Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-08
Sinking Of the Packet Steamer Long
fellow at Cincinnati.
FIVE PERSONS LOST THEIR LIVES
In Some Way the Vessel Lost Her
Course.
r AN AGAIN ST A PIER

CINCINNATI, Ohio, March S-During q
heavy fog this morning as the steamer
Longfellow, belonging to the Cincinnati,
Memphis and New Orleans Packet Line
Company, was on her way to New Orleans
she, in some way not Yet clearly explained.
lost her course, crashed against pier Of
the Chesapeake and Ohio railway bridge
and sank.
The Longfellow is the old T. p Schenck
transformed. The old vessel was length
ened twenty-five feet four years ago and
renamed the Longfellow. She was valued
at 81, 500 and insured for $l5,OO0. She was
carrying five hundred tons of freight.
The Lost.
The known lost number three. David
Aldridge of Rome, N. Y, an elderly man,
who was accompanied by his wife and
Mrs. Armstrong OF jamestown, n. Y, was
lame. He walked with a cane and could
not make his way in time over the freight
that impeded the way toward the stern.
where the rescuing boat lay. His wife and
Mrs. Armstrong were saved.
The aged clerk of the boat Capt. J. L.
Carter, who only last night was speaking
OF his long service and of his feeling Of
safety, committed the indiscretion, after
once getting aboard the other boat, of &C
ing back for something from his office
Before he could return the vessel went
under.
porter, who was fatally crushed by the
collision.
A number of others were reported miss
ing.
Said Capt R. w. Wise, the president of
the company:
Il cannot tell why it happened. 1 do not
care Tor the money loss. but it is the loss
81 life that hurts. 1 felt safe when 1 or
dered the Carrel to help the Longfellow
out but it appears these cross currents
caused by the piers are almost impossible
to overcome. The Carrel has many a time
taken this and other steamers past the
bridges when they had no steam up. The
Longfellow was using steam"
Portions of the wrecked vessel have been
found and landed several miles below.
The Crash.
There was no fog. as at first reproted. but
as the bow of the boat pointed to the Ken
lucky shore the wind blew the smoke in
such way as to entirely blind the pilot.
Il cannot see anything" he shouted to
Capt. John Kierker
The captain called back to run her south
of the pier. The pilot signaled the engineer
to stop, using the speaking tube for that
purpose, to make sure of quick action.
But the current was relentless. The dan
ger was apparent. Warning was given to
everybody. In moment the Longfellow
crashed against the pier and was crushed
like an egg. The stroke was alongside the
boilers. Then was apparent the wisdom
of having the Carrel at hand All who
could do SO rushed for safety to that ves-
sci. With remarkable presence of mind
some of the crew manned two life boats
of the Longfel!ow and saved themselves
and the family of Capt. John Miller OF
Missouri landing them in Covington, KY.
The destruction of the steamer was almost
instantaneous. She hung to the pier while
the currents, striking bow and stern, broke
her in two, and in less than five minutes
she went down.
Five Now Lost.
Later advices add two to the list of lost.
One is Gus Schwan, the barkeeper who
perished in an unselfish effort to save the
aged clerk. They were seen to go down
together, as Schwan was doing his utmost
to hurry him back to the Carrel. The other
is James kivett. the second mate.