Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-10-25
The Boatman of the Loire.


died latey in Paris, leaving behind not Only
an immense fortune, the greater part ofWhicI
is to be distributed in deeds Of charity, bu
also q reputation unstarcd, 4 name honorc,
and blessed by the poor and needy, to whom
indeed he WAS Il friend and bcneiactor. 1t ap
pears Cat least thus goes the Paris gosaip)lha1
the said individual has kept very curious me.
moirs Of his life, wherein are preserved the
chronicles of all his transactions with the high
noblossc of the country. The nulnbcrlcss oc-
casiUns wherein the bearers Of the greatest
names among the arIstocr"cy Were fa!n to have
recourse to his assistance to cNtrlcate them
from pecunlary embarrassment; The correspoll-
denre which from time TO time has been gong
on with every member Of the cNlcd family Of
Bourbons, all tending to the one sole absorbing
subject Of our epoch, the raising ofmoney, are
all set forth in these memoirs which will be OF
the most extraordinary interest, should The ia
mly persist in causing them TO be published.
| This man, with the soul ola philosopher. the
heart of 4 prince, was the son of Il poor boat
man who worked the ferry at Aucenis, on the
Loire--a true Vcndean, Il Chouan TO the very
soul--and yet, by dint Of prudence and cir
cumspection, managed to earn living without
suspicion on the part Of the sans-culottes all
through! the Ncndcan war. With the steady
courage OF his race, he Nolld ply the oar the
whole day long upon his usual beat, conveying
horses, men aud baggage ior the service Of the
Republic, bcynr his principles not for the
sake Of gain, but for the opportunity which
the occupation bestowed for serving his friends,
the rova!ist chiefs and at nj 5ht would start
forth under cover of the darkness to convey
arms and provisions from one bank to the 9TH
cr in order to assist the Vendeans in carrying
on the war.
One night the boaman was lying as usual,
waiting gamong the reeds which line the shore
just above the passage ut Ancenls; his oars
were mued and himself closely enveloped
from head to foot, for he had received intima-
ton during the day that family of royalists OF
great Importance would cross the river at
midnight, in order to join their party then shut
up in Laval, where they We're bent on making
their last stand. 1t was 4 dark and drcary
night just fitted to favor the escape Of the flu
citives, aad the honest boatman was forced to
trust to his ear alone for the announcement of
their approach. The night had far advanced
ere the well-known Kissing sound, initiative of
the scrcech owl, the rallying cry Of the
Chouans, broke upon the stiffness of the night;
in q moment the little black craft had cut
through the water with the swiftness Of an ar
row towards the spot whence the sound pro-
ceeded, and without saylpg word-for speed
and silence were necessary in those days
Jean Landrean proceeded to assist the fugi
tives on board. The party consisted ola gen.
tleman and lady with two infant children. The
gentleman was standing, holding one Of the
children in his arms, while the lady was seated
on small chest with the other infant on her
knee. The rumbling sound of the patache,
which had brought them to the spot, was dis
tinctly heard in the distance.
The passengers soon were seated in the
boat, and the boatman proceeded to lift the
chest, but all his efforts were in vain. The
weight of its contents, and the imprudenee OF
the lady who had seated herself with her child
upon it while waiting for the boat, had caused
it to sink deep into the mud as almost to dis
appear among the reeds, and it became evident
at once that il would be impossible to recover
it without assistance. In the midst of this di-
lemma the heavy galop Of horses and the
clankng of the swords of the horse patrol, who
in those troublous times were ordered to pace
the shore the whole night long, were heard
approaching In a hurried whisper the gentle
man babe Jean Landrean push off "The chest
contains my fortune" said he, "thc hopes and
security of our most righteous cause, but the
safety of my wife and little ones is of more
import let us row them across, and we will
return and fetch the chest when we have seen
them safely landed on the opposite shore"
Jean Landrean did as he was bid; he roWed the
party across the river and landed them all in
safety.
BY this time the patrol had approached close
to the spot they had just quilted, and the sound
of their voices could be distinctly heard. They
passed on, however, without observing any
trace of the strangers; but the incident had
caused the lady to feel such nervous terror for
her husbands sake, that she would not suffer
him to leave the place of safety he had reached,
in order TO rush upon danger, as it were, by
crossing the opposite bank. Jean Leandrean,
therefore, departed alone in search of the chest,
taking with him ropes and tools to dlsengage 1t
from the mud. He succeeded in short space
of time, and returned in high glee, bearing it in
triumph before him. His terror may be con-
ceiyed when upon reaching the spot he had
quilted so short time before, he found desert
ed, not a trace of the travellers he had terrled
across 10 be seen, not 4 sound indicative OF
their presence to be heard. He Wandered, dis
tracted, up and down until the dawn; and the
first light Of day showed him traces OF strife
and murder, which must have taken place du-
RAG the short time he had been occupied on the
other side of the river. The grass and reeds
were all tramped and broken, and evident to-
kens of scuftie and resistance to be observed
as far as the entrance to the small wood which
clothes the rising ground which encloses the
Loire at this spot. s5 ~ ~
Jean Landrean followed through bramble
and through briar, the path, which had evident
ly been forced by the resisting tugitives, until
beneath tree he found the lifeless corpse Of
one of the children, bathed in blood, its brains
having been dashed out against a tree. BY
it's side lay the hat and cloak of the lady, all
drenched in gore, but no other token of the pas
sage Of the fugitiyes, no other indication of the
path by which the survivors had been hurried,
was my where to be observed, and Jean Ian
i @SS, ~ ,.rnod 10 his boat disconsnlate and