The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-02-15
A Wild Steamboat,

nave just reaQ an arGlcle IN yOul
paper concerning "a runaway loco
motive and the evidence of affec-
tlon and anger it exhibited on the
occasion. And this calls to mind a
similar exhibit of soul, sense, rea-
soning, or call it what you win, on
the spart of those life exhibiting
creations of man, and it is but fair
to suppose that there is some of the
mind as well as the muscles of the
| architects and builders of locomo-
tives, steamboats,, ETC., wrought un-
knowingly into the = fabric itself,
else why these exhibits. 1t is but
few years since Darwin started
the world with the discovery of sin
sectiverous plants" What was all
along supposed to be common un-
thinking weed at once sprang into
notice as exhibiting all the life-ap-
propriativeness of the Bengal tiger;
in seizing its animal or insect prey
in the folds of its innocent appear
ing leaves, and holding them there
until the whole digestible substance
was extracted and digested by the
plant, and added to such conclusive
evidences of sense in ,unanticips.ted
places prepares one to look with
charity, at least on any well au-
thenticated evidence of similar ex-
hibitions, land my case is this. In'the
fall of 1864 the whole Mississippi
valley was one vast sheet of water,
the levees were broken and the war
and overflow had nearly depopula
ted the entire district. / was at
the time one of the pilots of a steam
er called "Mald of the Mist" and
we were making trip from New
Orleans to Memphis. / had no
ticed for several days that the ves-
sci seemed uneasy in her flight, and
kept heading in, spite of my oppo-
sition, for every opening in the
dense timber that lined the banks,
and often I had to tramp the wheel |
hard down and reverse an engine
in order to keep her away from
these openings. l mentioned it to
my partner, but he told me to keep |
away from the barkeeper and 1 |
would have no trouble. But ere
long he too found the boats ten
dency to get out of the main river,
and she got so cranky and self
willed that my partner threw up
his hand" and swore that he would
not kturn another wheel until the
skeg was fixed, that it had been
knocked to one side. But this
would not account for her idiosyn-
cracies, for she took for all open
ings no matter on which side of the
river. One night we were laying
up in fog in Council bend, so
miles below Memphis, and the
steamer Lady Gay was keeping
US company, and in order to pass
the time pleasantly the officers of
the Cay" invited our crew all
over on their boat for a dance and
good time generally. We went and
when the fog cleared away so we
could run, behold! our "Maid of
the MIST was gone. The night |
was dark, the whole country inun-
dated and what could we do, after
all our ingenuity in try
ing to find what became of her, and
finding no trace but her broken
head line still fast to the anchor.
We left the mate and engineer in a
yawl to look further, and the rest
Of us went to Memphis. Search
was made for weeks for the lost
steamer, and finally we came to the
that the throttle had
stripped its threads during our alb
seace, and she had started ahead,
parted her lines and swung away
nto the broad flood and striking a
,nag had sunk, so all search was
given up, and the "Maid of the
MIST was consideredI a thing of
,he past. And now 1 am getting to
ny work. Some months after the
yessel disappeared 1 was "hugging
,he willows" around Cat Island
With the steamer "Celeste," Captain
Reese Pritchard. 1t was just break
ms day and l was steering along
n a sleepy, lazy sort of way.
Capt. P. was sitting out on the
'oof on the lookout when he sud
lenly sprang to his feet and sang
,ut. .'Stop her Transom! Back her
Iuickr' This brought me up all
and after rapid jingling
If engine bells our boat was pulling
off from what 1 suppose was the
Did mans jimjams, but in IN in
slant later L saw emerging from the
timber through a narrow chute the
ong lost "Maid of the Mist" and
following her in slow procession
we're nine small steamers almost
exact counterparts of herself, only
about the size of boats yawl, and
40 one ever saw a prouder mother
than this queenly vessel with her
brood following her like some
snowy swan when it first leads its
Young out upon a glossy lake. We
had another investigation and
found that the maid of the MIST
was not maid. She had lain up
at "Natchez under the Hill' the
summer before, among fleet of 9th
and had found her affinity
in an old Pittsburg tow boat called
the sIronsides" and had been mar
ried to him by a long faced
scow that made some pretentions
to sanctity on account of having |
been engaged in removing refugees
from the big Black" country. Sew
eral of the other vessels had wit |
messed the ceremony but had kept
it sub rosa. This.Is all 1 have to.tell.
If my story is not properly embell-
ished or seems inconsistent some
way, it is because it requires a more
truthful hand to WELD it.
GUY TRANsoM