Crittenden Press

TWENTY PERISHED
IN RIVER DISASTER.

THE STEAMER CITY OF GOLCONDA SINKS IN OHIO RIVER
FOUR MILES ABOVE PADUCAH.

PROMINENT LIVINGSTON COUNTY
PEOPLE AMONG THE DROWNED.

The Dead and Missing
Miss Lizzie Graham, Grattonville
Miss Trixie Grimes, Grahamville
Mrs. Charles Davis, Smithland
Mrs. W. A. Hogan and three children, Paducah
Wallace Bennett, Tolu.
Col. Turner, Smithland
Charley Gordon, Smithland
Mrs. David Adams, Smithland
Watts Davis and wife, Livingston County
William Webb, Smithland
Miss Lacy Barnett, Smithland
Clarence Slayden, Lola
D. Jackson, Golconda.
August F. Kriepke, Golconda.
John Walters, Golconda,
Arene Koker, Golconda
Firemen and three colored deck hands
Engineer Hayden and son.
Joseph McAllister, St. Louis
Two white men, unknown
Mrs. Hutchinson, Evansville
Three children.
D. Jackson
Fred Stanberry.
Horace Rendean.
Several colored deck-hands

Tuesday morning Mr. R. C. Walker received a telegram from
Mr. J. M. Worten of Paducah,
saying that the steamer Golconda
sank Monday night and among
the lost were Mrs. David Adams
and Miss Lacey Barnett of Smithland
and Mr. Watts Davis of Hampton.
Later
dispatches
brought the following details of
the awful accident.
The steamer City of Golconda
sank four miles above Paducah
Monday night and seventeen lives
were lost. The boat was caught
in a storm which came up sudden-
ly and there was scarcely a mo-
ment's warning. The disaster oc-
curred between six and seven o'-
clock. Most of the passengers
were at supper. The boat was
hurled completely over by the
force of the wind, the stacks and
pilot house resting on the bottom
of the river. There were about
thirty people aboard. Among the
drowned were:
Mrs. David Adams, Smithland.
Miss Lacey Barnett,
Mr. Watts Davis, Hampton.
Clarence Slayden, Lola
Paducah, Aug. 20.-The little
craft was en route to this city
from Golconda and was due here
at 6 o'clock. Shortly after six a
heavy gale, having the proportions
of a hurricane, swept down on the
boat as she reached the bar and
set her to rocking. Capt. A. A.
Peck, who was at the wheel in the
pilot house, rang the signal to stop.
When he rang to go ahead there
was no response and the madden-
ing winds and threatening tongues
of fire being belched out in quick
succession from the clouds above
them put the passengers in a pan-
ic. Capt. Peck rang again, but no
response, and he and Charley Co-
nant, the latter a passenger from
Smithland in the pilot house with
him, made for the hurricane roof.
They met the engineer, his wife
and little boy coming onto the
roof. They had hardly reached it
before a powerful wave of wind
capsized the boat and completely
turned her upside down, the smoke
stacks, pilot house and a portion
of the hurricane roof resting on
the bottom of the Ohio.
Paducah, Aug. 21.-Large crowds
of people are at the scene of the
wreck, where three divers are at
work.
This afternoon five of the
bodies, all recovered thus far, ar-
rived on the steamer Mary N.
They were Mrs. Dave Adams and
her niece, Miss Lacey Barnett,
Miss Trixie Grimes, Miss Lizzie
Graham and Mrs. W. A. Hogan.
The two former will be taken to
Birdsville this afternoon on the
yacht Brookhill for burial.
Reports from the wreck are that
slow progress is being made. The
boat is in eighteen feet of water,
on her side, and the cabin, with its
dead, can be entered by divers on-
ly with the greatest difficulty.
Paducah, Ky., Aug. 21.-Divers
and rescuing boats have gone to
the scene of last night's disaster,
as a result of which the Golconda
was lost. The cabin can not be
opened until the boat is raised.
And until then the exact loss of
life can not be determined.
Paducah, Aug. 21.-Capt. A. A.
Peck, who was at the wheel claims
that when he saw the approaching
storm and started to shore the en-
gineer failed to respond to his sig-
nals and had abandoned the en-
gines and gone to his wife in the
cabin. Engineer Hayden denies
that he deserted his post, and
claims that the boat will show
that the throttle was open and the
reverse lever shifted for backing.
Some of the passengers say if the
pilot had not attempted to land
and kept the steamer on her
course she would not have over-
turned. Instead, he turned to-
ward shore and the hurricane
struck her broadside.
Mr. Eugene Guess related his ex-
perience to the Press as follows:
Most of the passengers were sitting
out on the guards when it began to
rain, we went in. I walked inside,
and was standing at the side door,
Wallace Bennett was just behind
me. I said to him I believed the
Captain was trying to out run the
storm; "yes," he said, "but it looks
like it will catch us." He then
turned and walked away, and that
was the last I ever saw of him. In
the meantime the engine stopped
and the boat began to turn over. I
rushed for the front door and was
climbing and swimming to keep on
the upper side.
Before I could
reach the upper side a man ran
over me and knocked me to the
lower side again, and I had all my
work to do over again, but I work-
ed, swimming and climbing furious-
ly, my way to that part of the boat
that was on top, and when I got
there I found myself with others
on the bottom of the boat, as the
craft had turned completely over.
We found a yawl hanging to the
stage, baled the water out, and
about thirty people went to shore
in that yawl, making three or four
trips.
Among the lost in the laments-
table disaster are a number of
people well known to many of the
Press readers.
Mrs. David Adams was a daugh-
ter of the late J. L. Hibbs; she
was a sister of Mrs. Jas. Fleming
of this place.
Miss Lacy Barnett was a grand-
daughter of the late Col. Tom
Barnett. She is a
daughter of Mr. Hibbs.
Wallace Bennett was a son of
Mr. A. J. Bennett, of Tolu.
He
leaves a wife and child.