The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-05-21

tough old customer, named Isaac Shantz,
very fond OF whisky, strutted into the
court room, and walked about all over the
house without taking off his hat. The
Judge called on the sheriff to arrest Isaac, |
and fined him IS for contempt of court. |
Shantz paid his fine, then deliberately
walked out of the court room to the street |
in front, where the judge and the entire |
audience could see him through the open |
door, pulled off his coat and vest, rolled up |
his sleeves, and then turning and snacking |
his fist at the Judge, said: "D-n youl
when was a boy my mother used to whip
me for not wearing my hat, and now, you
old son OF a gun, you fne me FIVE dollars
for wearing it'll Come out here and I'll
lick h-ll out of you 10 minute
After the land sale at Galena in 1889
there was no money left In the country.
Ii took every cent that the settlers could
get together to enter their land There
was no market for produce, and wheat,
corn, potatoes and other cereals and vege-
tables had no market value. In this con-
ditions Of affairs Abel Thompson. brother
| of Frank and Lewis, of Aledo, built fat
boat at New Boston, loaded it, aud started
in the fall for New Orleans The crew
consisted of Abe Thompson, captain; Will
liam Doak. mate, and two men named Nc
Coy and Swartz. None of the crew had
ever been down the river, so that the
channel was a mystery to them, but the
captain had unlimited confidence in his
ability to pilot the stream. Looking ahead
where there were two channels, Abe would
ask Doak which one to take After getting
Doaks opinion, he would invariably take
the contrary channel. Not far above Bur
lington the boat stuck on a sand bar, and
they could not get off until they unoaded
part of the load This took considerable
time. About one hundred miles this side
of St. Louis Capt Thompson stuck again
on a sand bar, and this time it looked as if
they never would get off, A GOODNESS had
lsprung up between Abe and Doak about
running the boat, and they had not spoken
to each other for three days previous to
this last stick" After laying two DAYS
and half, with no prospect of getting of,
Abe so far got over his tantrums as to ask
Doak what he thought about the situation.
Doak replied that he could get the boat off
in half an hour OF course Abe thought
this was impossible, but he had had the
conceit so taken out of him in regard to
pilotipg that he agreed to give Doak abso.
lutte command in the future, and told him
to go ahead and try if he could get the boat
: ahoat. Abe did not have confidence in
: Doak' ability to get the boat loose so easl.
ly, so he and Mccoy took the skiff and
went ashore to seek assistance. In much
$ less time than promised, and before the
others returned, the boat was ahoat anC
once more on its way for New Orleans
After this venture Doak was exalted to the
highest pitch, and it was thought by the
crew that what he didn't know about boat
ing wasn't worth knowing
Proceeding on down the river with oul
boat aud gallant crew, we find them goinG
: along smoothly and pleasantly until arrived
at the head of an island several hundred
miles below St. Louis, Here they found
Hat boat stuck fast on sand bar. Tn,
crew hailed our Boston party and requested
!. their assistance. Dropping below thu
t island they found FIVE other fiat boats. tina
had been in their company before in get
}. ting through the ice, and that had gou
e ahead when they stuck on the bar. A
soon as they had tied up and gone ashore
d the crew proceeded to the assistance of tn
d fat boat stuck on the bar. By this tim
y Abe Thompson had so much confidence il
!. Doak that he offered to bet his entire boa
d and cargo that Doak could get the boat OF
q in an hour, The crew of the five boat
u were busiy engaged in unloading the on
n in Distress Abe took Doak into the cabi
b Of the boat and introduced him to Capt
is Lincoln. That Capt. Lincoln Was no othe
'e than Abraham Lincoln, afterward pres
Or dent Of the United States. After gel
q eral consultation all around, it was foun
that Capt. Lincoln's boat could not be &c
he off the bar even if unloaded. There wa
Ia but one way, and that was to wait until tn
10 water raised sufficient to float it off th
OF bar. Having all come to this conclusio
a. the other boats proceeded on their wa
OF down the river for their destination, lea
ing Capt, Lincoln and his crew behind
Ak await rise 10 the water. During I'll
n time at the island rendering assistance
ar Capt. Lincoln's boat, the crews Of the 81
ed boats had right jolly time, for two ba
~ rels OF whisky were on tap IN the ca6i
he and river boatmen generally are prone
IT rl0tOus living although Doak says he d
To not see Capt. Lincoln take drink
h Once more on the broad bosom of the tn
OF bid Mississippi we follow the adventure
p of the New Boston boat crew until arrive
tn at New Orleans, which they finally rcacht
n without anv more serious mishaps. III
er boat was laden with wheat rye, oat
ng potatoes, beets, cabbages and onions, al
or as they passed along down the river tn,
al would exchange wheat tor -four, potato
ne for honey, onions and cabbages to Il
y. negroes for cotton. The long trip W
ed finally ended, which with going and retur
IN ing occupied over four months time. B
5r, fore reaching Orleans WIN. Doak was Sc
1l ahead with another boat to make arrang
'e- meDts about the sale of the perishab
Try produce. Remaining in New Orleans sew,
or eight days, Doak, Brooks and Blood, ,
s. from about New Boston, engaged stear
he boat passage for home. In the eveniI
re when leaving the city for the steamboat
IS, the wharf, In passing down narrow stree
an a Jew clothing dealer came and caugI
a hold of Brooks, insisting on selling hi
I'D some clothes at his own price. Blood ha
he already gone to the boat Brooks ha
I'D been drinking pretty freely, and at an
n time he would prefer fighting to eatin
Nv Brooks prevailed on Doak to enter vii
lr- the Jew. Once in the store the jew pr
It's duced coat which he asked SIG for Dos
mt turned to go out, when he was asked to NAL
a an offer. This he did by offering seve
:" dollars. The Jew pretended to be il
a suited at such an offer, and at this M
n ment two large men entered from a re;
en- door and going to the front door turne
IT. the key in the lock, and then come
be Doak in very threatniDg way, assumin
Us TO be greatly offended at his low offer Fl
ot the coat Seeing at once there was an il
&c, tention to cosrce him into buying again
1d his will, Doak made for them in fghtir
'e; attitude. Brooks had been busily el