News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-03-08
ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
The ROustubOuts Who Handle the CargOes
of the ROnts.

|
They work under the direction of the
first mate, white man, of course, who
has Il grutf voice and a hickory club.
They work on the jump. They move on
the run. They are steadily sworn at,
and the least sign of characterization is
promptly quelled by the active mate,
whom constant practice has made per-
feet i'll club exercise.
These mates are snappy, nervy men.
They are often shot at or otherwise in
iured by the negroes; but they always
! "get away with the nigger." The cot
ton on q landing slowed on the boat, the
gang planks are raised by machinery,
aud, il Il 10 night, the electric lights are
turned out, and the tired negroes fail on
the cotton bales and are Instantly asleep.
Two, three, four miles, and then the
boarse whistle of the steamer resounds
throughout the damp, heavy air. In
/ stantly all hands are on their feet, alert
and active If it is night, a blaze of
lamps, and all is light as day. The boat
swings to the shore; the immense gang
planks are lowered. The instant the
! plank touches the land a column of black
men run up it, and before the last man
has set his foot on shore the first men
are rolling cotton bales down the plank
There is no singing over this work. The
work is too arduous to rejoice over. And
| there, standing over them, is the mate,
cu1sing and nervously swinging his club
| in a suggestive manner not calculated to
cause a negro to burst into song. The
last bale on board, the gang plank rises,
and down fall the exhausted roustabouts
fast asleep the instant they strike the
cotton bales. Oh, how l pitied them
After the steamer caves Nicksburg on
her down trip, 10 more large quantities
of cotton are taken on board that dis
trict belonging under the pooling ar
rangements to other boats. The down
trip is one Of idleness mostly. There
are a few mail landings, where lean and
/ apparently empty bags are delivered to
dirrv-IooLirg men, the postmastors,
presumably. Aud there may be few
packages otmerchondise or some ''plun-
der belonging to black emi9rants to be
discharged or shipped; but of work
there is none.
After the last landing above New Or
leans has been made, the rOustabouts
march to the outside of the office to re-
ceive the pay due them for the trip.
The barkeeper is i'll the Office with his
account book. The mate is there with
his time book and his club. He calls
through the open window, into which
many pairs of black eyes inquiringly look.
the name Of the man on the head Of the
list and the amount due him. The bar
T-.,7,or calls out the sum the man owes
.... ..r whisky. That amount Is d
Quoted from the roustabout' S wages, and
the remainder is handed to the mate,
who counts it to satisfy himself that it is
correct. Then, glancing at the negro
whose outstrctched hand is thrust into
the Office, he drops the broad silver
pieces into his palm, generally accom-
panymg them with a pleasant remark.
These mates abuse and knock the ne
groes about, but they see that justice is
done to them, and they allow no other
man to abuse their hands. The negro
grins in reply, and hastens below deck.
He Chambers over the cotton bales in
eager haste to the mess room of the
rou8tabouts, and there he prepares to
play "craps," the national game of
Africa.
As the other hands are paid, they, too,
eagerly Chamber over the cotton bales,
and the game is at once begun. ''Craps"
is played with dice. They are shaken
in the closed hand, and with a swing the
hand is opened and the dice roll along
the dirty table. The game, l am
ashamed to say, surpasses the mental
powers of white men to grasp. met
no white man who understood it, and l
utterly failed to understand the explana-
tions of the negroes. This is more hu-
initiating as wild niger, " fresh from
an alligator swamp, thoroughly under
stands the game, and plays it sklllfullv.
The edge of the fiery desire that pos
scsses all black rOustabOuts to gamble Is
taken off with "craps; )" then Spanish
monte and seven-up are ndulged IN, and
thp gambling never ceases until all the
money is III the pockets of five or SIX OF
the most expert gamblers. These men
1ush from the boat the instant 1t touches
tba whorf at New Orleans and hasten to
the lair of the tiger. When they escape
from the clutches of that animal they
are penmless. The men are paid OF be-
fore +he boat arrives Mt New Orleans for
the avowed purpose OF having them
Gamble and lose their money, SO that
thev will he ready to ship again.
Smoking is strictly prohibited outside
+bn cabin on all steamers when they are
loaded with cotton. Pre-eminent III en-
forcino this rule are the black roust-
.bor+s Stories are told Of their throw
ino black offenders into the river for tins
,,.ronn that endangcrs the life of every
,,.r.on ON the boat The negroes dread
= fire. I suppose they realize that they
wouI ] have to stand back until all the
white people were rescued, and that
fbrir chance of escaping would be very
small [ asked the mate if his steamer
had ever been on fire. He told me it had.
| I was curious to know how the blacks
behaved iu the presence of so grave Il
danger, and inquired. ''Well, he re-
Dlied. sthe last fire broke out in the hold,
caused by some deck passenger smoking.
When the negroes saw the smoke curl
ing up from the bales, they became
panic-strclen at once. They rushed
forward to where | was standing, crying,
Fire! Fire Fire ? I shouted to the
pilot to keep the boat in the middle of
the river; then turning to the negroes |
told them they could fight fire, roast or
drown. | clubbed them into obedience.
Tn less than two minutes We had the
hose laid and four streams of water play
ing. | took nine bales of burning cotton
out of the hold and eXtinguished the fire
in less than ten minutes. How those
niggers Dragged When they realized
that their lives depended ON their subdu-
ing the fire, they fought with reckless
d termination. If the boat had ever
touched shore, or even got near enough
to have made the attempt to swim to il
through this cold water probably sue