536 PBDEliAIi REPOBTEB. �fhe forward end of these railings the deck was 20 feet across, and from therô to the end of the boat — a distance of eight feet — there was no rail or guard ; neither was there any chain, gate, or guard across the deck, or any like meaiis to prevent the egress of pàssengers at or before landing. �On the Portland side of the river the boat landed at a pontoon about iO feet wide, with a circular recess in the front of it about 20 feet across and 8 feet deep in the center, into which thô bow of the boat was run, and then fastened by a line taken from the boat on the port or upper side at or near the end of the ràiling, and belàyed tô a kevel on the upper side of the pontoOn about 10 feet from the boat, and then an apron about 12 feet in length was turned over from the front of the former on'to the bow of the latter, which served as a bridge upon which wagons crossed the joint or slight opening between the boat and pontoon, while the foot pàssengers usually stepped off from the former on to the latter anywhere within the circle, The cabin was in the middle of thfi boat, runningfore and aft, with a pilot-house at either end and a wagon way on either side, with a stairway at each end asoend- ing between the house and the cabin — the one then next to the shore from the port side. While crossing the river the deceased and the family, with two or three others, occupied the cabin, which was lighted, but the light did not produce any efifect forward of the pilot-house. The mail wagon, drawn by two horses, was on the port side roadway and nearly abreast of the stairway leading into the cabin. On this occa- sion, owing to the darkness, the boat did not make her land- ing at the pontoon direct, but ran in Irom down the stream, and at an angle of about 57 degrees -with the line of its face, and went hard up against the pontoon at each end of the cir- cular recess therein, leaving a crescent-shaped space between it and the pontoon and these points of about 18 inches in width at the center. As soon as the boat struck the pontoon the ^atchman stepped on to the upper side of it, sat down his làmp and made the line fast to the kevel; and àt the same time most of the pàssengers — probably 20 or 30^who ����
