Year: 1871

explosion, can give no positive lnforma-
tion as to the premonitory symptoms, and
can only give his opinion as to the cause.
He thinks that the plate which patched
the boiler on the bottom became loosened
and finally gave way. The theory is main
ly supported by the statement of one of
the firemen


One Cf the two firemen on board the
Westfeld, named Robert CaIresan, was in
the fire-room at the time of the explosion.
He says that fifteen minutes before the ac.
cident he was on the head of the cylinder,
wiping it off; then he went into one of the
cabins for drink of water and thence
into the tire.room. While here he heard
a Kissing noise proceeding from the rear
of the boiler aud went to see the cause.
He had gone about half way the length OF
the boiler when he found the steam 50
dense that he could proceed no further
and proceeded to come back, when he was
struck in the face by flying splinter aud
knocked down. He made his way to the
deck as fast as possible. This kissing
noise which Oarresan heard must have
been the starting of the plate, patching
and boiler, and the first premonition of the
impending disaster.


A cursory examination of the boiler, as
IL III IllC DptbOIl VI DOdJ, lONNdl'
ed the fact that the explosion occurred at
the rear, and that piece about four feet
long and two feet wide was torn out OF
the jacket aud thrown distance of about
one hundred feet on TO the dock ut the barge
office. Another, larger portion of the
boiler, was thrown directly forward into
the bow Of the boat


AS fast as the bodies, living aud dead, OF
the victims of the disaster were taken
from the boat or out of the water they
were conveyed to neighboring buildings
or to the hospitals. The following are a
few of the many touching incidents which
are given:


AT one of the hospitals was handsome
young woman, with beautiful golden hair,
the side of her head cut badly, and her
arms bruised. This was Mrs Mary
Mccall, aged %, the wife of respectable
trldesman She had gone out for trip
to Staten Island with her little daughter
Mary, beautiful child two years and four
months old. She was blown into the air
and fell between some timbers. Her
beautiful child was found by the police
terribly scalded i'll the wreck and ruin of
the main deck. The child lay in bed
near by. twas fatally burnt and scalded.
The skin was parched completely off the
poor little face, and through her blackened
lips, the child lisped: Nanny, nanny,
won't you come and kiss little Mary she s
so sick" The poor mother crawled to the
bed, and bending down her lips met those OF
her poor child, and almost instantaneous
ly the burnt arms Of the little girl were
raised in the vain endeavor to clasp them
around her mothers neck. The doctors,
hardened by the sight of constant suffer
ing, wept, and many a man of nerve turned
away unstrung at the scene of simple
pathos.


A man named George Bardes and his
wife and three children were on board,
and had scarcely been seated when the
Explosion took place. Mr. Bardes remem.
bers being blown some fifteen or twenty
feet in the air, but became unconscious
while descending. Having fallen in the
water his senses returned, and he com
menced TO swim for small piece of wood
which was floating. Having reached it he
discerned IA woman having one hand
clutched to it, but whose head and body
was under water. In second she let go
her hold, her head appeared above water
for al instant, when she sunk. He being
a poor swimmer, and the board which he
held on being too light to bear his weight,
he sank under water and swan for Il large
piece Of the floating wreck being unable
TO reach it, he sank and groped around,
when his hand came in contact with a
persons leg; he held on to this, and drag
ging himself to the surface of the water
he recognized hat he had hold of his wife,
who with one hand was holding on to the
wreck, while the other was tightly clasped
around one of her children; another was
sitting on the wreck, probably placed
there by the mother Having drift, with
the current, they were picked up by a
boat and brought 10 shore. The other
missing child was in the South Ferry house
having been thrown there by the force of
The explosion. Mr.. Bardes and his family
were all injured, but only one of the chill.
dren was thought to be fatally hurt.


A man named Nelson came rushing into
the office of the Bellevue Hospital and
asked In piteous accents if there were any
tidings of his missing children. His
crazed appearance and his grief at the loss
of his little ones moved all to sympathize
with him deeply, and all those present, in
cluding the reporters, rendered their as
sistance to give him any information
which would relieve his anxiety or allay
his fears. He stated that he had seven
children with him on the boat; that five
of them were at his home not expected to
live, and that two were missing He soon
learned the fate of one. In the dead
house the lifeless body of his coveted off
spring was stretched, and with its little
arms clasped as if in sleep, but his face
and body Were horribly mutilated, so that
the skin peeled off and disclosed the trick
ling, crimson blood of the little innocent


The sObs of the father would have moved
the stOutest heart as he bemOaned the loss
of his babe. He was unable to find the
other one, and frantically hastened off III
another direction.


On the end of the Barge Office pier
which adjoins the Staten Island ferry slip,
some men were fishing ut the time of the
explosion. Seeing a woman thrown with
in about ten feet of him, one of them
threw her his line. She tried to seize the
line, but her hands had been burned and
refused to close on the prOffered aid. The
woman was equal TO the emergency how
ever, and showed more presence of mind
than did twO-tbirds of the men who were
her companions in misery. With a des-
peration which only the hope of life
could have inspired, she grasped the line
in her mouth, and held on to it pluckily
until boat was at hand TO take her in


Bystanders describe many scenes of
noble devotion. The maternal instinct,
strong even in death, prompted more than
Dne mother to die that her child might
i've.


A living babe was taken from the arms
of its dead mother, who had held 1t above
water, and supported it and herself parti-
ally, by clinging to small fragment
IF the wreck. She sank for the last time,
ust as boat neared her, and the babe
was taken from her as she disappeared be-
meath the wave.


Another mother placed her child offour
years on mere splinter, bidding her cling
10 it for dear life, while she herself was
sinking. The child was saved, but the
noble mother still lies at the bottom of the
East River


A little girl of seven who had been
safely landed on the pier, cried loudly for
her father and mother, from whom she
had been separated in the confusion ON
The boat. An effort was made by kind
iaA Of harlu nf "a .ais