The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1875-08-06

There Is something fascinating ahon,
science. One gets such wholesale returns
OF conjecture out OF such a triflng invest
ment Of fact.
When the water begins to flow through
one OF those bitches have been speaking
oil, II Is time for the people Whereabouts ~
move. The water cleaves the banksawav
like knife. BY the time the ditch has
become twelve or fifteen feet wide. m.
calamity Is as good rs accomplished fnr
no power on earth can stop IL now When
the width has reached a hundred yards
the banks begin TO peel of in slices bolf
an acre wide. The current flowing aromnd
the bend travelled formerly only five miles
an hour; now II Is tremendously increased
by the shortening OF the distance. WINS
on board the first boat that tried Ia 90
through the cut-Ohat American Bend. hut
we did not get through. IL was towarl
midnight, and "A wild night il was-thun.
der, lightning, aud torrents of rain. II
was estimated that the current in The ctt.
of was making about fifteen or twenty
miles an hour; twelve or thirteen was H.
best our boat could do, even in tolerahlv
slack water, therefore perhaps we w.rs
foolish TO try the cutoff However,. Mr.
y. was ambitious, aud he kept on tryino
The eddy running up the bank, under t6e
point" was about as swift as the cur
rent out In the middle so we would ga
flying up the shore like lightning n.
press train. get ona big head OF steam. and
p" stand by for surge" when we struck
the current that was whirling by the point.
But all our preparations were useless.
The instant the current hit us IL spun ns
nj la N la .I.l.
forecastle. and the boat careened So far
over that one could hardly keep his feet
The next instant We were away down the
river, clawing with might and main 10
Keep out of the woods. We tried the ex.
pertinent four times. | stood on the fore
castle companicn-way % see. IL was as
tonishing 10 observe how suddenly the
boat would spin around and turn tail the
moment she emerged from the eddy and
the current struck her nose. The sound
ing conclusion and the quivering would
have been about the same If she
had come full speed against a sand.
bank. Under the lightning flashes
one could see the plantation cabins and
the goodly acres tumble into the river:
and the crash they made was not bad
effort at thunder. Once, when We spun
around, we only missed a house about
twenty feet, that had light burning IN the
window; and in the same instant that
house went overheard. Nobody couli
stay on our fOrcastle {; the water sweut
across IL In torrent every time we plunged
athwart the current. At the end OF our
fourth effort we brought up in the woods
two miles below the cutoff all the coun-
try there was overlooked, of course. A
day or two later the cutoff was three
quarters OF a mile wide, and boats passed
up through Ii without much difficulty, and
so save ten miles.
The old Raccourci cutoff reduced the
rivers length twenty-eight miles. There
used TO be a tradition connected with il.
liz was said that a boat came along there in
the night ana went around the enormous
elbow the usual way, the pilots not know
ing that the cutoff had been made. IL was
grisly. hideous night, and all shapes wene
vague and distorted The old bed bad al
ready begun To I'LL up. and the boat got
TO running away from mysterious reefs.
and occasionally hitting one. The per-
picked pilots fell 50 swearing AMI finally
uttered the entirely unnecessary wish that
they might never get out Of thar place. A.
always happens In such ca-es. that particu-
lar PRAYER was answered, and the Others
neglected So TO this day that phantom
steamer Is still butting around In that DE-
serted river, trying TO find her way out.
More than one grave Waterman has swon
TO me that on drizzly, dismal nights. he
has glanced fearfully down that forgotten
river a. he passed the head OF the island,
and seen the faint glow OF the specter
steamers lights drifting through the dir
tant gloon, and heard the muffied cough
OF her 'scape-pipes and the plaintyc cry Of
her leadsmen.-M Marx Toain, IN Angusf Az
LdHfic.