The Opelousas courier., 1885-09-26
STEAMERS SABLE CARE
A Renaissance Of Lineo1n's
Assassination.
How the News was Brought to a Federal
Post on the Mississippi

49,
A letter to the Albany Argus re,
calls this incident Of Lincoln's assassl-
nation: In April, 1865, Iserved as aide
de- camp on the staff of Gen. Michael
F. Lawler, at Baton Rouge, La, in
command of the department of East
Louisiana, General Candy then com,
handing the military district of the
Mississippi. Baton Rouge is a Mlssis,
sippi river city, of, probably, 2O,OOO
inhabitants, and had been the capital
of the State. Its State house was a
magnificent ruined pile, on the top OF
a huge bluff, burned when Farragut.
early in 1862, threatened the city with
his gunboats.
The headquarters of Gen. Lawler
were the old quarters. Of the city ofli-
Gals, on the corner of the two main
streets of the city, whose names l cannot
now recall. but only a few doors south
of the Louisiana State bank and about
two blocks Cor squares( below the
Harvey house, the principal hotel in
the city. Every night. i'll the early
spring of 1865, the general and his
staff would sit on the broad gallery
%(verandah) Of these headquarters
waiting for the arrival of a boat from
the north. There was no telegraph
communication whatever. Our letters
home were sent only when a boat
passed going north, and letters from
home came only by the boats coming
south. We received no newspapers
that were not seven days old, for the
nearest northern communication was
with Cairo, Ill.
On a Thursday night Cor it may
have been a Friday, while We were
sitting there, the whistle of Il steam
er was heard and, with one accord, we
all took our way to the landing. We
could see far up the river the red
flame topping the chimneys of the
coming steamer AMI the glare of her
red and white lights. But good as
our eyesight was w could not discern
the usual white outline of the steamer.
The night was a bright, moonlight
one, and we had become accustomed
to tell the name of a steamer by her
white outlines. But here there was
none. Presently, as the steamer drew
nearer, we heard the plaintive tolling
of a bell. Dong, dong, dong; once
about every second.
"What does that mean?" we said.
No one could answer. The ringing Of
the steamers bell was usual only as a
warning to passengers to get aboard,
because she was about to depart. Not
at all when she was coming to a land
ing.
We waited. Soon the steamer came
into full sight. taking the current on
the other side of the broad Mississippi,
so that she might have DON to round
in coming to, because, in the Missis-
sippi, where the current runs at six
miles an hour, and there are no piers
at the landing u steamer must turn
around, and point her Prov up stream.
to effect a landing.
AS she passed, tolling her bell, we
could see that she was dIaped in black.
The Texas pilot house, hurricane deck.
and main deck, were all clad in the
deepest habiliments of woe.
"What does this mean?" again
we said, looking at n another in
dazed wonder. The surrender of Lee,
we knew of. Could there be a disas-
ter in the north, great enough for this
demonstration of sorrow? The steam
CT SOUu l0ulIuCus dLu OtCdtlCu d2dluoO
the current. AS she came to the land
ing, a tall figure standing on the upper
deck, beside the tolling bell, sung out,
in a deep, clear voice, that we could
bear:
president Abraham Lincoln has
been shot, in Richmond theater by an
actor"
That was the way in which we
heard of the Lincoln tragedy, seven
days after it occurred. If anything
could have been more impressive than
that simple river obsequy I have yet
failed to see it.
Lightning in Tropical Climates.
My experience confirms the remarks
of DR.. Van Danckelman in Nature,
respecting the little damage done by
lightning in tropical climates. In the
plains of India at the commencement
of the monsoons. storms occur in which