A River Horror Probably Prevented Five Generations in One Family
Ironton Register, Thursday, August 25, 1902
Golden City Explosion – As noted in Tuesday’s Register, four generations were represented in a family gathering. There is another home in Ironton whose representatives of four generations live and take their daily bread together.
It is not an accidental or social or temporary coming together. Still, it is the abiding home of all, where all enjoy the sweets of daily domestic life, from the octogenarian great-grandfather to the prattling 2-year-old great-granddaughter. The home we allude to is the Hotel Olive. Mr. Shade Ward, aged 87, and his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Brammer, and Will Brammer, grandson of Mr. Ward, and Will’s children, great-grandchildren of Mr. Ward.
Mr. Ward would doubtless have been a great-great-grandfather had not a ghastly accident occurred to prevent it. That is, he would have had great-grandchildren of marriageable age. The accident we allude to was one of the tragic river horrors occasionally occurring on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
We referred to the burning of the Cincinnati and New Orleans packet Golden City fifteen years ago when nearly a hundred lives were lost. It was a Mardi Gras trip. Scores of people were taking their first ride on a river steamer, and when the wires flashed the news of the casualty broadcast over the land, there was mourning in many a home far distant from the spot where the dread holocaust occurred.
Among the passengers were Mrs. Eva Kountz, wife of Lewis Kountz, the well-known retired riverman of Burlington, and their three children. Mrs. Kountz was the granddaughter of Mr. Ward. She had been to New Orleans visiting her husband, a pilot then running in the Red River trade, and was returning home on the ill-fated Golden City.
The mother and three children perished. Mr. Ward offered a reward of $300 for the discovery and identification of any of the bodies. The searchers found the body of a woman thought from the description to be Mrs. Kountz and brought it to Ironton. The casket was opened on the wharf boat, but the face was so disfigured that Mr. Ward was not permitted to see it.
The body was buried in Woodland cemetery and rests there today, but it is probably not that of Mrs. Kountz, as when Mr. Ward was later informed that the dead woman had false teeth, he said it was not his granddaughter, as she had her natural teeth.
On the Golden City as passengers were Dr. I. T. Monahan and the wife of Jackson. It was their first trip on a river steamboat and their last, for both perished and their lives were never recovered, though the diligent search was done. From the description, many believe that the unknown woman sleeping in Woodland is Mrs. Monahan.
LAWRENCE COUNTY PEOPLE BURNED TO DEATH.
Ironton Register April 6, 1882
A fire destroyed last Thursday, the Golden City from New Orleans near Memphis. Mrs. L. E. Kouns, formerly Miss Eva Browning of Ironton, and her three children are lost. Also, Miss Campbell, daughter of Thos. Campbell, of Burlington. They had been at Shreveport, where Mr. L. E. Kouns makes his headquarters, while engaged as a pilot and were returning to spend the summer at the old home. The case is sad, and the community deeply sympathizes with the bereaved husband and father.
Albert Wilgus, of Proctorville, was also on the boat but escaped injury. We give the Western Associated Press account of the disaster:
Memphis, Tenn., March 30. – 10:20 A.M. – The Steamer Golden City of the Southern Transportation Company’s line, when approaching the harbor this morning at 4:30, was discovered by fire by the second engineer, Robt—Kelly, who immediately notified Captain Bryse Purcell, sr., the pilot on watch.
The boat’s bow was headed for shore, and four minutes afterward, she touched the wharf at the foot of Beale street, where a coal fleet is moored. A line was hastily thrown and made fast to one of the coal barges, but the current being swift, it soon parted, and the burning steamer floated on down the river, a mass of flames, with many of her passengers and crew aboard, who were unable to reach shore, and was lost.
The Golden City left New Orleans last Saturday en route for Cincinnati. She carried a crew of about sixty. She had aboard forty cabin passengers, fifteen women, and nine children. Her cargo consisted of three hundred tons, a lot of jute. The fire is said to have its origin in this combustible material.
Among those known to have been lost are:
- Dr. I. T. Monahan, and wife of Jackson, Ohio.
- Mrs. Crary, of Cincinnati.
- Miss Lucila Crary of Cincinnati.
- W. H. Stowe, wife, and two children.
- Ollie Wood and wife, Henderson, Kentucky.
- Mrs. Anna Smith, Massachusetts.
- Miss Campbell of Burlington.
- Mrs. L. E. Kouns and three children of Burlington.
The books of the steamer were lost, so it is impossible to gather a complete list of the lost and saved.
Shreveport Standard, March 26, 1882 – The deepest sorrow is felt for all who perished on the ill-fated steamer, but particularly for Mrs. L. E. Kouns, her three children, and Miss Nannie Campbell, who were among the lost.
The sad news was broken to Captain Lewis E. Kouns when he returned yesterday from upper Red River to this port aboard his steamer, Cornie Brandon, of which he is master. The word arrived in the form of a telegram sent by Captain Noah Scovell from New Orleans. Mrs. L. E. Kouns left here Wednesday on the John Scully, bound for Lawrence County, Ohio, to spend the summer.
She was accompanied by her three children, Bonnie Lee, age 5, George, age 3, and Rachel, age 1; also, Miss Nannie Campbell, a cousin of Captain Kouns, who had been spending the winter with her in Shreveport. Mrs. Kouns’ maiden name was Browning, and she was a native of Boyd county, Ky., where Captain Kouns married her.
Captain Kouns is a nephew of our fellow citizen, Capt. Matt L. Scovell is well known among steamboatmen, generally. Captain Noah Scovell left New Orleans for Memphis immediately after he heard of the fire. Capt. L. E. Kouns, accompanied by Alex Weiler, leaves here this morning.
IR May 4, 1882 [Except] Disinterred. – Mistake as to Finding the Body of Mrs. Kouns. Mrs. Kouns was one of the unfortunate victims of the Golden City disaster. The body was buried at Woodland [Ironton, Ohio]. The husband could not identify the jewelry that was thought to be hers. The body was disinterred and re-examined – the body is thought to be that of Mrs. Dr. Monahan of Jackson.
[Capt. L. E. Kouns eventually remarried and had one son, Louis E. Kouns. Capt. Kouns died in 1909]
0 Comments