Rutland County Herald

Dreadful Accident. Seventy-five Lives Lost.

A tardy arrival from Liverpool brings the melancholy intelligence that the ship Independence, Capt. C. M. Healey, from that port, bound to New York, was discovered on the morning of the 20th of October, in latitude 45, longitude 50, in a sinking condition, having struck on a sunken rock near the Western Islands. The crew and passengers, consisting of 75 souls, were all lost, with the exception of the mate and one seaman. The scene on board was one of indescribable horror. Husbands, wives, sons, and mothers were huddled together in the wildest confusion, some with their clothes on fire, others suffocated by the smoke, and many trampled to death in the rush for the boats. The mate, who was the last to leave the ship, describes the sight as one never to be forgotten. The following is a description of the scene which met the eye of the mate when a steerage passenger, who had at last forced his way out, communicated to him the terrible intelligence.

The mate instantly became alarmed, and obtaining a lantern went down to render assistance. Such, however, was the toil and confusion of the cabin that the light was immediately extinguished. A second was obtained, and it too was extinguished. At length, on the companion being completely removed, and a free access of air admitted, the real extent of the catastrophe was revealed. There lay the living, the dying, and the dead, in one mingled mass of agony and despair. Men, women, and children were huddled together, blackened with suffocation, distorted by death, vomiting blood from the effects of the poisonous gas which had filled the cabin. The mate succeeded in rescuing a few, but the greater part perished. Among the lost were Captain Healey and his family.