The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-02-27
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ne D ROY'V'NElD.
The Passenger Steamer Olive Wreck;
ed by q Cyclone 81
EIGHTEEN LIVES 5AREfLosTS ]: o i I.
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E1aHTEEN LIVES IaA RE LOST 9.s
And Eight Other Perso ons VINO SSIeft5.
In 5sa5 small Boaty Are Still n.
Unaccounted, for by
Fricnds. i
y "a cyclone struck the passenger stea-ls Il
mer. Olive which plies between Frank.:
lin, Va, and Eden Con, NJ q. Z at $50 3
O'clock Monday night, Feb. i 6, and 6
sent her to the bottom Of: the river! r!efri &
.lWl{ooley's Pier. between Mount Pleas
ant and divers wharf, at Norfolk 4
Virginia. IS.
The whirlwind when 1t struck the
Olive caused her to GO over on her
beams end and when she righted it I
Was-only to sink on account 6f the
water she had taken. A majority OF
the passengers and crew were below
at the time and had no opportunity
to reach the pilot house Of the vessel.
This point was the only portion left
above water and In it standing waist
deep from the time Of the accident
until 6 o'clock In the morning Capt.
George 81. Witty and five others were
saved. n. a rs slz35 4. e
According to the statement If Capt. s
Withy to The Associated Press CORE
spondent here Monday night III per-
sons are known to have been lost on
the sinking steamer and a lifeboat
loaded with: Engineer g, L.. Conway.
Assistant Engineer J..aP. Murphy.
PurseI j.; N. Bell, one white and two
colored passengers unknown, and two
colored deck hands, which left the
steamer in hopes Of reaching a. vessel
whose lights could be,seen In, the dist
ance, is yet unheard from. If these
have been drowned the death list will
reach 25.i
KNOWN TO BE DEAD. 5
Jake Lassiter, white, aged 25, home
Rich Square, N. O., salesman for Car
lin s. Fulton, Baltimore hardware
dealers. -, "A si ST.
Mrs. Bennett, Franklin, Va. - ~
Twelve year old daughter; of Mrs.
Bennett. ias
Mrs. Vaughan, Franklin, Va.
Frank Hunter, George Butt, w. FL. !
Edwards and Andre Vaughan, colored
deck hands. sifs 5|
Abraham Cooper and Prescott Scott,
colored fremen. 45.' "a, (;
Esther Williams, colored cook.
John Cooper, colored porter
John Cooper, colored preacher.
-Four unknown colored passengers.
Capt. Witty reached Norforls Tues
day afternoon in company with Mar
tina Barrett. colored stewardess Of the
steamer. The Associated Press COR
respondent he made the following u
statement: = - 4 80
CAPTAINS STATEMENT. a
We left Franklin on our: regular
trip atr11 o'clock. a heavy southwest
wind was blowing, but along the Cho-
wan river we did not mind it much. \
at 8 o'clock last Monday night we Y
passed Hollies' wharf and headed for
Edenton bay. The weather became SO
heavy that I could not risk the open
water and I put the boat about to re- y
turn to the river for safety. Itwas
just about 2 o'clock when everything
became inky black and a-terrible roar
Ing broke out of the night. T was the
only one in the pilot house and most
Of those below had turned In. In a
second something struck the boat on
her port beam aud turned her over on
her starboard side. J thought she
would never right herself and mon
ster wave dashed over us. It flooded
the hold and smashed every window
around us. With the rush Of water.
into her hold the Olive slowly righted
and in less than two minutes after
having struck she was resting on the
bottom with only the pilot house
above the river: Two lifeboats were
swept away and one was left. Into
this the engineer, assistant engineer,
purser and one white and two colored
passengers climbed and put off with
the hope of catching nn with tow
boat that could be seen ahead Of us
never saw them after they left our
side. Their going left the stewardess
and one white and Two colored passen-
gers on board with me. We stood in
water waist deep until o'clock in the
morning when Norfolk and South
ern steamer hove in sight, took us Off
and landed US at Edenton, where we
took the train for Norfolk. The boat
sunk SO quickly after being struck
that none below had chance to reach
the deck and all must have drowned
in berths."
1t was learned Monday night that
a white man named Wilder, of Coler-
aine, N. c., is also among the drown
ed, making the eighteenth victim.
The work was started Wednesday to
recover the dead bodies and If possible
raise the steamer. Five years ago the
Olive while running an excursion
sprang a leak and went down within
sight Of Monday nights scene. At
that time no lives were lost.
The. Olive was an inland passenger
steamer hailing from Norfolk. She
was built in 1869 and was of 2S7 tons
gross: 1903 feet long, 20.4 feet beam
and seven feet depth of hold. s.
Tho Storm Kfnr