On Friday night, May 5th, 1848, at 11 o’clock, as the steamer Forrest was lying to, to put off a passenger, about twenty miles above the mouth of the Alleghany river, with her head down stream, she was run into by the steamboat Pulaski, which was coming up the river with about one hundred and fifty passengers. The bow of the Forrest struck the side of the Pulaski opposite the boilers. The boilers were thrown down, the steam-pipes separated, and the steam rushed out among the passengers, scalding many of them in a terrible manner. The side of the Pulaski being broken up by the collision, the boat almost immediately sunk, leaving the boiler-deck above water. Five or six persons, names unknown, were thrown overboard and drowned. One of these floated past the Forrest, calling piteously for assistance, but before it could be afforded him the current had swept him away. Another was drawn in under the wheel and drowned. One young man swain ashore after throwing himself from the cabin window of the Pulaski.
The following list of the sufferers was furnished by the officers of the wrecked steamer
BADLY SCALDED-Wm. Coon, Erie co., N. Y.; Michael Hawkins, steward of the Pulaski; Sheridan McCullough, of Red Bank, Pa. James Gibson, Crawford co., Pa.; Joseph Hughes, Jefferson co., Pa.; and Wing.
We have not been able to learn the names of the persons who were drowned.