New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-18

ment, but having NO suspicion OF anyfhin
.. wrong, and no assured expectation Of prod
he concluded that 1t was NO matter of BIZ
and again addressed himself to sleep.
At day break he got up and went in hi
. skiff to look after his piscatorial Interest,"
and while thus engaged, noticed barre
circliDg round and round in IN eddy who
kept it away from the main current of th
river. Being headed on both ends, Crab
concluded that the barrel was prize wort
locking after, and calmly pondering tn
laws of fotsam, proceeded after it in hi
own deliberate way.
Coming up with the barrel he tied q rop
around it and lowed it to the shore. Bein
heavy, it was with considerable difficult
that the fisherman rolled it up from tn
water TO the levee. That accomplished, b.
opened one end with little Ratchet ham
mer hs always carried with him in his skifl
and as he did 60 received smart blow il
his face from something which rushed ul
from confinement in the interior; at til,
same time his eyes were filed with frag
inentary particles and his nOstrils with un
pleasant odors.
This was somewhat more than o eur
prise; 1t was decidedly disagreeable. Fol
q moment Grabig was completely blinded
and when he at length succeeded in recov
ering the use of his eyes, he found that the
substance which so violently and unex
pectedly smo:e him in the face was the foo,
Of dead boy, which the removal OF the
barrel-head had released from q CONSTRAINED
position.
Here was mystery to he unraveled-a
horror which startled the philosophy oil
Grabig from it's propiisty. He had found
many things before floating about, but
never such sickening evidence of the
worlds dark ways as this. II wes wait
for which he had no liking.
That q murder had been committed he
did not doubt, bat he could see nothing in
either the barrel or it's contents BY " hich
the cri me could be traced to its guilty
author. Still he was not without faith. He
believed in an over-ruling Providence,
(which shapes our ends,
kOugh-LeR them how we ma"
Just at this juncture two night watch.
men, returning from their beate, passed
along the levee, and heard frsm the fisher
man how the barrel had been found, and
what it contained. Thereupon they exam
ined it for themselves, and forthwith pro-
ceeded to report to Captain McGovern, who
then had charge Of the Second District 20
lice.
McGovern will still be remembered by
many of the old inhabitants of New Orleans
as remarkably skillful detective officer.
He was one of the many who some years
later, to wit, on the tenth Of August, 1856,
was lost in the Inflated steamship Nautilus,
when on q voyage from Galveston to New
Orleans. The vessel foundered during q
fearful storm, and, with tho exception of
cns of the oolored walters, not a soul was
saved.
The September Gun was Just beginning to
gild the spires Of the Cathedral of st.
Louis with its bright morning beams when
McGovern wendell his way to the levee to
investigate the circumstances connected
with the mysterious barrel. He soon dis
covered that the barrel had contained dam
aged flour, which encrusted the whole in
terror surface to the depth of nearly an inch. |
Evidently it had once formed part of .
wrecked cargo. While still large enohgh to
contain the body-that of boy apparent
~ shout ten years old-it was with difficulty !
that the legs had been forced dewn beneath |
the heading, and their restrained confine-
ment was the cause of the violent rebound |
which 60 startled the fisherman.
Grabig used to say sfterward that he wac
perhaps the only living man on earth whom |
! dead boy had kicked.
With the body in the barrel there was |
quantity of the ordinary litter
u horse stable, and the quick eye of Nc.
Govern noticed among the fragments pc
'uliar weed which horses never eat. There
vas also in the stable refuse number OF
'ieces of broken window glass. The marks
N the barrel, the incrustation within, and
hese peculiarities of the stable litter, were
he only clues to identity presented. Were
hey sufficient to lead the skilled detective
0 the murderer and enable him to say:
Thou art the man,
We shall see.
While McGOvern and the coroner who
ad Joined him. were still engaged in ex-
mining the barrel and it's contents, two
oys came along the levee with wheel
arrow and stopped at feedstore, Just op-
osite. The store was kept by one Antoine
'artigues, and the boys had been sent by
heir mother thus early to purchase sack
T potatoes. 1t was observed that they had
sad, detected look and we'll they might
'r their youngest brother had mysteriously
three days before, and up to
nat time no tidings of him had been heard.
he traces Of recent tears were on their
aces and, as it subsequently appeared,
hey had left their mother in state of |
eepest dependency, for she was con-
inced that something terrible had hap
eDed to her darling boy, and that she
'Ould never see him more.
Observing barrel on the levee, with men
lgaged In curious scrutiny around it, the
)ys left their wheelbarrOw at the store
Dor and went to see what the excltemenr
az about. |,
The revelation was to them one of mixed !
lrprise and horror.
They at once recognized the body in tho {
srrel - that of their poor lost brother,
I'd for . time tears choked their utterance.
Though decomposition had already com.
enced its work Of oblitersdon, yet tho