1913 — May 2, Steamer Concordia hits RR bridge, sinks, Tensas River, Clayton, LA — 22

— 25 Washington Times, DC. “Twenty-five Drowned When Steamer Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.
— 22 Daily Democrat, Greenville, MS. “Twenty Sink With Steamer Concordia.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.
— 22 Monroe News-Star, LA. “Fourteen Bodies Recovered.” 5-3-1913, p. 1.
— 22 San Antonio Light, TX. “Steamer Engaged in Rescue Work Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.
— 22 Tensas Gazette, St. Joseph, LA. 5-2-1913, p. 5, col. 4..
— 22 U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report…Inspector General…June 30 1913. 13.
— 13 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats… (Revised). 1999, p. 108.

Narrative Information

U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service: “On May 2, 1913, the steamer Concordia, while proceeding down the Tensas River en route to Natchez, Miss., sank, causing the loss of 22 lives.” (U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1913, p. 13.)

Way: Concordia. Sternwheel wood-hull packet built in 1906 at Jeffersonville, IN. “On June 7, 1913, doing flood relief work near Clayton, La., she sand drowning head clerk A. D. Primm and 12 workers. She was raised that July, ran up Red River 1913-1914. Renamed Uncle Oliver.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats… (Revised). 1999, p. 108.

Newspapers

May 2: “The Str. Concordia, plying in the Black and Tensas rivers trade, struck the bridge at Clayton this morning and sank. Two white men, W. L. Prim and ‘Pap’ Geoghegan, and twenty negroes were drowned.” (Tensas Gazette, St. Joseph, LA. 5-2-1913, p. 5, col. 4.)

May 2: “Natchez, Miss., May 2. – Twenty-five persons were drowned today when the steamer Concordia, running out of the Tensas river into the swollen waters of the Mississippi, dashed into a bridge pier. The vessel’s side was knocked away, and it sank in eight minutes.

“Patrick Groghan, planter, and L. W. Crims, his clerk, were among the drowned. The others were colored deck hands. A relief train was rushed from here with physicians aboard, as ten injured were rescued.”
(Washington Times, DC. “Twenty-five Drowned When Steamer Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.

May 2: “Natchez, Miss., May 2. – The steamer Concordia, of Natchez, which was engaged in rescue work in the flooded sections of Tensas and Concordia parishes struck the iron railroad bridge at Clayton, La., this morning and sank. Twenty negro refugees, who were aboard the steamer, were drowned when the boat went down.

“Maurice Black of Clayton, suffered a broken arm and minor injuries to other white passengers were reported. The Concordia was bringing to Natchez flood refugees rescued from house-tops and second-stories of buildings just above Clayton, which is several miles from the river [Mississippi].

“The steamer has been navigating crevasse water ranging from 8 to 15 feet deep where less than a week ago there were fine farms and prosperous villages.

“As soon as news of the disaster was received here, motor boats were ordered rushed to the scene from Ferriday and other nearby points.

“The lost:

“A. F. Goeghan, white planter of Jonesville, La.; W. L. Pri [sic], white chief clerk of Concordia, Natchez; twenty negroes, unidentified. The negroes were members of a party of fifty refugees taken aboard at the Mossgeil plantation.

“The Concordia probably will be a total loss, as she was badly wrecked by the collision with the bridge and is submerged in about 25 feet of water in the Tensas river.

“The steamer had about 130 refugees on board when she went down. She was valued at $25,000 and was insured for $15,000. While engaged in rescue work during last year’s flood, the Concordia sank about 20 miles distant from where she went down today. After the high water passed, however, the seamer was raised and repaired.” (San Antonio Light, TX. “Steamer Engaged in Rescue Work Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.)

May 2: “Vicksburg, May 2. – Captain Baker, in charge of the army flood relief, received an official confirmation of report of the loss of twenty negroes and two white men as the result of the sinking of the steamer Concordia near Clayton, LA., this morning.” (Daily Democrat, Greenville, MS. “Twenty Sink With Steamer Concordia.” 5-2-1913, p. 1.)

May 3: “Clayton, May 3. – The bodies of fourteen victims of the steamer disaster, which cost the lives of twenty-two persons on the big river liner Concordia had been recovered up to early this morning. Several persons among those injured are expected to die.” (Monroe News-Star, LA. “Fourteen Bodies Recovered.” 5-3-1913, p. 1.)

May 3: “Clayton, La., May 3. – The steamer Concordia, which sank here yesterday morning resulting in the loss of almost a score of lives, was carried 25 miles by the current before it was caught by the government chartered steamer Rock City and made fast.

“The bodies of 14, who went down with the Concordia, have been recovered. All of the dead are negroes except two.

“Another negro died today of injuries received when the boat struck a pier of the New Orleans and North-western draw bridge.

“The Concordia carried 72 negro refugees, 23 negro roustabouts, 10 negro deck hands, 10 white crew and 5 white passengers.” (Waco Morning News, TX. “Take 14 Bodies From the River.” 5-4-1913, p. 14.)

Sources

Daily Democrat, Greenville, MS. “Twenty Sink With Steamer Concordia.” 5-2-1913, p. 1. Accessed 8-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/greenville-daily-democrat-may-02-1913-p-1/

Monroe News-Star, LA. “Fourteen Bodies Recovered.” 5-3-1913, p. 1. Accessed 8-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-may-03-1913-p-1/

San Antonio Light, TX. “Steamer Engaged in Rescue Work Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1. Accessed 8-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-light-may-02-1913-p-1/

Tensas Gazette, St. Joseph, LA. 5-2-1913, p. 5, col. 4. Accessed 8-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/tensas-gazette-may-02-1913-p-5/

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service (for fiscal year ended June 30, 1913. In: Dept. of Commerce and Labor. Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor 1912 (Report of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and Reports of Bureaus). Wash., DC: GPO, 1913. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=oKcXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=true

Washington Times, DC. “Twenty-five Drowned When Steamer Sinks.” 5-2-1913, p. 1. Accessed 8-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-times-may-02-1913-p-1/

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.