Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-12-21
ABOUT Thai JUDGMENT.
Some Facts From Old Push Relative
to the Wreeking Of the Natchez
No. 5 in Yszoo River.
A Judgment OF $4,000 Against
Capt. Has. 3. lads, How il was
Obtained snd alIAbouf IL.
vislsta Herald.

= A
Relative to the discussion 0 in
progress between Captain I. p. Leath-
ers and Captain James b. Eads as to
the existence ui 4 Judgment of twenty
thousand dollars against the latter and
in favor Of the former, this reporter
ascertaiaed the lulloging from Captain
Lesthers: IL seems the Natchez No.
s.. a Ave thousand bale steamboat ply
Ing between New Orleans and this
port, aud owned by Captain 7. T..
Lcathers, had been, at the breaking
out Of the war, or shortly thereafter,
rendered the Confederate government
for service. She was piled around
with cotton, with a view OF making her
servicsblo as a butting ram, but while
10 Yazoo river. a spark of fire lodged
amid the cotton Gu board and she was
burnt to the waters edge at Green
wood. The wreck lay undisturbed in
YAzoo river until the Salvor No. IA, a
~wreckins boat, of which a Captain
Buchanan was ia command, made q
speculative trip into that stream.
Suffice it to say the Salvor
wrecked the Nathc,z No. 5, and
shortly after Clptiin feathers, who
happened to be here at the time, iden-
tilted the boilers and machinery Of his
boat on the Salgor which had just
arrived from Yazoo river ca route to
St. Louis. She was loaded down with
valuable material from the wreck of
the Nltchez Captain feathers i'm
mediately applied to General Ord,
then Chiefof the United States Mill
tary forces ia Vicksburg, for a permit
to issue an attachment on the boat
while she lay at this port, but before
be had succeeded in his purpose the
SlgOr had skipped out up the river.
Captain l.. followed her to St. Louis,
but could fad no one there who knew
anything about her, or that would
inplrt any information regarding her,
or that would be 10 the least respon-
si5ls for any work she had previously
done Tnreo years after he libeled
ths bat a. tao Nicksburg wharf, and
catered suit a iinst the SalvOr Wreck
iuE Company for $4,000 damages in
the United states Court at jackson,
Miss, before Judge R A. Hill. After
: thorough Investigation Of all the
facts in the case, a judgment was
rendered 10 Captain LIS favor
for the full amount, but
which was never paid. Captain
Leathers maintains that Captain Jas.
B. Eads was not only President Of
the Salvor Wrecking Company at the
time alluded to, but was one of the
principal stockholders in it, and a
Judgment against that organization
Captain Leathers considers as holding
good against any and all parties in
terestel in the concern. Captain
Leathers right upon the strength Of
this judgment to render the stock
holders Of the wrecking company
legally responsible for his debt, is
now barred by the statutes of limita,
ton, but he thinks there still exists q
moral responsibility with the partie:
concerned, and hat Captains Eads
should at least pay his pro rata Of the
old judgment.
Captain Eads has always maintained
that the Confederate government set.
tied in full with Captain Leathers fol
losses sustained by him on its account
while the latter AYERS land upon this
his Judgment was obtained) that
the ~Confederacy settled with him fol
all losses, ~deGucting forty thousand
dollars for the wreck Of the
Natchez Nos, as it lay in Yazoo river
Captain l.. says the wreck was never
abandoned aud that his old engineer
Captain John Cristy, now residing in
New Orleans, was employed to watch
it all through the war and up TO the
time Of its being wrecked.
In this connection Captain Leatherl
desires merely TO ask these questions
From whom did Captain Eads obtain
the right to wreck the Natchez No. 81
Who had possession Of the wreck al
the time referred to? Also, who gave
the same to him and what disposition
was made of the money realized in the
sale Of the machinery and other mate.
rial from the wreck?
Captain Leathers states he notified
Captain Eads upon his entry into Yazoo
river not TO Touch the wreck of the
Natchoz, as it was private property,
that it never belonged to the Confed-
crate government, and il was never
abandoned.
These are the facts in the case
as presented by the veteran CHIEF
himself.