The hull of the Erie was towed within about four miles of shore, when it sank in eleven fathoms of water.  By this time it was daylight.  The lines were cast oft.  The Clinton headed her course toward Buffalo, which place she reached about six o’clock.

Upon inquiry it was found that there had been between thirty and forty cabin passengers, of whom ten or twelve were ladies.  In the steerage there were about one hundred and forty passengers, nearly all of whom were Swiss and German emigrants.  The whole number of persons on board, who were saved, did not exceed twenty-seven.

All that imagination can conceive of the terrible and heart-rending was realized in the awful destruction of this boat.  Scores sank despairingly under the wild waters; but there is reason to fear that many, very many, strong men, helpless women, and tender children perished in the flames.

Among the passengers were a young gentleman and lady, who first became acquainted with each other on board.  The lady was accompanied by her father.  Upon an intimacy of a few hours an attachment seems to have been formed between this couple.  When the passengers rushed to the deck, after the bursting forth of the flames, the lady discovered her new acquaintance on a distant part of the deck, forced her way to him, and implored him to save her.  The only alternative left them was to jump overboard, or to submit to a more horrible fate.  They immediately jumped, the gentleman making the first plunge, with a view of securing for the young and fair being, who had measurably committed to his hands her safety, a plank floating a short distance from the boat.  As soon as the plank was secured, the lady leaped into the water and was buoyed up by her clothes, until the gentleman was enabled to float the plank to her.  For a short time the young man thought that his fair charge was safe; but soon his hopes were blasted—­one of the fallen timbers struck the lady on the head, her form sank upon the water, a momentary quivering was perceptible, and she disappeared from human view.  Her father was lost, but the young gentleman was among the number picked up by the Clinton.

There was a fine race-horse on board, who, soon after the alarm, broke from his halter at the bow of the boat, and dashed through the crowd of passengers, prostrating all in his way; and then, rendered frantic by terror and pain, he reared and plunged into the devouring fire, and there ended his agony.

One of the persons saved, in describing the scene, says:—­“The air was filled with shrieks of agony and despair.  The boldest turned pale.  I shall never forget the wail of terror that went up from the poor German emigrants, who were huddled together on the forward deck.  Wives clung to their husbands, mothers frantically pressed their babes to their bosoms, and lovers clung madly to each other.  One venerable old man, his gray hairs streaming on the wind, stood on the bows, and, stretching out his bony hands, prayed to God in the language of his father-land.