The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1848-10-18
.She cried. ssa w hany victory is not loo denf.
s3ly q purehased at such. g cost
fAPRILsF 0Ls5o ri TfIE mi ssIssfp s

ssa
Banyard tells tic sii,,llowing 8 good i Joke
tof GooliDg a Mississippi steam6oaat: 81 4
He lie wns lying ito,, bound, with d,
small trading boat az tho head of: tho
..chute Of Propet' s. island, and i'll beinrI
the first of April; his hands were l,dstef.
mined 10 haYe al s}tsl ark u of some kind
During tho day they, had Observed ii d an,ys
yer close in shore, nbout l,al + q mile nbov,n,
whore the lssfat;' LAY. This so wyar ha aii
been ssI constantly CO Iobbing its head up and
down, all dsy long; from this, taking the
hint, they procured some of ll,eirs old
clothes, and stuffed them with The Spanish
moss, which they Drew from d neieehbor.
ing trec; then muking d paper faoe, and
surmountiDg tlioEwhole with "a palmetto
Int, Int, they made quite respectnble e-looking
back wootlsman. ss s.I:s sss'S
Alter sundoWn, neatrrs dark, they took
this Imitation OF humanity up tho river.to
where this industrious sawyer syus work.
ing. As probatl many Of our readers
do not exactly understand what nj isis.
sippi sawyer is, we will say, for their III,
formation, thnt Il is merely a loose ii sfing.
which is kept in motion, swinging up md
down, by the force of The current, not un.3
like a person snVing. When opposite
the snwyer, thoy, drove " tn two upright stnitea
into the earth, md drew the paplaloons Of
the figure over them, 50 MS 10 mako II stand
| perpendiculnr; then tying an unlighted
torch insils haad, md placing couple or
empty boxes and a lseg near, to give tho
appearance of"plnnder," they had quite
arespcctable passenger. All things pre-
pared, they sat down 10 whit for a stenrdn.
er. 1t was not long beforc they hoard
one Escaping" round tic; point, and com,
ing into'thei sschute. z Tiny then hns,ily
klndled fire near by, lit The torchin.the
figures hand, conveyed Il smnll cord from
the hand TINT held it, oyeF a light limb,
out TO the sHag or sawyer, and made II
fast. The motion Of The silag Kept the
torch tho figures hand waving In I'M and
down; iexnctly s;lilo person hnilingst d
steamer. The 4waggish bontmen then
Jumped into their sliil, and pulled off into
the shade OF OH adjacen, cove, TO witch
the result. :.
Soon the steamer came in sight. The
captain, seeing The light, pts surprising sing Of
course it was a'l,ail, Gus the projectors in.
tended he should,} at once Scommenced
ringing his bell 10 answer, and gave sior4
ders 70 "lny over' towards where Mr..
Stuffy, as the boutmen had named him,
was busy shaking his torch. tStop her!''
shouted the captain. .Ding-a.iing, went
the bell, and the engines ceased their mo-
ton. "Open the fire-doors!.' shouted .ahe
engineer, and uwny streaked the light
from the fiery furnaces, Lighting up the
surrounding gloom, and hiss went the, es.|
cape steam, reverberating through the ev.j
crlasting cottonwood forests; and there
was as much busile and noise on board Of.
the Clipper" for that proved to be her..
name, as if she was going to take on.
twenty cabin passengers. "Stand by the
yawl, iherer' the captain ordered. Soon
tho yawl was off, with two deck hands
| pulling, and the mate, MS is ustnI,f standing
up in the stern, steering, making for Mr.:
Stufly. Stop shaking your light-don't
you think we see you2''' shouted tho maass
from the yawI. ace, your splunder' dowrn
| under the bank there, if you want to como
| aboard, sung out the captain, from the
deck fthe steamer, "or we will put off.
again and leave, you'll, 'i',fsi.ss Esls ~. 4 ~,
\ But Stufiy heard not There he stood,
waving up and down the brand lie held
in his hand. "The fellows cross said
the captoin, "He's fool" muttered The
mate, with an oath between, his teeth.
Nohe aint," said ono of the hands; "but
he is drunk. see, he has tumbled down
the bnnk there" Just ut this time the
| yawl was run in near the shore, and, pms
sed between tho snng under the line at-
tached 10 the figure, the line caught un-
der the mites chin, throwing him back in
the boat, al the same time Jerking Mr..
Stuify over the bank, and herolled into
the river. "Man overheard" was then
the cry, and the passengers rushed from
the cabin TO the deck to behold tho sad
catastrophe. "Catch him, qnick!" shout
ed several voices at, once, Hor he will
drown!' A few hurried strokes brought
the yawl to tho drowning man. The mate
seized him, and drow him aboard the
yawi, and then pulled for tho steamer.
When raising the drowning man on board,
he split in two, and the moss falling out,
they all discovered that lo was neithor
crazy, drunk nor drowned; but that he
was q regular sucker for he had sucked in
the captain, male, and oil hands, Of the
steamer Clipper, handsomely. Then such
laugh went up from the passengers, and
oil hands, US 10 drown.th escape steam Of
the boat Us she was put under way agin,
by the captains hearty "Go.a-head. -
Banvard and his men joined in the laugh,
and returned TO their boat to laugh over
again the success of their joke,
a -...: