Eighty Precipitated Into Icy Canal Waters los Oun Owst Comrsronst Taichow, Ku, Jar. 18.
Yesterday a small canal seat belonging to the Ta Tung Steamship, Ca, plying between Taichow and Tunglai, was the vielim of an aceldent at Yuchi about 27 Chinese miles {trom Taichow.
Accounts of the accident vary. considerably—one is that the boat was overloaded and that it turned lever. Reports have it that the boat was suppered to carry sixty pasrengers and the management with the sual regard for human life refused to sell more than sixty lickers, About {twenty or thirty people, however, got Jon the boat without buying tickets Jand all could not be put off. Due to Leing overleaded the boat turned over rud practically all the _pacsengers, were thrown into the ley water. First reports were that sixty were drown-Jed, "Another story is that a hile was Punched in the bottom of the boat end she sank. Another tale 1s that! he machinery broke and caused a leak that sunk the boat, Later reports were much less alarming, though bad enough, One man most cheerfully announced tat the feceident was not bad at all, No one, Jaid he, was drowned, Oxy five People were frozen to death. They were pulled out of the water and carried to Taichow in their wet clothes and they died from exposure. To this partiewlar party, the dscth of fave people from exposure was nothing to get excited about.
These canal launches axe far from Jsafe at best and when they ace over Joaded, which is more or lise the rule, they really are z menace. There probably no remedy for this condi-lon of affairs as long 2s competing lunes are allowed to combine.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.