Wayne to donate proceeds to Sultana museum

Wayne to donate proceeds to Sultana museum

‘The Duke’s ’ grandson hopes sales will fund con struction of new facility

By Mark Randall

news@theeveningtimes.com

Fundraising efforts to build a new Sultana Disaster museum will get a boost starting in 2020 thanks to a pledge by western fiction writer John T. Wayne to donate royalties from his book sales to help fund construction.

Wayne, who lives in Paragould and is the grandson of legendary screen cowboy John Wayne, said he hopes the proceeds will be enough to cover the entire cost to build the museum.

“I like what they are doing in Marion,” Wayne said. “It’s way past time to honor the people who were returning home and died in the tragedy.”

The Sultana was a Mississipi River paddlewheel steamboat that exploded north of Memphis in the early morning hours of April 27, 1865.

The boat was carrying over 2,000 Union soldiers who were returning home from the war. Over 1,100 perished when a faulty boiler on the grossly overloaded boat exploded.

Several early residents of Marion helped rescue survivors despite being former

Confederates. Marion opened a small museum commemorating America’s greatest maritime disaster in 2015 and is planning on building a 10,500 square foot facility.

Supporters are looking to raise at least $3 million or more to build a state-of-the art museum.

Wayne has also made a similar pledge to help out another museum in Arkansas. On-line sales of his books in 2019 will go to help fund the U.S.

Marshal’s Museum that is currently underway in Fort Smith.

Construction on a $19 million, 50,000 square foot museum began in July, but needs to raise the remainder of the $53.5 million needed to build, furnish, and operate the museum.

The museum foundation has raised $35 million, but are now asking voters in Fort Smith to approve a 1 percent sales tax for nine months that would raise more than $15 million to complete the museum.

The U.S. Marshals Service chose Fort Smith in 2007 over other sites for its national museum because of its close connection to the Marshals Service.

More marshals died in the Fort Smith region than any other area of the country, and many people in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma are descendants of marshals or the outlaws they were sent to bring to justice.

Organizers want to open the museum Sept. 24 which would mark the 230th anniversary of President George Washington’s establishment of the Marshals Service, the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the country.

Wayne said he feels a special connection to both museums. Many of his western novels involve the Marshal’s Service.

His grandfather also won an Academy Award for “True Grit” about a federal marshal who tracked down fugitives in Indian Territory at Fort Smith.

“My grandpa played Rooster Cogburn and played quite a few marshals on screen,” Wayne said. “So it’s a nice fit.”

Wayne’s novel “Captain Grimes” is about Robert Louden, a real-life Confederate saboteur and mail carrier who was involved in the sinking of several Union steamboats around St. Louis.

Louden supposedly claimed on his deathbed that he was responsible for sinking the Sultana by placing a coal torpedo bomb in the coal used to fuel the boat's boilers.

Most historians, however, support the official version that the sinking was due to a faulty boiler that exploded.

Part two of the “Captain Grimes” story will be out in 2020.

“Nobody really knows for sure,” Wayne said. “It is quite possible that Bobby Louden did sink the Sultana. Or, it may have been the boilers. We just don’t know what the answer is.”

Wayne will be making a trip to the Sultana Museum in the near future to finish his research on the book.

Sultana Museum Project Manager Louis Intres said he is thrilled by Wayne’s offer to help the museum.

“That’s very generous of Mr. Wayne to donate his royalties to our museum,” Intres said. “He’s a great storyteller and every little bit raised will help us get closer to our goal.”

Mayor Frank Fogleman also thanked the author and said Wayne’s notoriety will definitely help raise awareness of the Sultana and the city’s effort to build a new museum.

“That’s great news,” Fogleman said. “I think his involvement will be a big help. People still fondly remember his grandfather and he goes to a lot of book fairs and festivals. So I think him just simply mentioning the Sultana wherever he goes will be just as big of a help as the money he is committing.”

Wayne said he is hoping to sell enough books to be able to fund both projects in their entirety.

“I’m shooting for the stars,” Wayne said. “I want to see that both museums get completely funded and that we get the word out about the Sultana. You can buy a book, have a great time reading a Civil War or Wild West adventure, and help these museums.”

Books can be purchased through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or www.johntwayne. com to get an autographed copy.

John T. Wayne, who lives in Paragould is the grandson of legendary screen cowboy John Wayne. He hopes the proceeds from his books will be a boon to the new Sultana museum.

Photo by Mark Randall