The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-08-01
and the hitherto incredulous and mock

ana the nlInertO lnCreQulOuS ana mock
ing populace of New York are the first
to do him honor: the crowd remain
cheering on the pier until the Clermont
is out of sight up the Hudson"
Mr.. Freeman says that the boat ar
rived at Albany on Sept. II, thirty-six
hours after starting from New York. 1t
had not been continually in motion, the
party having stopped at the residence
of Chancellor Livingston on the way up.
The speed was at the rate of five miles
an hour. The appearance of the strange
vessel as she steamed up the river had a
remarkable effect, even in daytime, up
on the crews of craft passing by, for
comparatively few of the shippers COM
ing down could, in those days of slow
mail and no telegraph, have been pre-
pared to encounter such an oddly; but
at night the Clermont spread consterna-
ton and terror On all sides. 1t was very
dark, and the fires were fed with dry,
white pine wood, which, when stirred,
would send up columns of flame and
sparks from the mouth of the tall stack.
This apparent volcano, moving steadily
through the darkness up the middle of
the river, and accompanied by the
rumbling and groaning of the hard-la-
boring machinery, was well calculated
to strike terror into the hearts of sailors
on the sloops and other craft coming
down with grain and general farm pro-
duce, who had never heard of any mo-
tive power for vessels except wind, and
who, withal, were extremely supersti-
tious.
"My father and others told me-, ;"
says Mr.. Freeman, " that whole crews
Frustrated themselves upon their knees
and besought Divine Providence TO pro-
tect them from the horrible
monster that was marching on the tides
and lighting up its pathway by its
fires"
When the members of the Freeman
family went aboard the Clermont, upon
its arrival at Albany, Mrs. Freeman OBJ
served a workman emerging from the
engine-room-a place very suggestive
to her of the internal regions
in his hand ladle filled with molten
lead. With this he proceeded to stop
up holes whose presence here aud there
in the rude machinery was indicated by
escaping steam. Capt. Freeman then
learned that the workmen had been
busily employed doing the same thing
ever since the Clermont had left New
York. The people of Albany had been
apprised of the arrival in advance, and
the whole town turned out to receive
Fulton and his steamboat, giving them
an enthusiastic reception.
After a short stay the Clermont re-
turned to New York, making the trip
in 81 hours. Fulton's achievement ex-
cited universal admiration, and from
that time steamboats, rapidly multiplied
on American waters. Speaking of the
advancement of physical and moral
science, Mr.. Freeman places the pres
ent state of things in comparison with
the time of his boyhood, when the only
college west of the Hudson was the
Union, in Schenectady, and when he
never had an opportunity of seeing
Snnday-school until he was 81 years
old. &C Here's something" he said,
p" relative to the opening of the Erie
Canal, which I have not seen on record
| was in Worcester, Otsego County,
New York, the place of my birth, at the
time, and l recollect all the particulars
OF the opening, which occurred in the
fall OF 1925. The canal ran from Buff
falo to Albany, establishing water COM
munication between the cities of Erie
and New York.
cat intervals of 10 miles all along the
route from the former to the latter CITY
were placed cannon that had been CAP
tured by Perry in the battle of Lake
Erie. On the opening day, just as the
gally decorated packet-boat containing
the party of guests, including De Witt
Clinton, Governor of New York, started
from Erie on trip to New York, the
cannon at the former city was fred, the
shot being followed in regular and quick
succession by the discharge of ali the
other cannon, until the last REPORT
sounded from the Manhattan gun. II
heard the firing when it was passing
Albany, and it suggested the brick rat
,lesnakes' of my childhood. The ex-
'ursion boat carried II banner with the
egend; This day the trophies of Per-
US victory bear glad tidings from the
axes to the ocean.'n
Mr. freeman has been q pioneer
preacher in the West for forty.nine
7ears-twenty-five in Ohio and almost
IS long in Illinois and has seen those
states grow upIfrom a lonely wilderness. |
n 1913, joining in the movement which
lad grown out of a general burst of in
ilgnation throughout the land against
lavery, he attended the convention in
5uifalo whcreat was formed the organi
alton which subsequently merged into |
he Republican party-the Freesoil. 1t
vas during the sessions of that conyen-
ion that Congress passed resolution
ecognizing California as free State.
'wo years ago Mr. and Mrs. Freeman |