The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-07-20
l'DON7TEGETI
WAS THE ANSWER cAPT.rHoMAs GOT
Whsa lie Implortd the Lomn TO Back The Captain
ofths SelOtoo on the stand ali Day5A Stats., 2
msnt Which Throws More Light on the -
Dlsaster Than Aay other let Given.


Disaster Than arr Other Yet GIr.n.
The investigation Of the sclotc disaster was
resumed yesterday. At the opening OF the
examination Moses Mccain, the en-.
gineer OF the I.oinas, was put on the stand,
and cross questioned by Mr.. Dovener OH his
testimony given ut q former day Of the SEES
sion. lie testified merely concerning the
ringing Of the bells, in the engine room,
what they signifed aud what he did In com.
pliance with them. Ills testimony was so
technical as TO be almost nnintelligible to
tho minority Of our readers. At the conclu.
sion Of his brief testimony
Pa GAIT. ruAD THOMAS, ~.
OF the III fatcd Scloto, was sworn, and made
statement OF his connection with that boat,
OF whicl, he has been the Captain ever since
tho Wheeling, Parkersburg & Cincinnati
Transportation Company bought her, sew.
eral months ago. ..IEz.E
On the Fourth the sciolo had OH board IN
excursion purity, which was carried from
East liverpool to Moundsyillc and return.
On the way up the boat left Wheeling as
near rs he could judge twenty-five minutes
before six o'clock, aud tho first stop was
made ut Wellsburg. II was about hali.past
eight o'clock the collision took place, ut
point about two miles above Wcllsburg and
the boat was then making six miles or so an
hour. Tho excursionists had their ice cream
and refreshments OH the lower deck, back In
what Is called the tleck.roon, md u good
many had been eating there, but bud all left
but u few, not over dozen persons being on
the lower deck exclusive OF tho crew. lie
noticed that most Of them Ind gone up into
the cabin, and were dancing,and
FEARING Az ACCIDENT ny THE BREAKING THROUGH
OF THE FLOOR
| OF the cabin, the Captain took one OF the deck
hands and set some stanchion under the floor
to strengthen 1t. lie then went up into tho
cabin 10 have the steward remove some
canned fruits which was kept In small room,
into which some OF the party had broken,
and were throwing the fruit Into the river.
Ills boy told him that the steward was max
| lug coffee and selling II TO the excursionists,
drawing them oil TO the starboarl side, and
the Captain undertook 10 get them In the
cabin and trim the boat. After doing this,
the CAPITA In went below again TO secif all was
! right, and received n report from the watch
man, who Ind gone into the hold, and who
said IL was all right.
At this time the boat was about Cross Creek,
and near the middle OF the river, though ii
anything closer TO the Ohio side. Running
| the course US II Is usually run, would throw
the boat still closer TO the Ohio shore. 1t was
twilight, neither dark nor light; tho Captain
saw two skiils out In the river, which he sup.
posed had rowed out TO satisfy their curiosity.
The Captain ut this point offered to detail
n conversation between himself and the EN-
gneer, which was objected TO, but finally
Ing u low head Of steam that day, with the
boilers flush with water, and only making
six miles MI hour, rs 49,
THE orricEEs EEcoGsIzED THE RESPONSIBILITY
| OF THEIR POSITION.
The engineer asked IL he could not. after
dark, when the passengers were quiet, ret
up more steam and push up a little. lie
thought at this time they wcrc carrying lis
to 2Opomnds OF steam. lie told the engi.
neer that after leaving Steubenvillc, II the
people were quiet he could increase the
head. AS this conversation was in progress
the Captain, standing on the larboard guard
0lthc lower deck, looked up the river and saw
u steamboat descending. When he fins, saw
her her siarboard side was toward
the scioto,. and she was headed
out toward Mingo Island, coming
In view. lie kept his eye OH her, ind WIS
going slowly forward to 80 upstairs TO the
roof. That day, every boat he had met he
had had the pilot slow his boat so as 10 avoid
the full force Of tho swells, and this was his
object i'll going up now. He walked on for.
ward on The lower guards, with his eye still
on the Tomas. lie saw her change her course,
and holding directly for the Scioto. BY this
time lie had got to the cabin steps The
boats were drawing closer all the time, and
the Captain was listening as intensely us he
could for her whistle; lie WAS not vet
alarmed, but he was anxious for her TO
whistle. lie had gone two or three steps up-
stairs when the descending boat, the Lonl,.s
us he afterwards found out, blew one blast
She was then, he thought, holding still d..
rectly for the Scioto, and he WAS surprised at
her single signal. lie thought his boat was
then FROM eighty TO ninety yards from the
Ohio shore, toward the point, and he ex-
pected the other boat, OF course, to take the
bend. In the ordinary or usual length Of
time for answering the Scioto blew two
whistles; this meaning that both boats want.
ell the same side, the witness WIS alarmed; he
was then about the head Of the stairs, md in.
stead OF waiting to take the steps up to the
hurricane rOUf, he climbed up TO the jackstaiI
and swung himself upon the roof. In The
ineantilne the LOmas Ind blown two whistles
In answer to the Scioto's two, giving the lat
ter boat the side She asked for; the first thing
he did was TO tell the pilot to stop her and
back her; whether this was before the two
blasts OF the Lomas or whether these had
been blown rs he before stated in the time
he was climbing to the roof. lie could not say.
The pilot responded that lie was backing, and
Capt. Thomas yelled to tho Tomas FOR God
Alniighty's sake, back your boat" Some one
answered.,
"DoS'T GIT EXCiTEpn'
The Tomas when she blew one blast chang.
ed her course and turned To her right TO the
Scioto's left, toward the Ohio shore; and in
answer to the Scioto's two whistles, he thought
the pilot Of the Tomas tried to give then, the
ohio shore, seeming 10 pull his boat around
with all the force the rudders could exert 10
shape her for the Virginia shore, which
threw the 1.omas to III angle of about sixty
degrees when she struck the other boat. The
Captain calculated this by drawing lines at
about the angle the boats struck.
!"At what distance did the I.omas first sig.
nal, Captain" asked Inspector Young,
Five hundred yards, have familiarizcd
myself with distances since | have been at
home, and can't make it more than 500
yards.
The Captain continued that the boat was
decidedly nearer the Ohio than the Virginia
shore, and keeping the shape Of the share,
When she was struck she did not change her
course, but was sill straight with tile shore
When the Lomas blew one bias: she pulled
for the Ohio shore; and the witness was I'm.
der the impression that her pilot was unde.
cided which side to take. AT the time of The
l.onas's second whistle tho boats were very
close; dangerously close, and the course she
was in then, pulling out so sharply and com.
Ing so rapidly together, he could not sec how
a collision could be avertcd. Tho witness
gave some figure, showing the time which
would elapse between the first signal, II given
ut the legal distance, and the collision. The
boats, he estimated, were approaching ut the
rate OF seventeen miles IN hour, at which
rate one mile would BIZ Travelled toward each
other in three and one'half minutes, and 500
yards In rs seconds. If, though, the boats
were only 500 yards apart, us the witness
thought, only 50 seconds would elapse be.
| twnouH t1,o I nu,uS's Oh o,,,l a..