The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-25
Written for THE ARKAIsAw TRAvELxR.
 A PILOTS STORY.
BY GUY TRANsoM.

rounds" of Duff Browns chase from some burning oil cars on the Buffalo, Cory and Erie railroad. I am not a railroad man, and do not pretend to deny tbe assertions therein made, that loco- motive carrying all the pressure she was capable of, and running with wide open throttle, could not gain on and get away from cars of less weight, and propelled by their gravity alone, or that cars run
 hing at the speed given, !. C., eighty miles per hour, would admit of the flames from the burning oil rising to the height of nearly one hundred feet," repeat, don't dispute single statement ein the story, and for this mercy shown to others, l want the same mercy shown to me, for l have story-not entirely dissimil ar-to tell. l am not, neither have ever been, a railroad man, but have been a river man, and here is my story of the water : In the fall of '63 was one of the pilets of the steamer Die Vernon" plying be- tween Memphis and Vicksburg, Captain Frank Hicks, of Pine Bluff, Ark, in com mand. The steamer Sultana had ex- ploded her boilers few miles above Memphis, Tenn, and some nine hundred lives were lost. In ten days the bodies began to float to the surface, and it was nothing uncommon to see a dozen in sight at once. All this is a grim matter of history, known to thousands who were eye-witnesses of the ghastly affair. But here is part not so we'll known. On the arrival of the "Die Vernon in Memphis, about this time we found the steamer Pocahontas fired up and under orders from General Ord, then in command of the district, to proceed at once down the river and pick up all the bodies that could be found and either bury or return with them to Memphis" A steam ferry boat was already engaged in picking up all that happened to be still above the city The Pocaho ntas" was all ready to sail when we landed, and was only await ing our arrival to get one of our pilots. was detailed to go. Now the "Pocahontas" was large side-wheel vessel, but with only one engine to drive both wheels, and had the name of being the slowest tub " aaoat, and on this trip lost none of her reputation. John Mcclure, now engineer of the Arkansaw Insane asylum, was her engineer. Just as we were swinging clear of the wharf body came drifting along with the current, and some sixty yards from shore, graphing hooks and nets were got ready to lift it on board, and headed right for it. By the time we got suaightened, head down stream. the corpse had drifted some hundred yards ahead, and was making for the bend or hannel side of Presidents Island. As it was some five miles nearer to run the chute side l headed that way and, as Mcclure expressed it, "went slobbering down as if we had no business of impor- tance to attend to-" My idea was to reach the foot of the island and head up the main channel so as to fish up the body as it drifted by. But what was my amazement when emerging into the open river to see the corpse had gained over one hundred feet on us The mate swore it was not the same corpse, so we lett him and two men there with theyawl to await results, while hallooed through the tru m- pet to the engineer to "shost it to her," and we would pick up the one in sight. | Long black columns of coal smoke rolled | away from our tunnels. The regular echo | Of the "cheow cheowl" of our 'scape- pipes rolled through the dark forests on either side, and the race began. It cer- tainly had no association with the case but these lines ran through my mind:
 Splash, splash across the sea
 Hurrah the dead can ride apace
 Dost fear to ride with mel"
 In the next ten miles we had nothing to brag of. The corpse was slowly bat surely gaining on us, and when an hour AotSA AhC tAoeC NouAC 0iOnk SA0C Wltu AuC | yawl, and reported no corpses astern of us, Mcclure swore he would catch the one ahead or blow the old tub into king dom come, and give some other vessel the job of picking 1s up. This gave us little enthusiasm, and away we dashed. Sometimes we would seem to gain on our chase, but it was plain to all-when the "oid man" had to get out his field glasses to keep it in sight-that it was an almost hepless case; in fact had lost heart long before, but lived in the hope that the body might hang up on a snag, or drift ashore. This hope, coupled with the fact that was being paid by the month, sustained me. The captain came