Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-23-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 23 Cothran. A Search of African American Life, Achievement and Culture. 2006, p. 177.

— 23 Frederick Post, MD. “More Bodies Recovered,” May 18, 1925, p. 1.

— 23 Kingsport Times, TN. “Search Continues for Bodies of 21 Lost in Disaster, 5-11-1925, p.1.

— 23 Laurel Daily Leader, MS. “Body of Boat Victim Found,” May 13, 1925, p. 1.

— 23 Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “River Deaths Mount,” May 9, 1925, p. 1.

— 23 Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. “Two Drown While Seeking Bodies,” May 25, 1925, 2.

— 23 Syracuse Herald, NY. “Smashing of Rudder Principal Cause…Steamer’s Sinking,” 5-26-25

— 23 Wikipedia. “Tom Lee Park.” Jan 23, 2011 modification.

— 22 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 184.

— 22 Kingsport Times, TN. “Rivermen Watching for Victims of Disaster,” May 10, 1925, 1.

Narrative Information

Cothran: “What city, located on the Mississippi River, has a park and monument to Tom Lee (1910-1952)? This monument honored Lee for his valor in using his boat to save 32 lives, when the steamer M.E. Norman sank twenty miles south of this city on May 8, 1925. On that day, the 113-foot-long steamboat carried 72 passengers on a trip to see the river and have a picnic. The passengers were attending a convention in Memphis. A strong current caught the steamboat and caused it to capsize in the river. Lee, who could not swim, witnessed the tragedy and raced to the overturned ship in his 28-foot motorboat, rescuing 32 survivors. Twenty-three people from the boat drowned. Tom Lee Park is a mile and a half along the banks of the Mississippi River. A monument dedicated to Tom Lee is located in the park, near Front Street….” (Cothran. A Search of African American Life, Achievement and Culture. 2006, p. 177.)

Newspapers

May 8: “Associated Press. Memphis, Tenn., May 8. Four are known to be dead and fourteen are missing as a result of the capsizing of the United States steamer Norman, 16 miles sound of Memphis on the Mississippi river today, a recheck of survivors showed shortly before midnight tonight. The survivors arrived here at 11:30 p.m. on board the steamer Mississippi.

“The list of known dead:

Professor Walter Kirkpatrick, University of Mississippi;

Mrs. Walter Kirkpatrick;

Major W.M. Gardner of Memphis;

Mrs. J.F. Dorroh, wife of head of University of Mississippi engineering department.

“The missing and unaccounted for:

C.E. Shearer, Memphis;

E.H. Bowser, Memphis;

Paul N. Norcross, Atlanta;

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bosard and son, Memphis;

Mrs. Hidinger, Memphis;

Major Charles Miller, Little Rock, Ark.;

H.L. Anderson, Memphis;

W.M. Hammond, Memphis;

Roy Thompson, Memphis, member of crew;

Jack Cothran, Memphis, engineer on the Norman;

Will Moore, negro, member of crew;

Tom Plunkett, negro, member of crew.

“The bodies of Professor Kirkpatrick and Major Gardner have been recovered and identified. They were brought to Memphis. Survivors said that they were positive Mrs. Kirkpatrick and Mrs. Dorroh were drowned.

“The Norman sank as she was returning from Cow Island with a party of engineers here attending the convention of the Mid-South Association of Engineers. She was moving along smoothly, according to survivors, when she suddenly began rocking. This continued for perhaps five minutes when she careened far over and failed to recover. Three minutes later she had virtually gone from sight.

“The scene of the disaster is 16 miles south of Memphis opposite Coahoma Landing and 300 feet from the Tennessee shore.

“The steamer had on board about fifty persons and of these approximately forty tonight were huddled in a little cabin on the shore of the river near the scene of the disaster. The place is isolated and difficult to reach. Newspaper men sent to the scene were forced to made their way to Tunica, miss., eight miles away, traveling part way on mule back, part by boat and part in an automobile, to obtain wire facilities.

“The steamer sank exactly at 5:10 p.m., according to survivors. At first she began rocking from side to side, careening so that persons on board were forced to run from one side to the other in an effort to remain on the high side of the boat. Finally she careened so far that she could not recover. Survivors said however, that there was no panic.

“Tom Lea, operating a motor boat for the Tennessee Construction company, who happened to be passing the Norman when she turned over, saved the lives of most of those rescued. W.W. Deberard of Memphis told The Associated Press that but for this fact virtually every person on board would have been drowned. Few persons managed to swim ashore.

“There was no explosion when the boat sank, the survivors said. Jack Cothran, engineer, having turned off the fuel oil under the boilers when the boat began to misbehave.

“The first news of the accident reached Memphis when George Foster of Memphis, who swam ashore, reached the K.R. Armistead plantation along the river near Lake Cormorant, Miss., and telephoned for help….Immediately that word reached here, efforts at rescue were started. Speed boats bearing physicians and newspapermen started for the scene and the steamer Choctaw, another government steamer which had carried a group of the engineers on the afternoon’s visit to Cow Island, turned about as quickly as she could unload her passengers and take on physicians from the city hospital here….

“At 11 o’clock tonight, according to reports from the scene, the steamers Monitor and Chisca, both equipped with searchlights, were cruising the waters at the scene endeavoring to locate bodies….

“The survivors were taken to a…cabin on reaching the shore and were cared for there. It was reported that they were suffering from the effects of contact with quantities of fuel oil that flowed on to the waters about the sinking vessel.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Four Drown as Ship Sinks on Mississippi,” May 9, 1925, p. 1.)

May 9: “Memphis, Tenn., May 9 – Twenty-three persons, 17 passengers and six negro members of the crew of the government river steamer Norman, were drowned in the sinking of the vessel here late Friday, it was disclosed today, after an all-night search for survivors, and a careful rechecking of the figures. Among the passengers were some of the most prominent in engineering circles of the South, including Paul H. Norcross, former president of the chamber of commerce in Atlanta, and a widely known engineering authority.

“The survivors of the ill-fated vessel number forty, according to the check list of investigators and members of the rescue party.

“Police and engineers, attending the Mid-south Association of Engineers, announced today that no hope remained for the missing members of their party and predicted that their bodies wound be found when divers reached the vessel on the river bottom.

“Shortly after dawn this morning professional divers started down into the water. Fifty-five feet beneath the surface lives the Norman. There, according to police, lie the entrapped bodies of most of the victims of the river tragedy.

“The belief prevailed that the divers will find the bodies of the drowned caught in the rigging of the vessel. The negro members of the crew are presumed to have been caught below decks, with no chance of escape.

“The death list was not put at 23 until after an extensive all-night search along the shore and at nearby farm houses for those who might have swam ashore and escaped. Reports that Norcross and others were seen in the water swimming vigorously for the shore, have not been borne out police declared, and indications were that he went down with the others on board the capsizing boat.

“The disaster occurred at Coahoga [Coahoma Landing, MS], 17 miles below Memphis, on the Mississippi. The engineering party was returning from Cow’s Island, where an afternoon session of the engineering society had been held and all were in gay moods as they steamed up the Mississippi in the late afternoon sunlight.

“After a check-up, which is being continued, the following are known dead:

Major W. M. Gardner, Memphis, body brought to Memphis.

Mrs. J. F. Darroch, wife of the dean of Mississippi university’s engineering department.

Prof. Walter C. Kirkpatrick…member of…University of Mississippi faculty and his wife.

“The missing so far as checked up:

H Bowser, of Memphis.
H. Miller, Little Rork, Ark.
E. Shearer, Memphis.

Ralph Basard, his wife and five-year-old son.

Mrs. L. Hidinger, of Memphis.

Paul Norcross ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta.

… Anderson. Memphis.
… Hamman, Memphis.

Jack Cothran, engineer of the ill-fated craft.

Roy Upson. Of the Norman’s crew.

Tom Plunkett and Will Moore, negroes,, member of the crew.

Edgar Ossard. 10, of Memphis.

Three unidentified members of the crew.

War Dept. to Probe.

“Washington, May 9 – An investigation of the circumstances surrounding the capsizing and the sinking of the steamer Norman in the Mississippi river, south of Memphis, will be made immediately by the war department, it was announced today.” (Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “River Deaths Mount,” May 9, 1925, p. 1.)

May 9: “Memphis, Tenn., May 9 – More than a score of lives were lost when the United States government steamer Norman capsized off Coahuma Landing, 16 miles below Memphis on the Mississippi river late yesterday afternoon, according to a list of dead given out here today by Mayor Rowlett Payne of Memphis. This list shows a total of 22 known dead… The boat is lying bottom up 200 yards below the point where she capsized.” (Kingsport Times, TN. “Rivermen Watching for Victims of Disaster,” May 10, 1925, p. 1.)

May 10: “Memphis, Tenn. (Associated Press), May 10 – Prevented by the strong undertow from sending divers down fifty feet to the wreck of the steamer Norman, which sank in the Mississippi river last Friday with a loss of 23 lives, United States engineers tonight had partially wrecked the gull of the vessel in the hope of releasing bodies believed trapped there.

Memphis, Tenn., May 10 –Divers endeavoring to explore the hull of the steamer M. E. Norman, which capsized near Coahoma Landing, Miss., late Friday with a loss of probably 23 lives, today were forced to forego their efforts for a time at least….

“The Norman sank in probably the worst stretch of water between Memphis and Helena, Ark. The current at this point runs as the rate of about nine miles an hour and the banks of the stream are high, composed mostly of sand. The swiftest part of the current is near the east bank [TN] of the river.

Rudder Wouldn’t Work

“Memphis, Tenn., May 8 – The rudder of the Steamer Norman failed to respond when she first began to list, Captain T. Fenton, her commander, said, after being brought here tonight with other survivors of the sinking of the vessel. Less than three minutes later, she turned over and sank, he said. ‘The Norman was headed straight up the stream with the current just below Coahoma Landing,’ Captain Fenton said.

I was running on a slow bell, flanking the boat into Coahoma Landing. She gave a sharp list to star board. When she started to list I pulled over hard, but the rudder refused to respond. I tried to have the passengers trim up the boat, but within three minutes she turned over. I was not trying to head into shore. If I had been, every soul on board would have been drowned.

“Many more would have perished but for the fact that Tom Lea, a negro employed by the Tennessee Construction Company, came along in a boat. Lea deserves the greatest of credit for the manner in which he handled his motor boat and saved the lives of at least 35 persons.

Major Connolly, myself, and two other men were the farthest down the river and the last persons rescued. I cannot say who I saw drowned or whether I saw any one. Lea landed all of us on a sand bar. We were so cold and numb that those able to move about covered the others with sand to warm them. Then we built a fire. Later we located a negro cabin and there found two fires.

“Captain Fenton said that before leaving Memphis he had arranged for life preservers to be placed on top of the boat and not tied. When the boat turned over these life preservers were thrown into the water. Captain Fenton said that without a doubt many persons owed their lives to the fact that they could grasp these life preservers and remain afloat until the motor boat came along.” (Kingsport Times, TN. “Search Continues for Bodies…21 Lost in Disaster, 5-11-1925, p.1.)

May 11: “Memphis, Tenn., May 11.— Major Donald H. Connolly of the United States Engineers declared today that the steamer Norman, lying at the bottom of the Mississippi, 50 miles. From here, with its cargo of human dead, would probably be jarred loose sufficiently late today to release the bodies of the victims imprisoned within its hull.

“Preparing for this possibility, a small fleet of fast motor boats will be kept patrolling the river today while the rescue work goes on, in the hope that the bodies, if released, will rise to the surface. The plan of rescuing the bodies by divers was given up Sunday when it was seen that the undercurrent of the Mississippi made this impossible.

“When this plan was abandoned, government engineers in charge of the rescue work immediately began to batter away the decks and walls of the vessel, hoping that some of the bodies might float free. Assault of the hull was continued when the work was resumed at dawn today.” (Daily Independent, Murphysboro IL. “Hope to Blast Bodies Free From Norman,” 5-11-1925, p.1.)

May 12: “Memphis, Tenn., May 12 – INS [Independent News Service] – Dynamite was to be used by government engineers today in an attempt to bring to the surface the bodies of the 21 victims still imprisoned in the hull of the steamer Norman, which lies at the bottom of the Mississippi, 16 miles below here.

“This method was decided upon tentatively after another fruitless day was spent pounding the submerged boat to pieces with powerful derricks in an effort to release the bodies. Despite the fact nearly a quarter of the entire superstructure of the Norman has been torn away, the father of waters refused to give up the dead which it has guarded so jealously for three days and nights.

“Three heavy anchors, attached to government dredges, were pounded against the sides of the Norman continually during the day but to no avail.

“A pathetic note was added to the fruitless search by the presence on shore of a little group of patient spectators who waited for hours to hear the cry that the work has been successful. They were relatives of the victims. A drizzling rain failed to prevent them from maintaining their silent watch.” (Indiana Evening Gazette, PA. “Use Dynamite to Release Boat…Norman…,” May 12, 1925, 1.)

May 13: “Associated Press. Memphis, Tenn., May 13 – The body of Earl Simonson, a fireman on the ill-fated steamer, Norman, today was recovered from the Mississippi river a few hundred yards below the point where the steamer went down last Friday evening with a loss of 23 lives. Simonson’s body was the third taken from the water since the Norman capsized…The body of Professor Walter G. Kirkpatrick, of the University of Mississippi, was recovered soon after the wreck, and Edgar Bosard, a small boy, died several hours after being taken from the water. Twenty bodies still are believed to be in the river….” (Laurel Daily Leader, MS. “Body of Boat Victim Found,” May 13, 1925, p. 1.)

“Memphis, May 13 – Associated Press – The bodies of two men drowned when the river steamer Norman capsized last Friday were taken from the Mississippi river today. Nineteen others remain unaccounted for. The body of Charles Miller of Little Rock, was recovered at Bender, Ark., a wireless message said. The body of Earl Simonson, fireman, was found early today. Four bodies are now accounted for.” (Logansport Press, IN. “Two Bodies Found,” 5-14-1925, p.1.)

May 15: “Memphis, Tenn., May 15 – United Press – The river still holds nineteen of the 23 victims of the steamer Norman. No bodies were recovered Thursday. A constant patrol of the river is being made for twenty-five miles below the wreck, while a watch is being maintained along the river banks as far south as New Orleans.

“Dynamite was exploded around the hull of the Norman today in an attempt to dislodge any bodies that might still be lodged in the wreck.

“The Norman will not be raised. Soundings taken by government engineers indicates that the boat is now half buried in the sand and mud of the river bed. For two days, the government’s fleet here has been working to get a chain under the Norman’s hull. Every effort has ended in failure. The chains have either broken or slipped off the wreck. Major Donald H. Connelly, in command of all operations here, announced yesterday that no further attempt will be made to raise the Norman….

“Inset [not shown here] is Tom Lee, negro boatman, who while the Norman was listing approached the vessel and took a boatload of struggling survivors to shore. Again and again he returned, making four trips in all and saving more than 20 people.” (Anniston Star, AL. “Attempt to Raise Boat Abandoned,” May 15, 1925, p. 1.)

May 15: “Memphis, Tenn., May 15 – (AP) – The body of Jack Cochran, 28, engineer of the steamer M.E. Norman, which sank in the Mississippi river…Friday, was recovered late today at the government revetment plant seven miles below the scene of the disaster. Cochran was credited with having saved the lives of many by turning off the oil supply to the motors of the oil burning vessel shortly before it capsized. This action is said to have prevented an explosion.” (Joplin Globe, MO. “Body of Norman’s Engineer Recovered,” May 16, 1925, p. 1.)

May 17: “Memphis, Tenn., May 17 (AP) – Bodies of two of the 23 persons who lost their lives when the steamer Norman sank in the Mississippi river near here over a week ago, were recovered by government engineers today. They were Ralph Bosard, and Will Moore…both of Memphis. Fourteen bodies have not been recovered.” (Frederick Post, MD. “More Bodies Recovered,” May 18, 1925, p. 1.)

May 17: “Memphis, Tenn., May 17 – Bodies of two more victims of the capsizing of the United States steamer at Coahoma landing, Miss., eight days ago, were taken from the Mississippi river Saturday several miles below the scene of the disaster…The bodies were those of Mrs. Lydia Hidinger, 78, of Memphis, and Charles E. Shearer, consulting engineer, Memphis. Sixteen persons still are missing.” (Billings Weekly Gazette, MT. “Two More Bodies of Norman Victims Taken From River,” p. 5.)

May 21: “Memphis, May 21 (Associated Press)… Much progress has been made in salvaging the sunken steamer [Norman] and those in authority tonight expressed the hope that their belief that most of the bodies of those missing would be found in the wreckage would prove to be a fact. Only a portion of the Norman had been brought to the surface tonight.” (Morning Sun, Yuma, AZ. “River Victims Yet Unfound,” May 24, 1925, p. 15.)

May 25: “Memphis, Tenn., May 25 – Jim Smith and John Davis…were drowned in the Mississippi river near Polk’s landing late Sunday while searching for bodies of persons drowned when the steamer Norman sank May 8 with a loss of 23 lives.” (Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. “Two Drown While Seeking Bodies,” May 25, 1925, p. 2.)

May 26: “Memphis, Tenn., May 26 (AP) – The [Memphis] Commercial Appeal says this morning that the smashing of a rudder somewhere in the Mississippi river between Pinckney, Ark., and a point near Coahoma Light, off which she sank, has practically been established as the principle cause of the disaster to the United States Steamer Norman on May 8, in which 23 persons lost their lives. ‘That the port-ruder of the Norman was broken off almost completely is an established fact, and it affords the most logical reason for the capsizing of the steamer, the first reason to be offered that can be backed up by concrete evidence,’ the article says. ‘That such a thing occurred has been known to army engineers and to the Commercial Appeal for more than a week,’ continues the article. ‘Its discovery was made by a prominent Memphis engineer, who not only survived the wreck, but saw the remainder of the rudder as he sat on the hull before it made its final plunge to the bottom’.” (Syracuse Herald, NY. “Smashing of Rudder Principal Cause of Steamer’s Sinking,” May 26, 1925, p. 1.)

May 28: “Washington, May 28 – (AP) – Tom Lee, Swarthy Memphis negro credited with saving the lives of 32 persons when the steamer Norman went down recently in the Mississippi river, with a loss of more than a score of lives, was received today by President Coolidge. Accompanied by Paul Block and George Morris, owner and editor respectively of the Memphis News Scimitar, who arranged for Tom’s trip to Washington, the negro was ushered into the president’s office, was commended by him for his bravery, and later was photographed shaking hands with Mr. Coolidge.” (Hutchinson News, KS. “Negro Hero Received at…White House,” May 28, 1925, 1)

Sources

Anniston Star, AL. “Attempt to Raise Boat [Norman] Abandoned,” May 15, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=86430980

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Billings Weekly Gazette, MT. “Two More Bodies of Norman Victims Taken From River,” p. 5. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=77665437

Cothran, John C. A Search of African American Life, Achievement and Culture. Carrollton, TX: Stardate Publishing Company, 2006, p. 177. Google preview accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=zum7EIPbfdsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Daily Independent, Murphysboro IL. “Hope to Blast Bodies Free From Norman,” 5-11-1925, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=97568519

Frederick Post, MD. “More Bodies Recovered” [Steamer Norman] May 18, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=10177945

Hutchinson News, KS. “Negro Hero Received At the White House.” 5-28-1925, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=138160434

Indiana Evening Gazette, Indiana, PA. “Use Dynamite to Release Boat…Norman…,” May 12, 1925, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=115693558

Joplin Globe, MO. “Body of Norman’s Engineer Recovered,” May 16, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=166863622

Kingsport Times, TN. “Rivermen Watching for Victims of Disaster” [Steamboat Norman], May 10, 1925, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=49190761

Kingsport Times, TN. “Search Continues for Bodies of 21 Lost in Disaster, 5-11-1925, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=49190767

Laurel Daily Leader, MS. “Body of Boat Victim Found” [Steamboat Norman], May 13, 1925, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=157577237

Logansport Morning Press, IN. “Two Bodies Found” [Steamboat Norman], May 14, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83976111

Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “River Deaths Mount” [Steamer Norman], 5-9-1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83730914

Morning Sun, Yuma, AZ. “River Victims Yet Unfound.” 5-24-1925, p. 15. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=54123957

Ogden Standard-Examiner, UT. “Two Drown While Seeking Bodies” [Steamer Norman]. May 25, 1925, p. 2. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=49490266

Syracuse Herald, NY. “Smashing of Rudder Principal Cause of Steamer’s Sinking,” 5-26-1925, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=42319408

Titusville Herald, PA. “Four Drown as Ship Sinks on Mississippi,” May 9, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105917277

Wikipedia. “Tom Lee Park.” 1-23-2011 mod. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lee_Park

1925 — May 8, U.S. steamer M.E. Norman capsizes & sinks, Miss. River, Coahoma, MS– 23