Seventy-five people die in a steamboat collision near Helena, Arkansas

The Niagara had left New Orleans for St. Louis and collided with the Post Boy, a steamboat heading downriver from Cairo, Illinois, at about nine in the evening near Helena, Arkansas.  The Niagara sank within minutes and losses were heavy among her 184 deck passengers, mostly soldiers from a U.S. Colored Troops regiment, heading home for discharge.  Survivors were taken aboard the Post Boy to Helena.  (By John Osborne)