Wilcox County man severely injured in 'last great steamboat accident on the rivers of Alabama'

The steamboat James T. Staples.

A man from Wilcox County was severely injured in the “last great steamboat accident on the rivers of Alabama,” the sinking of the James T. Staples.

In its Jan. 16, 1913 edition, The Wilcox Progressive Era reported that “a most frightful disaster occurred last Thursday when the boilers of the steamboat James T. Staples exploded while the boat was at Poe’s Landing on the Bigbee River. The explosion occurred about noon and without warning. The loss of life is appalling. The cause of the explosion is unknown. The Staples formerly ran on the Alabama River.”

Those killed included Capt. Bartee, Second Clerk McKee M. Molton, Chief Engineer Kopf and 13 passengers. Seven others were “badly wounded,” including John Farr of the Nellie community.

Elsewhere in that week’s paper, it was reported that “Mr. John Farr of Nellie was on the ill-fated steamer, Staples, when her boilers exploded and was considerably injured. At latest accounts, it was thought that he would recover.”

Some readers might know that there’s an unusual ghost story associated with the sinking of the James T. Staples. As the story goes, Norman Staples and his father, James T. Staples, were turn-of-the-century steamboat entrepreneurs who had a run of very bad luck. James designed and built “the grandest steamboat the rivers of Alabama had ever seen,” and the ship, which was named the James T. Staples, was launched in 1908. James died soon thereafter, and ownership of the ship passed to Norman.

Norman soon got into deep debt, and creditors seized his steamboat in December 1912. They auctioned it off, which caused Norman to suffer a breakdown and commit suicide. After his burial at Bladon Springs Cemetery, which, through the woods, is a short distance from the banks of the Tombigbee River, things took a turn for the weird.

A few days after Norman’s funeral, crewmen on the James T. Staples claimed to see Norman's ghost walking the ship at night. The ship’s crew quit and were replaced by new men, who also reported seeing Norman’s ghost. A few days later, when the boat returned to its dock, “every rat on the ship came like a flood off the decks, down to the shoreline and fled.” On the night of Jan. 12, 1913, crewmen reported seeing Norman’s ghost in the ship’s boiler room.

Just 11 days after Norman’s suicide, on Jan. 13, 1913, the steamboat docked at Powe’s Landing for fuel and supplies, and sometime later the ship’s boiler exploded, killing 26 and injuring many others. The explosion freed the boat from its moorings, and it drifted downriver some distance before finally sinking near the bank near Bladon Springs Cemetery. The sinking of the James T. Staples is said to have been the “last great steamboat accident on the rivers of Alabama.”

In the end, I could not determine if John Farr of Nellie died from the wounds he suffered aboard the James T. Staples. Cemetery records provide no clear answers as far as I can tell, so if anyone in the reading audience knows anything more about Farr, please let me know.