Year: 1871

| yeSteTudy. N scub6tlOu like uu electTlC SHOCK
passed through our people as the first news of
the disaster on board the Staten Island ferry
boat West6eld found its way to the public
There has been no calamity so replete with
horror, with 80 long list of casualties and of
such direct woful interest to the dwellers in
our own city, as the present since the bloody
riots of 1868. The Staten Island ferryboats
are practically excursion boats, and are more
crowded on Sundays, and especially at about
| the hour when this explosion occurred, than
at any other time. There are said to have
been at least four hundred people on board,
most of them pleasure seekers going
to pass the warm hours Of the
genial Sabbath afternoon in the shady groves
of Staten Island. With this crowd of cheerful


hearts on board the boat was just ready to


steam out of her slip at Whitehall. when sud-
denly the terrible crash Of an exploding boiler
broke upon the air, and the boat was rent
from stem to stern and from upperworks to
keel and the throng of merry hearts became
suddenly struggling, mutilated bruised and
dying mass of humanity. Some were thrown
in the water, some on the piers, and some were
pinned by the splinters Of iron and wood to
the wreck while others-how many remains
yet to be seen-were buried at once under the
debris and beneath the troubled waters
In the slip. Without a moment Of
thought or an instant Of preparation forty
FIVE persons were sent to their account, and
probably hundred more were bruised and
mutilated. The last steamboat explosion at
all approaching the present one in its direct
reference to our own citizens was that of the
Albany steamer ST. John, just as she was
rounding into her dock in the upper part of
the city, in October, 1865, but it did not begin
to approach the present one in the number Of
its victims. There were only twelve persons
killed on that occasion and about fifteen
wounded. The Westfeld explosion has heaped
up holocaust in comparison.


The cause of the present explosion seems
to have been patch on the boiler; one Of
those economical devices that save the ex-
pense of replacing entirely boiler that
has already served its time. The boiler that
exploded had been in use nine years, accord
ing to the testimony of the engineer, and we
should think that it had endured considerable
wear and tear. The engineer, who appears to
be an honest, Straightforward man, states that
| he had tried the cocks only q few moments
before and found plenty Of water in the boiler,
it being full up to the top cock, and the gauge


showed that there were only twenty
pounds Of steam on. Il was good boiler, he


said-even the patch, which he had examined


on Thursday last, seemed to be in good con-
dition. The boiler had been overhauled last
winter, and had even passed the examination
of the United States Inspector as late as last
month. With the exception Of the patch
where the explosion occurred the boiler seems
to have been all right, and the engineers seem
to have been careful men. The theory of the
explosion must be sought for in an imperfect
patch, unless further particulars Of the terri
BILE disaster give more satisfactory clues to the
cause. The Coroner's investigation may set
the question at rest, and if it should be shown
| either that penurious disposition on the part
| of the company owning the boat or careless
ness on the part of the engineers has served
to produce the catastrophe, the Grand Jury
| have their sternest and strictest duty to per-
form in the matter, and the people will see to
it that they perform it to the full extent with
out fear or favor 1t is stated by the engineer
that, although be has his regular certificate,
he has never shown it to the company's officers


because the company's officers did not require
certificate on that ferry. Here is point
that must be investigated.


| The safety Of the numerous excursionists
| who take their only breath of fresh sea air on
the Sunday excursion boats-and their name is
legion-require the fullest Investigation into
the cause of this woful disaster. There were,
probably, hundred thousand people of this
city and Brooklyn aAoat yesterday on the
numerous excursion boats that ply In every
and the waters of our Bay, and to any one Of
these excursion parties this fearful accident
may have happened as well as to the recrea-


ton seekers on the Westfeld. These excur-