not say how far
the SClOtO was from US. Nnen nearO the
two blasts went on to the roof. l was on
the roof at the time of the collision. l
thought the Scioto was heading for the
Ohio shore and we for the West Virginia,
and all of a sudden she showed off towards
the Virginia shore, and the Scioto came to-
wards us and struck. Our bow was towards
the Virginia shore. Here Captain Young
gave an illustration with pencil and rule
as TO the angle Of the two boats when they
came together.) / heard the response 10
the Scioto's signal. The boats were close
together. There was no. much time to get
out of each others road. l halloaed to
Jack TO back her as we could not cross her
head, and he said, 81 am backing"
To Gray-Ges sir. l have some idea of
the shape of the river and banks above and
below the disaster. There is no point be-
low the Mingo point in the radius of 600
yards that l can not see vessel, and there
is possible little neck or bend above the
furnace. There is no place our boat being
600 yards above Mingo and another boat
COO yards below Mingo that could not see
it plainly. 1t is not a short point there.