CALIFORNIA

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 201, 18 November 1864, Page 3

CALIFORNIA

EXPLOSION OF THE WASHOR—TKIiTUBLE LOSS OF LIFE AND LIMB. ' Sackamexto September G. At half-past 4 o’clock this morning the fire-bells of the city were rung, and our citizens werearoused to learn that a dreadful catastrophe had occurred during the night, attended by terrible destruction ot life and limb. The steamer Antelope , arid red at the foot of R street at half-past 4 o’clock bringing the information that one of the boilers of the steamer Washoe, had exploded at half-past 9 o’clock the evening before, on the trip up from San Prancisco, the boat having on board at the time one hundred and fifty to three hundred passengers. The explosion took place at the mouth of tile Slough, some thirty miles below Sacramento, and about five miles aboVe Rio Vista. The Chrysopolis, had passed the Washoe, and was at the time some four miles ahead. As nothing was known on board of the catastrophe she of course kept on her course. 4 he Antelope, Captain Foster, having started from San Francisco heavilv freighted, arrived an hour and a half or two hours after the explosion occurred, and extended to the sullerers all the aid which it was possible to vender. All the living passengers, injured or uninjured, who could be found, were brought to the city. When the Antelope, reached the foot of R street, she van aground, and remained at that point some two or three hours before the efforts of the Steam Navigation Company’s boats to tow her off were successful. The scene on board was such as has rarely been witnessed on the Pacific Coast. The floor of the cabin and a portion of the deck were covered with the dead and wounded. The mattresses and bedding of the boat had been brought into requisition, and some forty sullerers had been stretched out; some of them enduring great agony, and others too badly injured to be conscious of their condition. The most of tho physicians of the city had been sent for, and promptly responded, rendering all the aid within their power. Among the seriously injured, were three women. Two of them, sisters, died after being placed on board of the steamboat Antelope. The other, Anna McGee, had a leg broken, and was otherwise injured. The other sufferers were men who had, but a few hours before, been stricken down in the enjoyment of full and vigorous health. They were, almost without exception, badly scalded about the face and hands, and many of them over large portions of tho breast and body. A large number of citizens visited the levee while the boat remained at tho foot of B street, many of them searching anxiously for relatives or friends. At about half-past nine o’clock the Ante-

lope, was hauled off and towed up to her lauding at the foot of K street. At that time one thousand persons had assembled on the levee, and an impromptu Sanitary Committee was,organized. The A ernon House, on J street, had been engaged an<T opened as a hospital. Stretchers woro’hastily constructed, and cots were fetched into requisition on which the victims of the disaster were removed to the Vernon House by volunteer citizens, who manifested a laudable desire to do everythin® possible which humanity dictated. ° Several deaths occurred after the boat landed, and of the forty or more badly injured, three fourths will probably die. ft is impossible to tell, as we write, how many lives have been lost, but it seems that at least 75 have been cither killed or fatally injured. We learn, from H. 11. Stephens, chief clerk, that there were 153 passengers on board the Washoe, on leaving San Francisco, and several others came on board at Benicia and Rio Vista. The Antelope brought np, killed, injured, and uninjured, about 80, leaving some five or six dead bodies and three or four injured persons at the locality of the wreck. The number blown overboard, or killed and remaining in the lower cabin, cannot, of course, be at present ascertained. The passenger list was lost, and cannot be referred to. 1 assengers who escaped uninjured describe the scene, at the time of the catastrophe, as heartrending in the extreme. The lights were, of course, extinguished by the shock. The report of the boiler was followed by the crashing of the fragments of the boat, and the groans and cries of the wounded. Some called for help in one form, and some in another ; some asked for light, some for water, some desired to be thrown overboard, and others jumped overboard. Some who were enabled to get on shore did so, and ran into the bushes in vain in search of relief. It is said that Captain Ivydd and his uninjured officers were prompt in extending relief, but had, of course, few facilities at hand. When the Antelope arrived, Captain Foster, Chief Clerk Van Pelt, and all the officers and crew exerted all their powers to relieve the suffering, and to ensure them all comfort possible on their way to the city.

lun ate Luxatic Asylum. —Tho Taranaki Herald , of the loth ult., contains the folly win" advertisement“To Builders and Others—lenders are invited and will be received not later than the end oi the present mouth, tor the erection of a Lunatic Asylum Peculiar provision to bo made for—lst. Aboriginal Insanity; 2nd. Political Insanity ; 3rd. Financial Insanity. Under the first heading, one apartment (to be draped with roundabouts) will be required with great despatch, as the expected patient is rapidly getting worse, and in order to provide for the unfortunate individual, apartments for female (Maori half-caste preferred) attendants must be prepared. F.B.— Parties tendcung are informed that the verv early completion of the work is likely to insure the acceptance of a tender, as it is of the utmost importance to the colony that a lunatic of such mischievous habits should not be allowed at largo. The proposed site of the Asylum is the Fawau. Should tho tender accepted be from a Taranaki builder, payment will be made ‘forthwith.’ Tenders to bo forwarded to G lii e, endorsed, “Tenders tor the Lunatic Asylum.’ ”

I.JIE 1 axama Mail .Service. —We understand that Captain Vine Hall, of the Panama, Xew Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company, is expected to arrive in Auckland by the next, mail, and that he will come with full powers to treat with the-Sew Zealand Government on the subject of the establishment of the Panama mail service. The meeting of the Assembly at an earlier period than was contemplated will therefore be very oppot tune as alfecting tne position of the company in relation to this service, for we cannot but expect that the subject will be fully ventilated during the session. In the meantime the company does not appear to bo halting in the least in its preparations for carrying out the contract on modified terms. The ligmont , 516 tons, 100 horsepower, brig rigged, and carrying forty-five first class, and thirty-five second class passengers, with a full poop 50 feet in length, is expected to arrive hero in the course of the present month. The Egmont, is estimated to run at an average speed ot eleven knots per hour, and will be a addition to the company’s fleet. The Jlangitoto , is another steamer which is in the course of building for the company, at the building yard of Mr. Taurie, the builder ot the Otago , and she is designed to be as swift and as generally efficient as the last-named vessel. Another first clas£ steamer of similar capacity is reported to be in progress. In addition to the above the company ordered three 1,5U0 ton steamships, in January last, as stipulated in Mr. Crosbio Ward’s contract with them, and these are to be ready at the end of the present year; and the fourth, which is to follow, has, we understand, been commenced.— Southern Cross, JS ; ov. 8.

Bank Rouiieiues. —Robberies by bank clerks in New Zealand are multiplying. There has been one criminal case at Hawke’s Bay, and another at Invercargill, in connection with the Union Bank of Australia, and one at Otago, and another at Piclon, Marlborough, in the Bank of New Zealand. The explanation of these robberies is probably to bo found in the rapid extension of banking in the which has necessitated the employment in oinces oi great trust, ot young men of little or no previous worldly experience. —Nelson Examiner , 11th instant.

Colonial Boxes.— The Lyttelton Times gives the following item, which will be interestin'* to sportsmen “By the ship William Miles, a “clog and bitch fox have arrived in excellent health! Three were originally shipped, but by some accident during the voyage one of the bitches got adrift and jumped overboard. They are consigned to Mr. Prince, of Christchurch.” Hollowat’s Pills and Ointment.— Disorders of the kidneys, known by the deeply-seated pain in the back and scanty secretion of water, can be arrested In their dist ressing and rapid course by these regulating pii) 5 . Their highly tonic and strengthening properties prevent the impoverishment of the blood, and the derangement of the circulation characteristic of kidney disease, and often ending in partial o. general dropsy. Experience lias proved the almost unvaried success obtained when Holloway’s ointment is well rubbed over the region of the kidnevs This treatment will relax the hot and parched skin, overcome the attendant cos Liveness, and induce u copi iua zq oretion by the kidneys, symptoms which are the harbingers of disease departing and health returning.— Advt.