J. Albert Haycox, 77, and Mrs. Joe Mat White, 46, both of Hancock Co., Kentucky, died Tuesday evening in a crash between an Ohio River towboat and the Tell City ferry boat which was operated by Haycox between Tell City and Kentucky the past 21 years. The ferry is owned by the H&C Ferry company which concern also operates the larger ferries between Cannelton and Hawesville. The company is owned by Earl H. Bettinger of Tell City.
Jack Bauer and Fred Reutter, both Tell City men, saw the accident. They were at the river at Sunset Park which is just adjacent to the ferry landing at the foot of Washington Street. Bauer told the News they saw Mrs. White go down the bank to the boat and saw the gasoline engine powered 10-passenger launch type ferry boat leave the Indiana shore.
He said it appeared that Mr. Haycox never saw the oncoming towboat and continued its course directly across the river toward the Kentucky shore. Bauer said the towboat pilot continued blowing the loud air horn on the boat but the ferry continued on and was struck by the front barge in the tow.
He said the ferry boat turned over under the "rake" of the front of the barge and disappeared. Bauer ran for help. His first thought was of the Tell City Fire Department emergency squad and its new equipment for saving lives, so he reported the accident to the fire department. Reutter remained at the scene and said it wasn't but a few minutes until the top of the ferry boat reappeared, on the Indiana side of the front barge of the tow. By this time the tow was drifting rapidly downstream backwards and the pilot had previously stopped the forward motion of the boat and had it in reverse.
The towboat involved was the "Valvoline," a 3200 horsepower boat owned by the Ashland Streamline Tow and Refining Company of Ashland, Kentucky. It had a total length of 1310 ft and was pushing four barges loaded with crude oil from New Orleans and Ostrica, Louisiana, bound for Ashland. The two front barges were of the new type with a "stub" aft and "rake" bow and these two barges were making their maiden voyage.
Captain of the tow which carried a 14-man crew was Frances Walters, 39, R.R. # 6, Evansville. The pilot was C.E. Kimmel, 40, 3637 Folsom St., St Louis, Missouri. The "Valvoline" was commissioned two years ago as the "Sohio Cleveland" and was owned and built for the Sohio Refining Company. She was later sold to the Ashland concern and renamed the "Valvoline."
Pilot Kimmel told a News reporter that he proceeded up river when he saw the ferry boat leave the Indiana Shore. He said his tow was 300 ft from the Indiana side of the river. According to his story, he began sounding his whistle when the ferry was still some 150 feet away. But the boat continued on its course, he said, and he began sounding the distress signal but still the ferry continued on. He said he immediately began the reversal of his propellers but he could see the small boat go under the left forward corner of the front barge and turnover.
The tow boat crew tied a line to the ferry boat when the top of it appeared above the water and fastened the boat to the Indiana side of the front barge. The towboat then continued to back downstream until at a point near the plant of the U.S. Brick Company it was able to get the front end of the tow near enough to the Indiana shore to tie up. This placed the small ferry some 75 feet from shore in swift water and off a bank which was covered with nearly 30 inches of soft mud. The river had been running out swiftly and falling 2 days prior to the accident date.
The Tell City Fire Department Emergency Squad had arrived on the scene long before this. Equipment for reviving the victims in the boat was taken aboard the tow by means of a small outboard motor boat owned and operated by Edgar Euer. The emergency crew was made up of Fire Chief Jerome Richard and firemen and crew members Jesse Harpe., Oscar Poehlein, William Hartz Jr, Leon White and Ed Montgomery. They were very ably assisted by Euer. After the tow boat was tied up the crew members went to work to get a line around the boat after a diver from the tow was unable to find any bodies in the ferry boat.
After the line was fastened to the small boat the other end was taken to the top of the bank and fastened to a tractor which at been brought to the scene by Clarence Kress and owned by Dauby Motor Company. The line was fastened to the tractor and it took out across the cornfield and pulled the ferry boat through the water and the soft mud and into the willows where the water soon ran out of the boat and it was possible to begin a search for the bodies. Most of this work on the shore was done by the Tell City fireman with the aid of one member of the towboat group whose name wasn't learned. The bodies of the two big victims were quickly recovered and taken to shore through the more than knee-deep muck and mud to the waiting fire department ambulance.
The accident happened between 4:10 and 4:15, the towboat proceeded on up the river about 7:30. Mr. Haycox' watch had stopped at 4:16 PM. According to Perry County Coroner Edward Schierholtzer who investigated the accident. He said a bruise was found on Mr Haycox' forehead which might have knocked him out and which probably was sustained when the two boats ran together. No bruises were found on the woman's body. Corner Schierholtzer said both deaths were due to drowning. He returned the verdict of 'death due to accidental drowning.
Late Tuesday night, Coast Guard officials arrived in Tell City to investigate the accident. Here, working on the case, were Commander A.W. Medcalf, Louisville, officer in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Inspection Office in Louisville; and Kenneth Templeton, Chief Boatswain, Coast Guard, Louisville. They talked to witnesses here and planned then to go on to Ashland to talk to members of the towboat crew. Commander Medcalf indicated no charges will be filed as it appeared the mishap was accidental. The ferry boat is known as the "Tell City." However it is merely registered by a number with a U.S. Coast Guard.
Earl H. Bettinger, owner of the company was out of the city Tuesday but returned home late that night. He told the News Wednesday morning he had crews at the scene where the ferry was pulled to the bank and they would try to refloat the boat and then repair it and return it to service as soon as possible. A hole had been chopped in the roof of the cabin in a vain effort to get to the bodies. It was thought the boat was not greatly damaged.
Mrs. Joe Mat White is the former Mrs. Betty Hendrix. She was born near Lewisport, Kentucky November 5th, 1904, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Hendrix. She lived her entire life in the vicinity of West Tell City, KY., near the home of Mr. and Mrs. Haycox who lived right at the ferry landing. The body was at the Taylor Funeral Home in Lewisport until the funeral hour. Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon at 2:30 at the Hawesville Baptist Church with the Rev C.L. Hardcastle, Church Pastor, officiating. Burial in the Lewisport Cemetery.
J. Albert Haycox was born in English, IN, in 1873, the son of John and Margaret Haycox. He was married December 24th, 1902 in Brandenburg, Kentucky., to Miss Sadie Popham. Two daughters were born to them one daughter, Mrs Alberta Costello died in 1939. He also has one half brother in Tell City, Israel Satterfield.
Mr. Haycox was a member of the Christian church and was a 25-year member of Leavenworth Masonic Lodge. He was an old river man, having followed that line of work most of his life. He and his family lived in West Tell City since 1913 and he has been operating the Tell City Ferry the past 21 years. He worked here first for the Obrecht Manufacturing Company and was pilot on the "Alma," a towboat used by that concern to bring timber to Tell City for using in its hub plant. That boat was captained by the late Sam Stettler, Tell City. In more recent years Mr. Haycox was pilot on the "Idlewild" and the "Tell City" and the "Tarascon" packets which plied between Louisville and Evansville during the river packet days.
The body is at the Goering Funeral Home in Hawesville. Funeral services are to be held this Friday afternoon at 2 o clock with a reverend A.J. Gilliam pastor of the Hawesville Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in the Hawesville Cemetery with Hancock lodge No. 115, F. & A. M. In charge of services at the grave.
Albert Haycox was a highly respected citizen of this area. He actually lived in Kentucky, just opposite Tell City, but regarded Tell City as his home and received his mail in Tell City. He seldom missed a single day to make at least one or two trips up to town from the river and had many friends in this city.
(Feb. 27, 1951 Tell City News)
Betty Dorcas Hendrick White
BIRTH
25 Nov 1904 Breckinridge County, Kentucky
DEATH 24 Apr 1951 (aged 46)
Hancock County, Kentucky
BURIAL Lewisport Cemetery
Lewisport, Hancock County, Kentucky
Parents
John Miller Hendrick 1870–1952
Clara Miller Hendrick 1869–1944
Spouse
Joseph Matthew White
1903–1968
Siblings
William Jennings Hendrick 1896–1929
Children
Henson Miller White 1927–1995
James T White 1934–2018
Bonnie I White Meserve 1936–2019
James Albert Haycox
BIRTH 23 Jan 1873
DEATH 24 Feb 1951 (aged 78)
BURIAL Hawesville Cemetery
Hawesville, Hancock County, Kentucky
"Mason"
Spouse
Sarah Margaret Popham Haycox 1886 – unknown
Children
James Haycox 1911–1911
Alberta Stella Haycox Costello 1914–1939
Vena Margaret Haycox Young 1919–2000
"No grave photo"
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