Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-11-18
RIVER "REMINISCENCES.
Anecdotes of the Mfssfssfppi stem
bOatmen of Other DAYS.

f
II tell you," he said, throwing himsel
back IN heavy armchair, :sthe Missis
slppl Is no longer what it used to be; thu
4 railroads have ruined it. There will bt
no more such steamers as the Robert r
Lee, the Richardson, or others of theil
class built. The steamers used to f1oa1
an the cotton OF the valley to New Or
leans, and were built to carry from S .OOC
to 5000 bales. The week. however
which it required a steamer to carry 4
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 | look forward to the day when
the Mississippi river will be abandoned
entirely in favor of rail.
YES" he continued in answer to a
question. gamblers used to have pic
mic along the river, but that day, too. is
past. 1t IS not because people have
grown better, but because they have less
money. once saw two men in a dispute
over game rise from their chairs, place
their pistols at each others temple and
lire simultaneously. Their dead bodies
were carried away, and the game contin.
ued as if nothing had happened. Those
were wild days, and are not likely to re-
turn.
"The mode Of getting other peoples
money has merely changed in some re-
spects. With the exit of the honest gam
bier who told his business, we witness the
entrance of the sneak thief. But a few
days ago a rich planter boarded this
steamer off Natchez. While sitting right
where we are now he purchased a paper
from a newsboy and was soon lost in its
perusal.
Colonel said a bland young man.
you have just dropped this handing
him $50 note.
:" L reckonnot,' said the old gentleman,
as he looked over his spectacles.
Il just picked it up under your CHAIR
replied the young man, and 1 see no
other way to dispose of it. However,
since it seems to belong to neither of us
we might just as well divide it,
THE plan worked well. The old gentle
man passed over $25 in change, and the
young man sauntered carelessly out on
land. A few minutes after the vessel had
taken to water the old gentleman pre-
sented the $50 note to the clerk in pay
ment of his fare.
fCounterfeit!' exclaimed the clerk,
and then for the first time the whole
truth dawned upon the old 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 lit
tie 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, COM
ing back to the boats dead broke, and on
the return trip there will not be nickel
among the whole crew. And the way
they can go through stranger" said the
speaker, growing warm, ''is a caution.
A negro got on board at Vicksburg the
other day and fell asleep. 1t was noticed /
hat his Undertaking was new. Quietly |
he men went to work, stripped him, di-
7ided out the Undertaking, put him
back into his old shoes, shirt and panta- /
oons, and left him. When the negro
awoke and found the change which had
3een made in him, he was completely
nystified. He could not understand how
his Undertaking could have been stolen |
without touching the rest. atlanta
Constitution.