Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-12-22
yr,, wHaLrr.
rhe story Of a MissI.sippi Ensincc1

/ ut makes me feel kinder sad" sal
the pilot, pointing to tho bank a. tn
boat. was plowing the current nea
Lake Providence, seventy.five mile
above Vickeburg. When they burie,
him, twenty years ago, the grave wa
dozen rods from the water, but tn,
treacherous current has eaten at ths
bank till another week will float pool
Jim away The passengers saw tn,
end Of the coffin sticking ont of the
bank, six or aight inches above water
IL is lonely spot on tho river. with
no sound to break the desolation ex.
cept the paddle-wheeIs, as tho steamers
hurry along. at was Jim Whalen,'
said the pilot. a. the passengers turn
.ed to him for an explanation. .'He had
. wife and babe in New Orleans, and
was straight man. He know every
snag and bar in the river, and hc could
put his boat through any shute in the
darkest night yon ever saw. Jim
didn't brag. and some of his pilots
called him chicken. Chicken! He was
the biggest eagle that ever few mp OF
down tho creek, and that thar coffin
proves i'll" lie showed the boat out a
q little, answered signal from an as
ccnding steamer, and continued. 81
was cub then just learning the
business Of Jim. You never seed a
man who'd do his level best for a boy
as kindly ~ Jim would No swear
ing or cnssing or cufiing. but "a quiet
and soft spoken az born lady. When
they laid him away down thcro
couldn't have felt worse if the old
man himself had bccn pitched into
Heaven" TO asked for a chew OF
tobacco, and having settled il against
bis left cheek, he said. cover there
by that gloomy cancbreak, at mid
night, nigh on to twenty years ago.
the General Taylor took fire. / was
asleep in the texas. Jim at the wheel,
and hundred passengers were asleep.
How the fire started up no one knew.
Tho whole boat blazed right up in a
minute, scorching and roasting people
afore they heard tho alarm. Whew |!
but wasn't it awfni? l went over
board with nothing on. but my cotton,
and my heels blistering, and passen.
gera and crew tumbled after.n The
pilot rolled mp his sleeve to exhibit
the marks of the flame, and then con-
tinued: "Not all Of 'em. Thirty or
forty ran for'ard, wild-like and afraid
TO jump. The texas was afire before
jumped, and as / floatcd in the river
saw the red tongues OF flame leaping
around the pilot house. Jim was thar
and thar he staid. The water was up,
the current heavy, and the wind blow
ing agin us, keeping the fire back. II
Jim went overheard It was good bye
to fifty human sonls. He saw II, and
that's where glory covered him from
head to foot. He held her dead level
up; she ran till her engines stopped; !;
till halt the boat wac burned; till the
devilish flames burned every hair of
bis head, and roasted him as the wo.
men serve q piece of meat. When the
engines stopped, the boat drifted
down, and at last help came from
other steamers. Jim was picked mp
in the river, swimming like = duck,
but died in five minutes There was
pause, and then he added. .Jim
Whalen's back bone saved all thcm
folks. He died afore they could thank
him. There wasn't passenger or
deck-hand who didn' { cry like child,
but all they could do was to bury the
poor roasted body and press the sods
down lightly, Year by year the river
has been eating its way to the grave
and, while we shall miss it, we'll all
feel as Ii the big river had more right
to the coffin of brave Jim Whalen
than tho shore, It's only his bones
lying there only his dust which will
iloat away; for though the cato Of
Heaven is narrow, it was opened
plenty wide enough for Jim Whaien
to go in with oil steam on