Cairo, Illinois Storm & Ferryboat Sinking
May 26, 1896
BOAT UPSET AT CAIRO, ILLS.
It Results in the Drowning of Fourteen of the
Passengers.
CAIRO, Ills., May 27. – A hurricane and
cloudburst struck this city yesterday. Fourteen
lives were lost by the sinking of the steam
ferryboat Katherine. Five miles of
telegraph poles were blown down on the Mobile
and Ohio railway. The Opera House and Union
depot were unroofed. Number of trees were
destroyed and signs blown down, but no houses
were destroyed or lives lost in the city.
The storm came up very suddenly from the
northwest. The ferryboat had just started from
Cairo and was still in the Ohio river and near
the Illinois shore. The rain was very heavy and
the people were all in the cabin, with the doors
shut. There was no warning; the boat turned over
when the squall first struck her.
The captain and the clerk were both at the
wheel and were blown out of the pilot house into
the water and the boat turned over on them. They
happened to be so far away that as she came over
they caught the guard and pulled out from
beneath her. Of those in the cabin only
Dr. Orr and
Joseph Curry
got out, and they were badly hurt.
The lost are:
CHARLES GILHOEFFER, DANIEL HAYES, a
colored woman, WARD
RITTENHOUSE, MR. STANLEY and MISS STANLEY,
RICHARD THURMAN, MRS. WILLIAM SHANNON
and baby, MRS.
MARY JONES, MISS ORR, LEWIS HALL, ASHBURY
ALEXANDER and GEORGE DAVIS. The last
three were colored.
The saved were: Joe
Curry, Captain John Hacket, Clerk R. Pavey,
Engineer McGee, Dr. Orr, Mr. Richardson
and an unknown man.
New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA 29 May
1896
Transcribed by
Jenni Lanham. Thank you,
Jenni!
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