Hertford County, NC - Horrible Fate of the Str. Olive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Windsor Ledger Windsor, NC Thursday February 26, 1903 Horrible Fate of the Str. Olive; Apalling Results of the Terrible Storm. ============== Seventeen Lives Lost on the Olive. Narrow escape of those Who Survived. +++++++ The Cashie Neck and Hexlena Portions of the County Suffer Terribly from the Storm. +++++++ FAMILIES ARE LEFT HOMELESS. +++++++ A Cyclone struck the passenger steamer Olive which plies between Franklin, Va., and Edenton, N.C., at 9 o'clock last night and sent her to the bottom of the Chowan river off Woodley's pier between Mount Pleasant and Holley's wharf. Seventeen people are known to have been drowned and some of those who rescued are in a serious condition. The whirlwind when it struck the Olive caused her to go over on her beam's end and when she righted it was only to sink on account of 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 it standing waist deep from the time of the accident until 6 o'clock in the morning, Capt. George H. Withy and five others were saved. No complete list of the dead has been obtained. It is known that the following perished: Mrs. Bennett, Franklen, Va. Twelve year old daughter of Mrs. Bennett. Mrs. Vaughan, Frankin, Va. Frank Hunter, George Butt, W.H. Edwards, Andrew Vaughan, colored deck hands. Abraham Scott, and Preston Scott colored firemen. Esther Williams, colored cook. John Cooper, colored porter. Chas. White, colored preacher. Four unknown colored passengers. Those saved were Captain Withy, Engineer Conway, Purser Bell, the colored stewardess and two white passengers. At 6 o'clock this morning the river steamer Pettit, hove in sight and rescued the almost frozen survivors. The Olive was a small single crew steamer owned by J.A. Protlow, of Franklin, Va., and has been plying between North Carolina and Virginia points for several years. She left Franklin last evening for Edenton and had almost reached her destination when the cyclone struck her. The Olive was an inland passenger steamer hailing from Norfolk. She was built in 1869 and was of 287 tons gross 120.9 feet long, 20.4 feet beam and 7 feet depth of hold. According to the statement of Capt Withy to the Associated Press correspondent here to-night, there are seventeen known to have lost on the sunken steamer and a life boat loaded with Engineer C.L. Conway, Assistant Engineer, J.P. Murphy, Purser, 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 distance, is yet unheard from. If these have been drowned, the death list will reach twenty-five. Jake Lassiter, white, age 25 home Rick Square, NC., salesman for Carlin and Fulton, Baltimore Hardware Dealers. Captain Withy reached Norfolk this afternoon in company with Martha Barrett, colored stewardess of the steamer. To the Associated Press correspondent he made the following statement: "We left Franklin on our regular trip to Edenton yesterday morning at 11 o'clock. A heavy southwest wind was blowing, but along the Chowan river we did not mind it much. At 9 o'clock last night we passed Hollies Wharf, and headed for Edenton bay. The weather became so heavy that I would not risk the open water and put the boat about to return up the river for safety. It was just about 2 o'clock when, everything became inky black and a terrible roaring broke out of the night. I was alone in the pilot house and most of those below had turned in. In a second something struck the boat on her port beam and turned her over on her starboard side. I thought she would never right herself and a monster wave dashed over us. It flooded the hold and smashed every window around us. With the rush of water into her hole the Oliver slowly righted in less than two minutes after having struck she was resting on the bottom only the pilot house above the river. Two life boats were swept away and one left. Into this the engineer, assistant engineer, purser and one white and colored passengers climbed and put off in hope of catching up with a tow boat that could be seen ahead of us. I never saw them after they left our side. Their going left the stewardess and one white and two colored passengers on board with me. We stood in water waist deep until 6 o'clock in the morning, when a Norfolk & Southern 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 a chance to reach the deck and must have drowned in their berths." A special to The Virginian-Pilot from Suffolk states that the crew of eight who embarked in the live boat were picked up after rowing four hours by the tug Gazelle of the John L. Roper Lumber Company and landed at Tunis. There they took the train for Suffolk and latter went to Franklin. They reported that they were unable to overtake the tug which they set out to reach and finally came up with a barge anchored in the river from which they were taken by the Gazelle. It was learned tonight that a white man name Wilder of Colerain, N.C., is also among the drowned work will be started tomorrow to recover the bodies and if possible, raise the steamer. Five years ago the Olive while running an excursion sprang aleak and went down within last night's scene. At that time no lives were lost. STORM IN THE COUNTY. A terrible storm that swept over the county Monday night wrought considerable damage through the area in which it passed. It was a southwest wind blowing at a velocity of thirty to fifty miles an hour. In the Cashie Neck Mr. R.T. Hyman was made absolutely homeless. Other residents in his vicinity also suffered. At this writing we are unable to ascertain the various details. Suffice it to say it is great - the worst we have had in over twelve years. Verbatim transcription by Marianne Nichols Ordway ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Neil Baker ___________________________________________________________________