The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1901-1982, 1908-04-30
BOAT CAPSIZES; Il DROWNED.
Steamer Miriam Struck BY Storm IN
the Mssissippi-Sixty-Three OF
rs Passengers Miraculously
Escape.


w. A. Joyce of Newport who was In
charge of the vessel.
The dead, most of whom were con-
nected with the Wright Carnival Com
pany, are:
FRANK BERG, Chicago.
ANNA GOLDEN, St Louis.
FRANK FISHER, Memphis.
ALBERT JORDAN, Memphis.
"BLINKIL" DALE, st. Louis.
WILLIAM BERRY, engineer, New
port.
DAN THOMAS, Marion, o.
HIRAM WRIGHT, Negro.
WILL SMITH, negro.
CHARLES WEBB, negro.
THOMAS BOYD, negro.
IRENE FLEMING, negro.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL, negro.
LAWRENCE MARTIN, negro.
The survivors were in extreme per-
il for hours, but finally the overturn-
ed craft drifted to shore, and the
survivors were rescued by Capt. h.
survivors were rescued by Capt. {.
E. Schaffer, who made three danger
Gus trips in his little gasoline boat
Home Rum" and transferred all who
had not been swept off when the storm
first broke, or dropped into the water
from exhaustion and drowned, to shore
and safety.
The Miriam left this port Sunday
afternoon At $3.50 o'clock she was
of hn 4
Francis river, and had entered the
widest stretch of water in the Mis-
sissippi between this point and Mem
phis, when her captain saw the ap-
preaching storm and attempted to run
to the bank, but while he was still in
midstream the wind struck With
hurricane force the wind lifted the
steamer, and whirled her completely
around, throwing her living freight
into the stream. The steamer capsized
the moment she settled into the wat
err and her terrified and dazed passen-
gers had barely time to climb upon
the rail that was above the surface.
Captain Joyce was in the pilot
house when the storm picked his craft
from the water, and when she capsiZed
he found the door damned. Break
ing the windows of his prison he
fought his way to the surface of the
water and was hauled in after a hard
struggle.
Clinging for two hours to the wreck
of the steamer, with huge waves wash
ing over them repeatedly and fearing
that at any moment the boat might
go down leaving them to drown IN
the storm-whipped waters of the Mis-
sissippi, the passengers saw one al
ter another of their number give up
the fight for life, and heard their
cries for assistance as they sank. Men,
women and children alike, irrespective
of color or occupation, chung to the
common support, each one fighting
desperately for life. Not man could
move to aid neighbOr.
Each moment the waves threatened
to engulf them all. But when one
woman, weakened by the strain and
chilled by exposure, cried out for
help, a heroic effort was made to give
her needed aid, but too late came the
rescuers, and before their very eyes
Anna Golden of St Louis released her
hold, threw her hands upward in
last appeal and disappeared.
Sinking lower and lower, the steam
err grounded on a sandbar just before
dusk and with night coming on and
no prospect of relief, the remaining
members of the passengers and crew
lost hope, when the little gasoline
boat Home Run" with its captain,
c. f. Shafler, appeared. With his frail
boat Schaffer battled through the
stretch of water between the shore
and the wreck, daring what seemed
to be certain death to rescue the wom-
en- and children. The weakest of the
: men were taken off and with the fall
ing of the storm and night came other
rescuers who brought the remainder
to land
Left destitute, with nothing but the
clothes on their backs, the passengers
huddled on the river bank in the
marshy ground for almost "a hours
before they could be relieved and
brought back to this city. News of
the disaster did not reach here until
90 hours after the tragedy, and many
| of the unfortunates were so weak that
they We're placed under physicians
care Monday night.
The storm swept for 80 miles a
strip five miles wide, wreckIng church
es and residences and destroying
| crops.
The launch which did such valiant
service in the work rescuing the help
less ones brought Captain Joyce ia
this city at noon Monday, and the
Zehar Jr. was Immediately dispatched
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