George Silas Turner was born on May 2, 1866 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the son of William Franklin Turner and Elizabeth Carr Turner. On November 8, 1885, in Stewart County, Tennessee he married Louella E. Bridges, the daughter of Simco N. Bridges and Emeline Martin Bridges.
George was a farmer who lived with his family about eighteen miles south of Cadiz. On the evening of January 31, 1924, George was in Paducah, Kentucky. He was planning to return to Trigg County by boarding the steamer ship, the “Tom C. Powell”. The “Tom C. Powell” made regular trips cruising up the Ohio River to its junction with the Cumberland River and then following the Cumberland down to Nashville, Tennessee. George planned to disembark the ship at Sugar Tree Landing, Kentucky, where he would return to his farm in southern Trigg County.
When the ship was about eight miles above Paducah in the channel of the Ohio River, it struck an obstruction and within three minutes the ship sunk into the river. George Silas Turner died in the sinking of the ship.
The body of George Turner was recovered about ten thirty the following day by three survivors of the disaster. According to the Paducah News Democrat, Turner's body was found “on the deck, wedged behind a freight box, one hand was partially out of the water.” Water was so deep in the cabin of the sunken steamer, that no attempt was made to find the body of Joe Creamer, .19, another Trigg County citizen, who was believed to have been caught in the cabin with Turner when the Powell sank. Turner was traveling with Creamer who lived with his father on a farm owned by Turner’s brother-in-law, J. B. Downs in Sugar Tree Landing, Kentucky.
In addition, three “roustabouts” were lost on the ship. All of them were seen on the hurricane deck of the boat a few moments before she struck and careened so rapidly that her smokestacks fell into the river. The three young men probably jumped or were thrown into the river, surviving passengers said. They had been playing cards with Turner and Creamer when the crash came which sent the Powell to the bottom. The steamer’s Second Clerk Leo Blake said soon after the wreck that he heard someone struggling to get out of the freight while he and Mrs. Mary McReynolds, the only woman aboard were caught against the outer wall of the cabin.
The Captain of the ship, who survived, found that ice had formed around the steamer soon after it sank, but he stated that he didn’t think the vessel was wrecked by the light floe of ice but had struck a much heavier obstruction in the channel. The water that swept through the Powell carried away a small fortune in money and valuables. The steamer’s safe, containing money and jewelry, was lost and passengers were unable to save any of the belongings in the staterooms. One passenger from Kuttawa, had $460 in his stateroom, the proceeds of the tobacco crop he had just sold in Paducah.
Turner’s body was sent back downstream to Paducah on another steamer where it was identified by John Sumner, of Paducah, a nephew of George Turner. The coroner ruled that the cause of death was accidental drowning. Because of the lack of communication at that time, there was difficulty in notifying his family of his death. On February 3, Sheriff W. C. Broadbent of Trigg County announced in the city court room that Turner had drowned on the Powell and that he had sent four messengers into the “rough country” south of Cadiz to notify his wife and two of his sons, who had nearby farms of their father’s death.
According to the news article at the time, Turner’s survivors included his wife and five daughters and four sons. They were Mrs. May Morgan, of Trigg County, Mrs. Emma Thomas of Illinois, Ethel Turner, 20, Mahala Turner, 17, and Willie Turner, 14, all of Trigg County and Alvin Turner, of Gilbertsville, Sam Turner and Julius Turner who owned farms in Trigg County, and Jesse Turner, 15, who lived at his father’s home.
Photo of the steamer "Tom C. Powell" docked at one of its ports.
LINEAGE: (George Silas Turner was the husband of Louella E, Bridges. Louella was the daughter of Simco N. and Emeline Martin Bridges. Simco was the third child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
Husband of my third cousin. Lisa
ReplyDeleteHusband of my third cousin.
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