The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-03-25
FAMOUS FIGHTERS.
The Old-Time Desperadoes, Robbers and
Gamblers of the Lower Mississippi.


Gamblers of the Lower Mississippi.
[From the Sacramento Record Union.l
The historian who would confine
himself to a simple narration of facts
in giving history of events on the
Mississippi River, from the period en-
braced between the years Of 1915 to
1885, in this matter-of-fact age, would
be accused of transcending the bounds
of truth and reveling in the realms of
fiction. To provoke such an accusation
as this there is no necessity of drawing
on the imagination-a simple record Of
facts is all-sufficient for this purpose.
The first settlement of any new country
always attracts in advance the bold and
adventurous, as well as the criminal
elements of civilized society; and the
first peopling of the Southern and West
ern States brought more of such men
within their limits than did the older
sections of the Union. New Orleans, in
the State of Louisiana, was the grand
depot for the products of this vast re-
gion of country; and the Mississippi
River and its tributaries were the only
channels of communication through
which those products found their way
to market. AS consequence all the
towns on those rivers became headquar-
tiers for
THE LAWLESS ELEMENTS,
and were noted for gambling and the
outlawry which necessarily follows in
its train. The genius of Fulton had not
at this early time decorated navigable
streams with floating palaces; therefore
the less pretentious fat-boats, or
" broad-horns," as they were termed,
were the common means of transit.
Many old men of the present day recol-
lect with distinctness seeing fleets of
them floating with the current on the
Mississippi, laden with every article of
produce in the Western States, and
manned by the most stalwart and sinewy
of men, who, like the products they car
ried to market, were the growth Of this
powerful section of country. The popu-
lar song of Grow, Boatman, Row, "
gives faithful idea of the character of
this class of men at that day. These
boats. after they had reached their points
of destination, could no longer be used
for purposes of navigation. Their own
ers generally disposed of them for the
price of the lumber they contained, and
returned to their homes, hundreds of
miles by land, through a country
sparsely populated, carrying with them
money in large amounts which some
times fell into the hands of the confed-
Grated bands of robbers which infested
the country.
THE MOST NOTED OF THESE ROBBERS
was a man by the name of Mason, the
leader of band which had deprecated
on unsuspecting travellers all through
the States of Kentucky, Tennessee and
Mississippi for years, and had eluded all
efforts made for their capture. Mason
was terror of the whole Western and
Southern country, and men returning
from New Orleans with the proceeds Of
their industry did not venture to do so
except in large parties, well armed.
Large rewards were offered by all the
States for his head, dead or alive. This
course had the desired effect of Kidding
the country of the monster. Mason
was remarakle for his gigantic stature
and large head. One of his men, who
had visited the city of Natchez, became
aware Of the rewards offered and deter
mined to possess himself of these large
sums, and, as he afterward expressed
himself, "retire from the business of
robbing." On the spot where the town
of Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Miss.
now stands, Mason and this member of
his band had succeeded in numbering a
returning fatboatman and robbing him
of large amount of money: While
the two were sitting on the ground
counting the spoils the robber shot his
leader through the brain. He severed
his head from the body, put it into a
sack, carried it into the city of Natchez
and claimed the reward. The head was
readily recognized as Mason's; but,
alas! for the robber, he was also recog-
nized by one of the spectators, who had
previously been robbed by Mason and
this very man. Gen. jackson, who
was in Natchez at the time, knew Mason
well, the latter having been a member
OF one of the Tennessee regiments in
the Creek Indian war. Jackson said
he never saw man of better propor-
tons than Mason-physically he was
the best and morally he was the worst
man he ever knew
Some years after the occurrence here
narrated, two brothers,
JAMES AND RESIN BOWIE,
came into the State of Mississippi. one
locating at the city of Natchez, and the
other in Concordia Parish, Louisiana.
AS the career of the former of these
men has become somewhat noted in the
annals of the Southern States, a brief
sketch of both of them will not be out
of place. They were natives of the
State of Maryland, and came from a
highly respected family, into which the
great lawyer and statesman Reverdy
johnson married. They were both fine
specimens of physical manhood, good
looking, with restlessness and deter
mination Enthusiastically stamped on
their visages. They were literally ed
ucated, and their address that of gentle
men. Both were skilled in the games
of faro" and "brag,'' the popular
games of that day with the sporting
fraternity, which then included every
class OF society. They were not pro-
foe ,,1 IL L