Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-09-07
ANarrcw Escap. from Death.
ny GERsToKER.

Iwas in New Orleans an" "ai'e'
togo up to Cincinnati, brt had no
MONEY; so l shipped Az fireman on
one of the large Mississippi s'aaners.
the Chillicothe, at 81 day.
We had reached the upper part OF
Tennessee, with Arkansas Oh the ief''
and, for perhaps the i9nth time since
We left New Orleans, We "ere looking
out for . wood pile, oqs supply being
nearly Cut. The ChiiIicothe was a
verv large boat, with seven ooliers'
and consumed when running against
tho. stream, from forty to .or'S TWO
cords daily. We therefore wooded
tv;ce a day, usuaily morning and
.vs,;np. but sometimes IN the night
Far ms purpose, ON the morning ~
the efth day the trip. ". ran u,' to
wood yard on the Tennessee shore
The bell WAS rung, in,n appeared "'i
the bank, and from the hurricane
deck the necessary questions were
asked o. to The DUALITY OF the Wood
the price, etc. Everything being
satisfactory, we landed, thai IL, We
ran up to the bank, the gang plank
vss run ont, and all the boats hands
were soon at work, assisted ny the
deck passengers. who got deduction
in their fare for helping at the wool
landing. With this force the twenty
ccyds-more or less--nsually taken IN,
were soon on hoard.
On the way, one Or more OF the
buckets-pisnks, in the larboard wheel
had become loose, which not on
ly kept up a continual Gathering,
but prevented this wheel from doing
coed service as it should, and thereby
making the boat difficult to steer.
The engineer had promised to have
i. repaired, but neglected to do 80 M
til the pilot Eaane down aud logged his
memory. Then he sent man into
tie wheel to see what was wanted
He found that it would be necessary
to pus in tWo news buckets, after first
removing what little remained OF the
old orcs.
Iwss sent in to the wheel to assist
.le carpenter. We soon had the
broken buckets out, and the new ONES
IN their places, it being necessary only
q screw them on, which was not easy,
us the bolts were very rusty, and the
backets had TO be screwed on very
tightly. The carpenter, finding the
wrench nc had insufficient, sent me
TO his locker, near the stern, for q
longer and stronger one. We had
,~tn too busy to notice what progress
they were masking in "woodiI'g," and
tho engineer, a drunken, coed for
nothing fellow, had probably entirely
forgotten that he had two OF his men
IN enc of tho wheels. The wood was
on board and paid for, and the signal
that all was ready to start must have
been given while I vas looking for
the wrench, for when | ran forward
with It, was thinderstruck to hear
the command, /" Haul III the plank y
and then in the saure instant, to hear
the pilots bell give the Usual signal to
back, in order to get ont into the
s.ream. In an instant the wheels
were 10 motion. l knew the Carlen
ter could not have finished his work
but had they called him out! could
gre him nowhere. ], therefore drop
ped the wrench, aud spt.trg forward
to tho engineer. crying, frantica'ly
There's is man in the wheel
There's q man in the wheel" Thu
boilers were very hot, and We were
blowing off steam, so that il was al
most impossible to I've heard. ! crie'
ont three or four times brsore the hal
tipsy engineer understood what ], was
saying; but when he did understand
he Was "a terrified as ] was, and stop
ped the engine Immediately. The
pilot cried down through his speaking
tube, "Go ahead go ahead y adding
some hearty curses; but the engineer
did not heed him. quickly told foul
or ave Of the deck hands what war
the matter, and We FASTENED into the
wheelhouse in search of the carpenter
We saw him clinging to. one of the
Vwcr arms, which fortunately was
above the water; but, despite all OuI