uilty of a
crime that nothing will ever wipe out. The bodies of two hundred
victims are crying out from the depth of the father of waters for
vengeance. Neither society nor law will give it. His punishment is yet
to come. May I never meet him!

"I could tell of scenes of horror that would rouse the indignation of a
stoic; but I have done. As to myself, I could tell you much to excite
your interest. It was more than three weeks after the occurrence before
I ever shed a tear. All the fountains of sympathy had been dried up,
and my heart was as stone. As I lay on my bed the twenty-fourth day
after, tears, salt tears, came to my relief, and I felt the loss of my
sisters and brother more deeply than ever. Peace be to their spirits!
they found a watery grave.

"In the course of all human events, scenes of misery will occur. But
where they rise from sheer carelessness, it requires more than christian
fortitude to forgive the being who is in fault. I repeat, may I never
meet Captain Castleman or Captain Dougherty!

"I shall follow this tale of woe by some strictures on the mode of
building steam-boats in the west, and show that human life has been
jeopardised by the demoniac spirit of speculation, cheating and roguery.
The fate of the Ben Sherrod shall be my text."

It will be seen from this narrative, that the loss of the vessel was
occasioned by racing with another boat, a frequent practice on the
Mississippi. That people should run such risk, will appear strange but
if any of my readers had ever been on board of a steam vessel in a race,
they would not be surprised; the excitement produced by it is the most
powerful that can be conceived--I have myself experienced it, and can
answer for the truth of it. At first, the feeling of danger
predominates, and many of the passengers beg the captain to desist: but
he cannot bear to be passed by, and left astern. As the race continues,
so do they all warm up, until even those who, most aware of the danger,
were at first most afraid, are to be seen standing over the very
boilers, shouting, huzzaing, and stimulating the fireman to blow them
up; the very danger gives an unwonted interest to the scene; and
females, as well as men, would never be persuaded to cry out, "Hold,
enough!"

Another proof of the disregard of human life is here given in the fact
of one steam-boat passing by and rendering no assistance to the drowning
wretches; nay, it was positively related to