1902 — Apr 20, Steamer City of Pittsburg Fire, Ohio River, near Ogden’s Landing, KY–~64
— ~64 Blanchard.*
— 75 NYT. “Seventy-Five Perish in Steamboat Fire. The City of Pittsburg…” 4-21-1902, p. 1.
–~70 Daily Herald, Delphos, OH. “City of Pittsburg’s Death Toil.” 4-22-1902, p. 1.
–~70 Sandusky Daily Register, OH. “City of Pittsburgh Victims…Reaches 70.” 4-23-1902, p. 1.
— 51 “known to have been lost…”
–>20 missing
— 64 United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1903, p. 56.
–21 crew
–43 passengers
— 63 Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1903. “General Chronology of 1902.” Jan 1903, 572.
— 60 Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Iowa. “Sixty Were Lost”, April 21, 1902.
–~60 Hickman Courier, KY. “Steam Boat Burned. Steamer City of Pittsburg…” 4-25-1902, 1.
— 60 Mansfield News, OH. “In the Year 1902. Notable Events…” 12-31-1902, p. 10.
–>60 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the [MS Riv.]… 1999, p96.
* Blanchard. Even though the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service notes an exact fatality count of 64, and even though we view this as an authoritative source, given the range of fatalities reported in other sources, we choose to note the loss of life at approximately (~) sixty-four.
Narrative Information
US SIS: “Steamer City of Pittsburgh en route down the Ohio River, when near Ogden’s landing, Kentucky, caught fire and burned to the water’s edge. The fire originated in the hold, which was loaded with hay, and spread so rapidly that it got beyond control and resulted in the loss of 43 passengers and 21 crew. Officers and crew were exonerated from all blame. The steamer…was a total loss.” (U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1903, p. 56.)
Way: City of Pittsburgh. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in 1899 in Harmar, OH. Measured 292.7 by 79.5, six boilers, two flues…. she burned at 4:00 a.m., Sunday, Apr. 20, 1902, along the Kentucky shore of the Ohio River in the Grand Chain, not far above Dam 53. Over 60 lives were lost including Capt. Sylvester Doss, pilot, and Tom Smith, cub pilot. An in-depth article with many photographs describes the boat and the tragedy, appearing in the March 1968 issue of S&D Reflector.” (Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Ohio Univ. Press, 1999, p. 96.)
Newspapers
April 21: “Cairo, Ill., April 21.- One of the most terrible disasters in the history of Ohio river navigation occurred yesterday morning, when the steamer City of Pittsburg, a freight and passenger boat in the Louisville and Memphis trade, was burned to the water’s edge twenty miles above this city. According to Captain John M. Phillips about sixty or the 150 passengers aboard were lost. The steamer was loaded down with freight and the loaded condition of the packet is said to have been responsible for the death of so many passengers…. Although no complete list of either the victims or survivors has yet been obtainable, investigation today indicates that almost half of the hundred and fifty people on the City of Pittsburg were lost when the ill-fated steamer burned yesterday at Ogdon’s Landing. It is thought the greater percentage of losses is among women and children.” (Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Iowa, “Sixty Were Lost.” April 21, 1902.)
April 21: “Cairo, Ill., April 21. The side wheel steamer City of Pittsburg, from Cincinnati to Memphis, was burned to the water’s edge at 4:05 o’clock yesterday morning at Ogden’s Landing, near Olmstead, Ill., 11 miles from Mound City, Ill., and 24 miles from this city. It is stated that 22 lives were lost and that 40 persons are missing, gut the list of casualties is not yet definitely determined. At the register of the steamer was burned, no list can be given, either of the victims or of the survivors.
“Most of the passengers were still in bed when Second Clerk Oliver Phillips gave the alarm. The engineers at once started all the pumping engines, while the crew brought all the hose into play. Amid the streams of water on all sides the flames from the lower deck and dense clouds of smoke, the passengers rushed from their staterooms and a frightful panic ensued. The appeals of the officers and crew could not appease the panic-stricken crowds that interfered with those throwing water on the flames, as well as with those working with the life boats. Few could adjust life preservers or do anything for themselves.
“The smoke was stifling. Great clouds floated through the blazing steamer, choking the passengers and adding to the terror. Children cried pitifully, begging that they be saved. Life boats were manned and every effort was made to save the passengers from the floating furnace of flames. From the river banks the sparks from the burning craft and the dense clouds of smoke, tinged with flames, made a most impressive and weird spectacle.
“Boats were sent from shore to help in the work of rescue. Boats laden to their limit with passengers in the scant attire they were able to gather, were landed at the river banks. As fast as the boats could be emptied they returned to the ill-fated steamer, the rescuers losing no time from their work.
“The burning steamer was quickly headed to the bank, but passengers were forced to jump from the stern and in trying to swim ashore through the swift current, many were drowned. Many also perished in the flames. Only one yawl was saved, without oars, and the women were taken off. About 20 or 30 were taken off in the yawl. The rest were picked up out of the water.
“Help, except from people living nearby, did not arrive until 2:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and passengers, with only night clothes, and without food, suffered terribly.
“Mrs. Sherman McCullom, with her three children, was going to Caruthersville, Mo., to join her husband. She jumped overboard and landed in the yawl, but her three children landed in the water and she saw them sink from sight. She is nearly frantic with grief. The body of the youngest of the little ones was recovered at Mound City, and its remains were identified by the mother.
“Another terribly sad circumstance was the loss of one of the children of Pilot Al Pritchard. The little one was tossed from the burning steamer to arms waiting to catch it in the yawl, but its head struck against the side of the boat and it fell into the river and was lost.
A Passenger’s Experience.
“Mrs. Mulkey, wife of Judge Mulkey, of Metropolis, Ill., boarded the City of Pittsburg shortly before the disaster. She said:
I got on the boat at Metropolis to take passage to Cairo. All of the passengers were asleep when I went aboard, and I went at once to my stateroom and lay down with my clothes on. It must have been an hour or more before I noticed a bright light shining into my stateroom and saw that the front cabin was on fire. Bur few passengers were aroused at this time, and I, with others, climbed out over the guards and down the railing, hand over hand, over the life boat, which was below me. By this time others crowded into the boat and filled it to overflowing, but, as if providentially, the flames reached the ropes that held the life boat, and we dropped into the river before others could push their way into the boat. We would all have been drowned if others had pushed into the boat. The life boat commenced to drift back toward the burning steamer, and we thought that we were to die after all. We had no oars, and the men used their hands for oars. There were people in the river all about us on ever side.
After we had managed to get to the shore, fires were lighted and the poor men and women and children, many of them in their night clothes, shivering with the cold and from their wet clothing, huddled about the fires. Many of them had lost those nearest and dearest to them and their cries and moans were heartrending….”
(Wellsboro Gazette, PA. “River Steamer Burned.” 4-24-1902, p. 1.)
April 22: “Cairo, Ills., April 22. – After searching two days, the death roll of the burned steamer City of Pittsburg has not been reduced any from the first reports. Of the 145 people on the boat when it burned Sunday morning about half are still missing, and no further hope for them is expressed. The books and valuables of the boat crew and passengers are still in the ruins. The wreck is above water and still smouldering. Owing to the heated condition of the hull, search for those cremated in int has not been begun, and very few of the bodies of those who are drowned have been recovered owing to the swift current at the scene of the disaster.” (Daily Herald, Delphos, OH. “City of Pittsburg’s Death Roll.” 4-22-1902, p. 1.)
Sources
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1903. “General Chronology of 1902.” Jan 1902. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=N8QWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Daily Herald, Delphos, OH. “City of Pittsburg’s Death Roll.” 4-22-1902, p. 1. Accessed 8-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/delphos-daily-herald-apr-22-1902-p-1/
Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, IA. “Sixty Were Lost.” 4-21-21, 1902. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=36193631&firstvisit=true&src=search¤tResult=3
Hickman Courier, KY. “Steam Boat Burned. Steamer City of Pittsburg With 150 Passengers on Board Burned Sunday. 60 of the List are Missing.” 4-25-1902, p. 1. Accessed 8-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hickman-courier-apr-25-1902-p-2/
Mansfield News, OH. “In the Year 1902. Notable Events…” 12-31-1902, p. 10. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=21828
New York Times. “Seventy-Five Perish in Steamboat Fire. The City of Pittsburg Burned on Ohio River.” 4-21-1902, p. 1. Accessed 8-18-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/04/21/108287578.html?pageNumber=1
Sandusky Daily Register, OH. “City of Pittsburgh Victims From Latest Report Reaches 70.” 4-23-1902, p. 1. Accessed 8-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-daily-register-apr-23-1902-p-1/
United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1903. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903, 322 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-13-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1lYpAAAAYAAJ
Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.
Wellsboro Gazette, PA. “River Steamer Burned. Frightful Panic on City of Pittsburg When Fire Started.” 4-24-1902, p. 1. Accessed 8-18-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/wellsboro-gazette-apr-24-1902-p-1/