, 1877-01-22

.. fhnAHa CITY 1itHss. .-
forth by mere accident, u It were, by the cuu-
ycrsation daily carried IN between Tho old set
tiers Of tic old Missouri River towns. Mark
Twain, fn ttis "utlieh Age, "applisd ono Of these
Missouri River Incidents 10 good advantage in
Ills admirable descriptive sketch Of tue old
negro's hrst sight ot q steamboat ut night The
Incident - dcseribed III tho "Gillrd Age"
actually transnsrrs In the Randolph Bend, Just
below the city, where. MI old ,itgro woman,
Awakened In her cabin by the loud anorts OF
heavy loadcl stenlner forcing Its way up strclnt,
caught her first Btsht Of the steaucr's TWO iur-
mace hDlcs I'll tbs distance. TO her they nbpcar-
cd like theieryeycha!Is ofsusnr trFrlblc munsirr
wh!cl. VIA ssio1lnE with fury M It swan up the
river. The old settlers say that tlu Old woman
caught up her two children an1 fled up tho blnils
light came To her relief.
srea story OF tic tsEst stcarl.Whtstle on the
Missouri lsiycr Is moro amusing. Its intro
4uctson dates baSk to lssa. At That time tho
III making ycarly visits TO vt. Louis to do Their
trading ior themselves md friends They wcre
not provided with daily intercourse with thu
outside wnrt.!, aud lnaay who lived back from
than once year. It happened that during thu
fall Ut the year 1914 this new stcAmboat Lex.
ttIgton started up the Missouri River loaded
s'own to the guar,!s with freight. Amoug tbs
u THIS city; Theodore Warner, of Lexington;
I3rn Holiday, afterwards the laa,o,la overland
stnre proprietor; Cotuue1 Pome.oy, OF Lcxug-
to,i; uni planter Ut platte County named
George foculn.
The steamer Lexington was provided with 4
steam wh!st!r,-the llrst USED 6n Tho Missouri
unl, as IL happened, no ulle knew nbuut 1t cSccps
Warner. who was waE anI II lover vi u joke
Thu night after lcavIn, st. Louis tho passengers
we.g so!ieetea tose!hrr playing cards (lor tun)
~ tho tanlll, Whe,i tbs talk turlcd nlNau stra1,
boat explosions, then very cunltnnli. ~ lrel
perfectly safe OH this boat" satA Warner, as lie
dealt the cards.
"Whytn' inquired Yocu1n, The planter.
tWiyt" cetiucd the rest VI tils company.
~ Wlli ~ yo4 WHY" said the wag, carefully
new patent saisty.ya.yc, whicl. uatt,ics the pas.
scngcrx Oil board when 1t Ia about 10 blow u1.
II IL u cuncern which makes most uneu1thly
noise, and when yon hear il, 1t Is time to ri
bark aft Or jump uyerboArd."
Notwithstanding the fact that Warner told
his story with the most solelHil aud uar1leat
yuuntrnanes, solae weru skcpthat. Not 81,
ln'wrycr, With the planter. Next Murntuy, Wlc,
the Lcxthgtnn was stcntuln@ W tle tong. stsuisht
stretch ot river Just below Washington, No.,
tlls passengers wcru Ut breakfast. Il.v nlral
llA,l bccn called, md all We1a hub1ly engaged III
.lDtns jus:cu to the kI!.d IT meals they were NJ.
cnstu'ned to servo Oh SteaInaatA III ll,rsc days
Suddenly the whistle commenced IN bluw,-thc
tlret time On the trip, Tie passengers loohelI
ut tael! uther lnuMcnt, and hurror aud dIsu,4v
spread itself over thur faces. Tic first man IL
Ftallkr tAs situation anl ut HIS fo:um, the
PLANTER, who, with tlafr rrect aul Ia!le!..l f;lrr,
jumped ny, crying us lle pulled over one a1trr
another Of the plsscugers:
''Run, run tor your lives; the - things
going y bust. Follow n,c, aud let's saw oar-
oi course. there was stampede for tho rear
ot the boat, and 1t was only by tho exetttous II
eoHlc Of the that the moro excited were re-.
stfalue1 troul Jumping thto the river.