The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-08-31
CITY OF
TRENTON WRECK

Philadelphia, Aug. 3l.-The duty
OF determining the cause Of the dis.
aster Of the Bteamp BOAT City of Tren.
ton and fixing the responsibility for
the loss Of lives, it developed yester.
day, will be assumed by the Federal
judicial authorities In this city. i
Coroner Dugan will pursue bis in.
vestigation With all thoroughuess. but
the result of his inquiry, as In that
which will be made by the Govern.
ments, local Board Of Vessel Inspec.
tors, will be reported to the United
States District Attorney, who will
try to bring the matter to q solution
as soon as possible.
The rendering Of a decision that
the explosion was due to criminal
negligence would not only make the
Wilmington Steambo Company un.
questionably liable to damages but
might result In imprisonment for the
person or persons blamed, as Unit.
ed States statute provides that those
responsible tor negligence leading to
the destruction OF life on . vessel
may be confined for term not ex.
ceeding ten years.
A court Of inquiry into the disas'
ter will be opened by the Federal
Vessels Inspectors next week, II pos
sible. Their work will be mainly
that Of taking expert testimony re.
garding the condition OF the port
boiler, which exploded, and hearing
the evidence of Captain Worral, Chiet
Eng ineer Edward Murphy and the
other surviving members OF the crew
likely to cast any light upon the dis.
aster.
Murphy, it Is said. returned to his
home In Wilmington, but will come
back soon to 60 before Coroner Du-
gan and the Federal inspectors. The
officials, 1t is reported, desire to ques-
tlon him regarding his statement
that he was near the feed pump when
the heexplosion took place ana an utter
anc: he is alleged to have made to
man on shore after the disaster. This
man is reported to have told Murphy
that he was not to blame, where upon
the latter cried frantically, "You
don't know all! You don't know all.
Captain Wilson made arrangements
last night to have the boiler lifted by
J. j. Williams, of Chester lie will
begin work to day.
Two bodies were recovered yester.
day. One was identified as that Of
Assistant Engineer John B. Chew.
The other, that Of middle aged man
has not been recognized. This leaves
three OF the eleven known to be dead
unidentified. The man not yet rec
ognized was recovered from the river.
He, apparently, was about thirty
five years old; was six feet, one inch
in height: one Of his legs is missing
and he has been badly burned. At
first the body was thought to be that
of Henry Johnson, OF Hulmevllle,
Bucks county, but this was found to
be a mistake.
The body of Engineer Chew was
found in the hull of the vessel short
ly before noon. 1t had been lying be-
meath an empty coffin, which was tho
only article Of freight the City Of
Trenton carried on Its last trip, and
this had prevented the police from
finding the body on previous days.
A short time after these discover
les had been made two tugs, the Ma
jestic and the Madeira, under the d.
rection of the steamboat men, began
the work OF pulling the stranded yes.
sci into the river. After straining at
the craft until 4 o'clock in the after
noon the tugs were successful.