'Winchester' remembered The Messenger Thursday January 1, 1998 This article courtesy of Greg Rayburn Editor/Owner CHESTER -- The might side-wheel packet, "Winchester," largest and most lavish ever to ply the Ohio River in the Pittsburgh to Parkersburg trade, was upbound just off East Liverpool on a cold February night in 1866 on the return leg of her maiden voyage. William J. Abrams, the pilot on watch, noted it was just after 3:300 in the morning on that February 23 when he passed the sleeping town off his port bow. He kept a particularly close watch from the darkened pilot house because the current was running swiftly in the swollen stream and chunks of floating ice occasionally bumped against the sides. He strained his eyes in the gloom as he neared the approach to Babb's Island. He knew he had to keep the island to port and close to the West Virginia shore to keep safely within the channel. Asa Shepherd, the master, was asleep, as were the passengers in the big craft's 54 staterooms. The boat bulked while against the gloom of the river. Her new paint gleamed and her brasswork was spotless. The big paddle wheels, each 28 feet in diameter turned steadily as they drove the "Winchester" toward her home port. Since she was a brand new craft and termed "the finest ever put in service in the Pittsburgh-Parkersburg trace," she carried a nearly-full passenger list. Her hold, more than six feet in depth, was packed with cargo. On the forward deck, she carried more cargo, including bales of hay and straw. The shades were drawn in the stateroom windows to prevent a flickering light from reflecting on the water and confusing the pilot. Forward, near the bow, there were torch baskets that could be lighted if the craft made a landing at night. But they were primarily for the benefit of the deckhands and mates to assure that they would moor the boat quickly and correctly when she neared the wharf. The pilot depended on his carefully catalogues memories of the river as she appeared in all stages and at all seasons. Salient landmarks stood out through the gloom. He steered the craft with the confidence of a man walking through his darkened livingroom - knowing were all the danger spots were and how to work his way up to the open channel. The East Liverpool wharf was a frequent stop for the packets and they often raced each other when (the story continues on another page and obviously some content is missing.) Her cabin was 165 feet long. Its chandeliers were fabricated in Philadelphia, as were the sheets and pillowcases on her berths. The silverware had been purchased in New York City. The owners, striving for innovations in the river boat tradition of dining in the grand manner, had equipped the galley with a newfangled steam table to help keep the food warm. She carried a Chickering piano in her main salon. George Young, the bar-keeper, served drinks to the swells and nabobs and just common folk who traveled on the "Winchester." James Diven was the steward. Frederick Way Junior of Sewickley, the region's best-known river historian, commented that she was lavishly furnished, probably the best that ever ran in the trade. The hull of the "Winchester" was built by the firm of Crissinger and Sons at McKeesport. Her boilers were built by the firm of Watson & Monrow of Pittsburgh. Millinger & Cassidy furnished the cabin structure. Her sidewheel engines, built by James Rees & Sons of Pittsburg, were 22 inches in diameter with a seven foot stroke. Captain Moore still had not sighted the foot of Babb's Island when the dreaded cry: "Fire! Fire!" carried upward from one of the lower decks. The deckhands on watch hurried toward the hand pumps, but the flames spread quickly to oil barrels amidships. In an emergency such as this, Captain Abrams knew there was only one hope-beach the craft's bow against the nearest shoreline in hopes the crew and passengers would be able to leap to safety. Passengers, roused from their staterooms by the clamor, ran wildly about the deck in their night clothing. Captain Abrams swung the bow toward the West Virginia shore and the bells in the engine room clanged as he rang directions to the men on watch below. The boat was "blazing like tinder' as she swept toward shore. But fare intervened. The bow grounded on a submerged sandbar and the boat came short of touching shore. Many of the passengers had fled aft to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the flames. The stern, caught by the strong current, swung toward the center of the stream. The roaring blaze amidships made it impossible for many of the passengers to make their way to the bow and leap toward the shore. With the flames between them and safety, many of the terrified passengers leaped overboard and attempted to swim. Some who jumped from the upstream side were swept underneath the hull and drowned. Others lost their lives in a vain attempt to swim in the icy waters. And some burned to death. W. M. Sheets, a passenger who was an expert swimmer, dragged an hysterical woman from a cabin thinking she was his wife and swam to shore with her in tow. But when he reached the ice fringed bank, he found it was a woman he did not know. A later search showed that his wife and the husband of the woman he had saved had both burned to death. A man who went down in history only as "Racky" Porter of New Cumberland leaped into the river and swam with his small son on his back. A river historian found the son still living in New Cumberland in 1890, but did not record his name. The flames were visible for great distances. East Liverpool roused itself for rescue attempts, but when the first samaritans arrived on the scene it was too late for anything except to aid the survivors. Mrs. Enoch Bradshaw looked out a window of her big home on East 4th Street at Broadway present sit of the Car- negie Library and saw the flames outlined starkly against the dark West Virginia hills. She did not know that it was the first act in a little drama that would involve her family for two more generations long after her death. When dawn came, the proud "Winchester" was burned to the water line. Estimates of the loss of life ranged from 20 to 30 or more. In addition to the passen- gers, about eight deckhands and roustabouts were drowned or burned to death. Legend and tradition say they were buried on the spot in unmarked graves. And if they were, their mouldering bones are deep under the river now. The level has been raised twice in the interim by the artificial pools created by dams. When the "Winchester" went down, the first series of locks and dams was 40 years in the future. In her era, the river was navigable when mother nature provided enough water for the shallow draft boats. But in times of drought in late sum- mer and early fall, steamboats were sometimes tied up, idle. Shipping interests had started a campaign for locks and dams to assure their boats "Nine Feet to Cairo" a safe channel in all seasons. The river's pool off Chester and East Liverpool was raised again in the 1960's With the completion of the Stratton "super dam." Despite intensive research, there's no indication just how many passengers the "Winchester" carried on the fateful night. In addition to the captain and the pilot of the other functionaries, however, the names of her owners have gone into history. W. J. Kountz was ship's clerk. His name later was applied to a sandbar which became Kountz Bar. The Customs House records listed her owners as Captain Daniel Moore, George D. Moore, James Hamilton and John Ackley, all of Pittsburgh, and S. Sheets and M. Sheets of Washington County, OH. The Moore brothers, both natives of the Wellsville area, were river veterans and their careers were to continue despite the loss of the "Winchester." Another steamer of the same name had run in the trade on both the upper and lower Ohio in the 1840's and 1850's. With a sister ship named the "Diurnal", she ran a daily service between Pittsburgh and Wheeling. Frederick Way's records show that Captain George Moore and Captain Daniel Moore were members of a family of ten children raised on a farm near Wellsville. George Moore, born in 1821, died in 1904. Daniel Moore, born in 1828, died in 1906. Captain George was master of the steamer "Caleb Cope" in the 1850's. He was also master of the "Orb," which was built in Wheeling in 1864. He took both boats on long trips up the Mississippi to St. Paul, Minn. In 1845, Captain George built the sternwheeler "Eclipse" at a cost of $16,000.00, selling her to Captain James Wise of Cincinatti shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. The "Eclipse" was destined to figure in one of the major marine calamities of the war. Her boilers exploded in the Tennessee River on January 26, 1865, while moving troops for the Federal government. The death toll was 140. When he disposed of the "Eclipse," Captain George next built the "Prima Donna" about 1861. She was used principally in the Pittsburgh-St. Louis Trade. During 1862, he ran her from Pittsburgh to the lower Ohio, carrying cargoes of heavy guns, shot and other ordnance for the government. After the "Winchester" loss, Captain George bought another craft called the "Bayard," which was used in the Monongahela River, and continued in the Ohio trade. He and Andrew Ackley purchased or built the sidewheeler "J. N. McCullough." The river historians say Moore probably had a hand in building the boat because she was named for a railroad executive from Wellsville who lived next door to the Moore family. Captain George's last boat was the "Eclipse," a light draft Missouri River Sternwheeler built at Pittsburgh in 1878. His name fades from the river his- Tories after the first trip of the "Eclipse." Captain Dan Moore eventually Became treasurer of the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad at Meadville, Pennsyl- Vania. A son, Edgar M. Moore, later was a Pittsburgh businessman. The story of the "Winchester" disaster is told in several accounts, all Written well after the event. And none attempts to set the exact loss of life. It is recited in "Columbiana County History," a reliable source, published in 1905 by William B. McCord of Salem. He says "about 20 persons drowned." (Continued on page 6, missing text) of the disaster, published in the February 9, 1908 edition of the old Pitts- burgh Post, says that "more than 30 passengers, besides members of the crew," were lost in the disaster. Way told the story of the Moore brothers in a comprehensive article published in the December 4, 1943, issue of The Waterworks Journal, but made only passing reference to the "Winchester" disaster. However, his persona records furnished most of the data on the building of the ill fated vessel, her dimensions and other technical data and the suppliers who helped fit her out. Way says there is no exact photo of the "Winchester" and "not even a sketch" so far as he can learn. "She was brand new' she was lost before any photos were taken," he says. Tradition and legend says that the purser's safe was lost in the icy depths of the Ohio that night and never has been recovered. The Pittsburgh Post's account said that the captain's report to U. S. inspectors "showed the boat and her car- go to be of immense value. A large sum of money in the purser's safe was lost." McCord's history says that the craft "had a large list of passengers besides Heavy consignments of freight." H.B. Barth, curator of the East Liverpool Historical Society, confirmed the Report that the "Winchester" safe was never recovered. Ernest C. Smith of West 3rd Street, a student of river lore who built models and painted river scenes, said he had heard similar stories from old-time steamboat men. Barth Wrote the story of the disaster in his 1924 in his "History of Columbiana County." But there was a sequel that came too late for publication in the book. Barth said the "Winchester" was beached on the bar near Chester, off shore from The site that later held the plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. "A couple of years ago, a dredge boat was working in that area and I contacted the owners and told them about the missing safe," Barth recalled. "They told me they would ask their men to get as close to shore as possible and to keep a sharp outlook for it. The dredge worked there for a week, but the safe never was found. It's still there. It must contain a lot of money of early vintage that would be a great value now. Someday, someone may find it." Smith said he had heard legends that the passenger list "included a lot of rich Plantation owners from the South on a pleasure cruise to Pittsburgh, and they Had stowed all their jewels and other valuables in the purser's safe." Smith continued, "Whatever was in that safe, it's probably under many feet of river much now." Barth added, "The changes in the channel and the river pool, along with many floods, probably buried the safe to the point that it never will be found." Both men speculated that perhaps when excavations were to made on the new Chester Bridge, something would turn up. Nothing did, of course. Barth's grandmother, Mrs. Enoch Bradshaw, had watched the conflagration from her big brick house on the current site of the library. The next morning, somehow, she found herself the custodian of a baby girl who had been found on the riverbank. The story was that the child had been placed on a floating cake of ice as the craft burned and had drifted safely to shore. Her parents could not be found. Mrs. Bradshaw agreed to care for the youngster until the confusion died and she could be restored to her parents. Mrs. Bradshaw kept the child for three or four months until members of the baby's family were located. And then came the sequel that spanned the generations. "About ten years ago," Barth recounted, (30 years ago at today's date, 1998) "a man came to my office and introduced himself stating he was from Mobile, Alabama. He was told I was familiar with the story and he wanted to see where The "Winchester" burned. His grandmother was the baby that drifted to the East Liverpool shore that night on the cake of ice. He told me that she had been cared for by an East Liverpool family and finally restored to her family. He had made the trip here to see where the boat burned and where his grandmother was rescued. "I told him 'It was my grandmother who took your grandmother in and cared for her after the wreck. He was amazed. So was I. I took him to the spot where the "Winchester" burned, and we stood and talked awhile about the amazing coincidence, and then he went back to Mobile." *** This is an account of the 1866 disaster, the burning of the "Winchester", off the shores of Chester and Babb's Island. The article was originally titled FIRE ON THE RIVER and was written and information accumulated by the late Robert Popp, the esteemed East Liverpool Review reporter.