Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-21
SOME sTARTLTNo TEsTIMoaY.

SOh N STAtxTK4RNO G TEESV1MO&T
 The testimony of John Cullum, boiler maker, who appeared before the steamboat inspector who is Investigating tho R1yerdale disaster, was of an interesting and also start ling character. If MT. Cullum-stuck to the facts in what he said there is need of some immediate and careful boiler inspection.
 MT. Cullum said that he and several others made about year ago an intellectual effort to secure the sympathy of the public and of the inspectors to inaugurate a system by which all boiler makers that repaired boilers should report the facts to the inspectors, because they (the boiler makers) believed that very many boilers were in very bad condition. In illustration of the danger to which those who go down to the sea in steamboats are exposed he cited the case of a steamboat which rms from New York to southern ports, whose boiler he was sent to repair awhile ago. Corrosion had done it's work on the boiler, and some parts of the shell were only one sixteenth of an inch in thickness so thin that with one blow of his hammer he was able to punch a hole in it. He declared that this boiler was not fit for use. and that it was only question of time when it would ex plode. Mr. Uullum was also sent severai times to mako repairs on the boilers of another steamboat. Whenever shs came into port he was generally sent, although some times other boiler makers went and it had become customary among the men in the shop, whenever the vessel was expected, to make gueases as to which of them would be sent to patch her up. On one occasion he remembered putting on two patches, one of which was at the back head of the shell. These boilers too were unfit for service, and were in dangerous condi- ton. About two years ago he was employed for several days4h mending the boilers of 8 ferry boat. They needed thorough overhaul. ing, for they were badly corroded and unfit for use, but the owners would not let him do more than a certain amount of work, and that was to put on patch. The inside sheets of the furnace were very poor, and the boiler itself was not safe. He said that hs knew of many stationary boilers also that were in a positively dangerous condition and might at any time explode and destroy life and pro- perty.
 If MT. Cullum did not exaggerate, his 
 first-class witness. As the New York Herald points out: "The witness admitted that he has been away from New York for more than Q year, and when questioned closely said that in the case of certain boats of which he spoke it was about two years ago when he found the boilers unsafe. AS these have not since exploded the natural inference must be that they were not in a dangerous condition when the witness said they were or their defects were aftarward remedied." On the other hand, he named several boats whose boilers he declared to be defective, and it can be easily ascertained if he has told the truth. It appears to bs certain, from such affairs as the Riverdale explosion, that all boilers do not get properly Inspected and repaired, and Mir. Cu1lum's testimony should not be light Iy pushed aside. His suggestion that boiler makers should be compelled to make reports to the inspectors is an excellent one. If this suggestion were carried out and if the inspectors did their duty perhaps there would
 be fewer unsafe boilers.