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D. L. Judsun.Richard Nalem Wm. H Weeks Marlin Schneider Myron Remdds S. R. Hunt Win. Yusborgh P. W. Lake, Jr.E. S. Davis Wm. Wallace George Green De Forest Sperry lt;John McLaughlin W. Middleton Wm. II. Treat John L. Dudney L. M. Field S. Hopkins Richard Dunning L. G. Green Win. Chace Levi Bartlett G. H. Chapman Ed. Spaulding John Muller, Jr.Joseph Robinson Charles A Latimer C. C. Piper G. Carmichael Wm. A. Merrill J. M. Simons Van Hans. Rouse John G. GrovesThe New York Evening Post publishes a letter from a respectable physician in Stockton, Oal., dated Jan. 14, 1852, whose statements are perfectly appalling. The following extracts we commend not only to the notice ofJamea Blair . Lovvrey B. White A. G. Clarke A. B. Burgess Geo. Derbeysltire James Waisten Wm. ScullyC. S. Curtis T. Derbpshire Albert Averill George A. Davis Thomas C. French Charles HuntD. J. McKenzie J. K. Sawyer A. I.. Whelan O. II. Santuli George H. FaucherD. Perry Otis Eddy W. RoyalG. B. Killredgo A. Paza J. D. WhiteC. Weeks Joseph Weeks Julin MarksE. A. Stalkens Charles IIoppsD. H. ColemouE. R. Bowman J. C. Breslau G. G. Clark.- ' Abuse of California Passengers.l I Our readers are aware that Senator Brad-- I bury, of this Slate, recently introduced into } j Congress* resolution of inquiry whether any J j legislation was necessary to prevent abuse of 1 | passengers on board the California steamers.I ‘ This subject has already elicited some discus-„ : sion from that body, and we arc glad to per-1, ceive, lias aroused a corresponding spirit of en-j qniry among the people, and drawn out from ic ■ the victims themselves, details of privation and e ' suffering too heart-rending and sickening to e, ' dwell nplt;tn.e | By later advices from Washington, we per-a 1 ceive that the Committee on Commerce, to whom this subject was referred, have asked !* 1 fur and received a discharge from its further 1S consideration. We cannot believe, however, l( that aetion will slop here. Humanity demands that measures be immediately taken to prevent further disregard of life and health on board those steamers, and we hope our delegation in u Congress will presa the subject until such; The following communication, which we c j copy from the Sacramento Union of Jan. 15,• discloses some of the abases practised upon* ; California passengers. Appended to it are theII , names of gentlemen of the highest credibility,some of whom are frum this State. Two are | from Brunswick.* | Deeming^ Tduly weTwe' ‘m'ail lho™wh^ I ,he Public- bul lo lhe members of Congress s 1 know us, and may be travelling lo and from I performing tine voyage, levy die or suf-- I California, we, the signers of this card, wish ler much on the Atlantic, 'lhe hurry midi 1 lo give publicity to the extortiqns and impo3i- j excitement of crossing the Isthmus allowlions practised upon passengers bv those who few lo realize that onything seriously wronghave the management of Vanderbilt's Nicara- is going on in their systems. And almost; gua Line of Steamers. On arriving at N. York without an enquiry with regard to accomnm-- from the country, we found that we were Nations on the steamers, they buy tickets1 ! obliged to pity 10 cents per pound freight on ai,d embark.» all our baggage, instead id' allowing us each I Often from lour to six hundred persons 1 j 250 lbs., as advertised. Finding remonstrance ! are crammed together within the narrows I unavailing, we consented lo this, the first im- | limits of a steamboat. On cnlling for theposition. Proceeding on board the Daniel (.*1 I Webster, we found everything contrary to■ ' wliat bad been represented; lire sleeping apart-- ! ments and conveniences were insufficient, andt ! our food miserable in die extreme, andeiuire-j ly unfit for human beings lo partake of. In| consequence of the officers being unfit fur duty1 from the effects of drunkenness, vve ran fortymiles out of the way, passing San Juan del -• 1 Norte, before the mistake was discovered,: when we returned. On arriving there, and before gelling into the small boats, our baggage was weighed and 15 cents charged upon every pound, and even then they refused rc-’ ceipts for the safe delivery of the same. Oil- lt;hoard the boats which carried us up the river,1 vve understood that no meals would be furnished us, hut were not prepared for the avari-’ cious grasp of the officers, who took advantage charging us 30 cents apiece for biscuit that did 1 not weigh three ounces, and S25 for a supper for nine persons, four being small children.—There were no sleeping apartments of any de-l script ion, and men, women and children werej all compelled to huddle together like so manycriminals for four days (the whole time from : ocean lo ocean, occupying five days instead of twelve hours, as was represented lo us) uulil , we were all worn out and exhausted. At Virgin Bay we took mules, and instead of the delightful plank road we were to travel on, f we found it a perfect 3lough of despond ; we• were compelled to ford creeks, welting us, through and through, and our baggage being, 1 wet clothing, children and all. After encoun-tlian we can enumerate, we arrived at San . Juan del Stir, where, lo our dismay, we foundthat the steamer Independence, which hud beentircly unfit cruft in every way, less than 500 inns, called the Gold llunter. On board of her vve were again subjected lo another neglect for the necessaries of life. At least one him-und 50 ci the sis pelillicit, ig SI per heat e*found, (a*was the case with the Daniel Webster) w; inadequate to accommodate our number.— What berths vve found were quickly taken up, and a spccic3 of cut, called a standee, were secured by a moiety of the unprovided for, andlay around oil deck, or wherever they could find a place large euuugli for a man to measure his length, exposed to the deleleriuus elfects of the night dews and change of climate. Of the provisions prepared for our use, no language is sufficient to express our condemnation of the same. Had the Gold Hunter been crowded I with Irish emigrants of the lowest class, they could not have been treated worse. Remonstrance was in vain ; on appealing to the captain, vve were referred lo the purser, by Inin we were sent to the doctor, and from him to the mate, all shifting the responsibility, and when our backs were turned the whole alTair would be thrown into ridicule. Finding ilus to tie the case, wc quietly settled down into an apathy, and did not care whether vve lived or died. On the whole of the passage up, the treatment vve received never varied, hut vve I were subjected to the most infamous and inhuman treatment that one could possibly conceive j of. We were not alone threatened with death | Irom starvation and exposure, bul also, through | the criminal and reckless conduct of the uffi-I cers, our ship was several times during the passage, on fire, and in one instance, on the-; morning of the 31st December, had it nut been : daring of a passenger by the name of g. vve should have been inevitably He, notwithstanding the opposi-'~‘r~ ontrary,11. Dum destroyed.id threats of the officerssearched the vessel from stem —__...,the imminent peril of his own life. Taking with him the watchman of the ship as a guide, he explored the hidden depths of the ship, insinuating himself between the boilers and the bottom of the vessel, he at length found a biirn-i of timber, which, after some difficul-extinguished. And now, thanking God that we are out of the jaws of death, in conclusion, vve are compelled frankly lo declare, that so far from any redeeming points, mnol find words strong enough lo express ndignation at the impositions, duplicity and extortions, practised by the agents of Vanderbilt's N icaragua Lino of Steamers upon their passengers, who have thus far been so unfortunate as to travel with them. If those who California, or about to proceed home, will take warning from this, the results of uur sad experience, our object is accomplished, and vve have performed that which we consider a simple a*ct of duly. We tbere-tne lo the conclusion that, for the benefit friends at home and abroad, lo publish this with our signatures attached, iu one of the leading papers of California, and to forward ~npies of the same to different sections of the Inion, in order that our object may be more fully accomplished.San Francisco, Jan. fllh, 1852. Signed, Charles BiJames C. Bigelow James A. Pritchard James \V. Ballou Peter Sharid W. Dunning i Robert Pike f I Charles B. Avery * ' George Avery Charles Pike C. G. Mason Thomas Baldwin John Caine VV. H. Van Dyke J. P. Hunt C. Thompson H. H. Rowell Edwin Coggins Robert Johnson Pardon S. Bowen George H. Trumblii Thomas Bothwell Josiah Hey wood Wm. Prince Timings C,.Bonnes John A. PotterWm. R. Lincoln N. II. Jorolemaii W. W. Keen Wm. Cheyne Henry Austcr Samuel Toombs Lyman J. Burrell Even Rogers Ephraim Cone Eraetus Mathewaon Hanson P. Willard George 0. Field Lawrence Laded Thomas W. Lilly A. M. Mix Wm. H. Curtis Joseph Miller Charles McRamscy John Sherwood G. G. Bull II. W. Vesey Ed. Faucher Thomas Kirkman George Potter George Burchnrd lt;h Ik Roger*Jespe Blair J. E. Whiteji i' impossible lo ventilate or purify the nir. Then ensue jangles nml quarrel* for berths, and foo.d with occasional apportions of slinking beef, wormy bread, scanty water, c.— There is, however, no reprieve, anil passengers, particularly » «l»e steerage, are under the necessity of taking such nccoinraoda-tions as lhey cau get, or nooo at all.The effect of all this is, that of those lenv-ing Panama, n fenrfui per centage die anil are buried in the sea. Of il'ose sufficiently fmtunnie to arrive in Sail Francisco, nearly one-half nre in ail exlinusted cachectic ^stale,exciting ranses of disease, rarely lai's to prosirnte the most robust frames. Many into the hospitals ni San Francisco, only to be carried tlienee to the grave yard.Of the passengers who left Pannma in the steamer Northerner in her last trip, sixteen ivere thrown overboard. Of the remainder, some twenty have since died, in San Francisco,plenty more lo he seen crawling about the sireets. having more the nppearance of dead than living men.The following extract of a letter from the son of Mr. Zebulou Norton of Phillips, in this State, vve copy from die Argus:AtiEUBN, Placer Co., Cal., Jan. 11,1852.lli:aR Fatiiek:—I arrived safe in San Frnncisco, Jan ], 1852. We sailed from Pana mil the lGlli of Dec. last, in the steamship ‘'Northerner” nml after n passage of 16750 pai3 died before we landed, were carried ashore sickigres or ship fever. We leatli before vve could gelmonths than suffer what 1 had lo in comingThe Inst arrival announces that the Steamer Golden Gate was about leaving Panama with nine hundred passengers! Now no steamer on the route can accummodate half that number comfortably.Maine has a large interest in this matter.— Our young men—the flower of the State—are leaving us by hundreds for California. We suppose about all of them take steerage passages on these steamers. It becomes, therefore, the duty not only of the people, hut uf the people's representatives in Congress, lo secure some remedy for the great evil of which there is so much complaint.“ Woolwich Rippings.”An excitement quite unusual in our quiet city, has recently been produced in consequence of the alleged self-ripping of various articles of clothing in the house of Mr. John Hanson of Woolwich. This operation is said to have commenced about three weck3 since, and has been confined principally to the clothes of a young woman in the family,—a niece, we believe, of Mr. Hanson's,—some of which exhibited conclusive marks of the distructive character of the spirits who have handled them, being torn literally to shreds. Wonderful stories are reported ofibe tearing of new cloth, even before the eyes of members of the family ; but when visitors have wished to see the performance, they are told that “ tilings won't tear while they are watched.” In this particular, the spiritual rippers of Woolwich seem very obstinate ; differing entirely from their sisters at Rochester. Books, cards, c., have also been similarly affected, daguerreotypes turn, face down, without hands; and it said, that during a temporary absence of the young woman, affairs were worse than ever.But we are not about to rehearse half the marvellous stories in the mouths of all, but will simply state that we have seen books, cards and paper torn, upon whose surface the finger marks were not half so easily discerned, and daguerreotypes turned which fitted to the case much closer than those we saw at this house ; and to uur own mind the proof is conclusive of one of the most palpable humbugs ever started. Mr. Hanson has ever sustained a high reputation for integrity of character, and we do not pretend to implicate him,—indeed vve think him sincere in his belief,—but that any other than mortal hands have been at work in his house, destroying the clothes, c., of the family, we have not the first reason to Relieve.Hundreds of people have visited the place, hut vve have seen none who arc believers in the “ spiritual rippings.” The proprietor of the ferry are not alarmed at all.(E7” In a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting to Congress a copy of a communication from that department, furnishing information in reference to the new customhouses now being erected, it is stated that ” the appropriation for a Custom House io this city is limited lo $25,000. The site has cost $11,-000, leaving only $14,000 for the building, which is insufficient for a suitable structure.No progress lids been made towards erecting this structure, and it is respectfully recommended that an appropriation should be made for the cost uf the site, leaving the original sum of $25,000 as exclusively appliaaMa to ihs.bail-diog.
Newspaper Details
Eastern Times
Bath, Maine, US
Thu, Mar 11, 1852
Page 2
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Anonymous
USA 20 Jun 2024
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