Today In 1911 – Women Drown As Steamer Capsizes In Gale On Monongahela River

STEAMER CAPSIZES IN GALE ON RIVER

Boat Goes Down Near Allenport, Pa., Carrying Three To Death.

MONONGAHELA. Pa., April 5

Caught In a gale of wind sweeping over the Monongahela river today, the steamer Henry A. Laughlln was overturned and sent to the bottom of the river near Allenport, drowning two women and a man and jeopardizing the lives of eleven members of the crew. The dead are Effie Hughes and Jane Lawrence, and an unidentified fireman. The steamer Is the property of the Jones & Laughlln Steel Company and is used to transport employes of the company to and from the plank. Although the wind was blowing hard, there was no thought that it was hard enough to overturn the steamer. The sweep of the wind on the river was not thought to be enough to make navigation dangerous.

The eleven members of the crew who escaped jumped for their lives as the boat turned turtle and succeeded in swimming ashore. The steamer now rests on the bottom of the river.

– From the Washington Post