The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1885-11-19
RiverR,
81 tell you. enc

81 tell you, Cine In
| self back in a he: 4,ar. 'sthe
| Mississippi is no loI - what it used 10
be; the railroads have ruined it. There
will be no moro such steamers as the
X. Z. Lee, the Richardson, or others of
their class built. Tho steamers used
to float all the cotton of the valley to
New Orleans, and were built to carry
from five thousand to eight thousand
bales. The week, however, which it
required steamer to take it down is
now reduced to twenty-four hours by
rail. Railroads are following the
course of the river and robbing it of
Its trade, and L look forward TO the
day when the Mississippi river will be
abandoned entirely in favor of rail.
YES" he continued in answer to q
question, gamblers used to have a
picnic along the river. but that day,
too, Is past. 1t is not because people
have grown better, but because they
have less money. l once saw two men
IN dispute over 4 game rise from
their chairs, place their pistols at each
others temple and fire simultaneously.
Their dead bodies were carried away,
and the game continued as if nothing
had happened. Those were wild DAYS,
and are not likely TO return.
The mode of getting other peoples
money has merely changed in some re-
spects. With the exit of the honest
gambler who told his business We wit
ness the entrance of the sneak-thief
But 4 few days ago a rich planter
boarded this steamer of Natchez.
While sitting right where we are now
he purchased paper from a newsboy
and was soon lost in its persaul
Il ,0lDnal =,
few moments after, You have just
dropped this" handing him G $50
note.
~ reckon not, said the old gentle
man, as he looked over his specfacles.
81 just picked it up under your
chair, replied the young man, and
see no other way to dispose of il. How
ever. since it seems to belong to neith-
er OF us we might just as we'll divide
it.
- That plan worked well. The old
gentleman passed over S25 in change,
and the young man sauntered careless
ly out on land. A few minutes after
the vessel had taken to- water the old
gentleman presented the $50 note TO
the clerk in payment of his fare.
Counterfeit! exclaimed the clerk,
and then for the first time the whole
truth dawned upon the ole, mans mind.
''The deck hands are hard lot.
They work, as you see, with a vim
while in port, and pass the time until
the next is reached in playing craps
They are paid $3.50 day. When they
are called up to get their wages they
divide into little gambling parties at
once, and by the time port is reached
of the fifty men paid off about ten will
have all the money. This ten will take
one night on land, coming back to the
boats dead broke, and on the return
trip there will not be nickel in the
whole crew. And the way they can 90
through 4 strar GER" said the speaker,
growing warm. sis caution. A negro
got on board ut Vicksburg the other
day and fell asleep. 1t was noticed
that his undertaking was new. Quiet
~ the men went to work, stripped him,
divided ont the Undertaking, put him
back into his old shoes, shirt and pam
falcons, and left him. When that
negro awoke and found the change
which had been made in him he was
completely mystiiied. He could not
understand how his underclothino
could have been stolen without touch
ing the rest. '-AttaRta Constellation.