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Page: of 436
MAY—JULY 1851
crawled out, went to the Office, paid his fine and then offered to repair
the jail for twice the amount of the fine, and that is the end of the matter.
Now I am in the shop sitting behind the counter; beside me is that
new fur-hat that I purchased the other day in Sac City—always keep it in
a bandbox nights and wear the old one when the dust flies. Across the
shop stands Dr. [Jesse] Moore holding some labels for bottles at arm’s
length before his face, trying to read them through his glasses. Fine old
man, that Dr. Cured me of the chills not long since.
I left here one week ago this morning for San Francisco. Embarked on
the New-World Steamer at Sac City Tuesday, and had the misfortune to
be blowed up when about half way down. . was fortunate enough to
escape without any serious injury, face slightly burned, but nothing to
harm. You will see the particulars by the papers.
Of course no one was to blame for the accident—there never is in
such cases. All I know is this: when we left Sac City it was said the
[Wilson] G. Hunt was going to pass us before we reached Benicia.
The New-World had the lead by about 100 yds and maintained just
about that position till we entered what is called the “slough"—in passing through that narrow crooked channel the Hunt, being the shorter
boat, had the advantage and was soon close on to us, but had no room
to pass. On approaching the lower end of the Slough the passage became straight—and in running three or four miles we had gained a full
quarter and were evidently running very fast.
On coming to shoal water at the mouth of Cache Creek the steam was
partially shut off, and in three minutes the connecting pipe from boiler
to cylinder exploded, killing one man instantly and scalding fifteen
others, several of whom have died since. There were but few passengers
on board at the time, else the destruction of life must have been far
greater. Three jumped overboard—two of them drowned.
Every part of the boat was filled with steam almost instantly, but
being well back in the upper saloon, I did not get the benefit of it till the
current of air had pretty well cooled it. I think I never saw a worse sight
than that of the scalded. All night long their cries resounded from one
end of the vessel to the other.
On June 21 Niles told Mary more about his living arrangements after
first complaining that he had not heard from either of his cousins in a
long time:
That French bedstead is one that the Dr. bought at auction in Sac City
and is upon the whole rather aristocratic—the stove in that corner
which stands on a box as tho it had climbed up to look out of the
window is merely used for heating certain preparations only understood
381