FINAL DISPOSITION: Cut down by ice at the foot of Lesperance Street, St. Louis, on January 31, 1888
OWNERS: Anchor Line
OFFICERS & CREW: Captain John J. Darragh (master); Captain W.C. Tichenor (master); Wash Floyd (purser); Hi Beedle (chief engineer); Captain F.J. Carpenter (pilot)
RIVERS: Mississippi River; Ohio River
OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 5795; Her cabin and engines came from the Thompson Dean. Cost, $125,000. Named for Col. Will S. Hays, a songwriter and news reporter. Built for the Cincinnati and New Orleans trade. Her first trip was made when she left Pittsburgh the Saturday before Christmas in 1882. She was electrically lighted with 60 "illuminators" total. She once made the trip up in 6 days and 11 hours making 51 landings. Her nickname was "Wild Bill" and she was faster than many of the fast boats of her day; once she almost broke the time set by the J.M. White going to Baton Rouge. When owned by the Anchor Line in her later years, she ran St. Louis-New Orleans. She was lost when cut down by ice at St. Louis in January 1888