Dear Readers,
On July 30, 1871, a boiler explosion onboard the Westfield, a Staten Island ferryboat, killed 125 passengers.
The Westfield, built in 1862, was not part of the Staten Island Railway's regular fleet of ferry boats. It was used on this day to provide an "extra trip" to accommodate the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic. More than 200 passengers boarded the ship, departing from South Ferry Terminal in Manhattan between 1 and 2 o'clock.
As the ferry sailed to Staten Island, a large boiler beneath the front deck exploded. The New York Times described the disaster: "The boiler exploded with terrific power, the whole end of the boat on which the people were gathered was torn to tatters; fragments went upward and outward. But that mass of humanity!"
Read the full story.
On July 30, 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing "In God We Trust" as the national motto, adopting a phrase derived from Francis Scott Key's writings.
Read more.
 Also, born on this day in 1818 was Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights.
British poetry scholar Paul Lieder said this of Emily Brontë: "One point is generally agreed upon: that in both her prose and poetry there is ... a rare power," Tuberculosis claimed her at age 30, but her sole novel, "Wuthering Heights," and single volume of poetry made Emily Brontë an integral member of the Western literary canon.
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