St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-10-17
IT WAS ONLY BLACK SAND.
Thrilling Experience of = Captain on tn
Erie Canal.

ThrttstnS Experience OF = Captain on tho
Erie Canal.
A New England skipper, shipping
clerk and the Captain of canal-boat
sat on the lee rail of a Goldfish schooner
and discussed the decline of the Ameri-
can merchant marine. The clerk was
wise in fine points of law, the skipper
was filed to overflowing with wrath
against the land-sharks at Washington,
and the Captain assented with cheerful
readiness to the most conflicting of
opinions. The clerk wanted to reform
Congress by congressional legislation,
|. the skipper was on the point Of blowing
up the Capitol with dynamite, and the
Captain cofncided with both opinions by
rem arking that either remedy, If sue
I cessfully carried into effect, would pro-
duce astonishing results. Still. he ven-
tured to suggest, il would be measure
of precaution to use gunpowder instead
of dynamite. as glul-powder in even the
shot gun Of the South was more deadly
than all the dynamite in the British
isles.
But it's SO dangerous to handle, !"
said the skipper. s
= How so?" inquired the clerk, who
mad handled uncounted tons of explo-
siyes.. .sa3zsE8 = @f9
You never can tell it from black
sand"
There was silence for several minutes.
Then the Captain spoke.
is black sand particularly danger.
ousp" he asked.
'Mighty dangerous
.How so?' asked the clerk, with b
tinae of humiliation for his ignorance.
when you're down on the Chinese
icoast, and you load,up your guns with
! black sand in mistake for powder to
repel an attack by pirates, you're always
sure to be murdered, because the black
sand will not 60 off.
Wont it?" asked the Captain. in .
tone that implied that ii would
= Il never heard" said the skipper.
The clerk was dumb through newly
found ignorance.
..You see that scar. said the Captain.
pointing to red ridge across his cheek.
well, give us the story" urged the
skipper.
1T was years ago." began the Cap
tain; l was running q fast packet line
on the Erie canal from Albany to Buff
falo. had a beautiful boat and four
fast horses every few miles. We carried
the mail and always had big load of
passengers. One trip we took on board
lot Of small barrels labeled black
sand One of the barrels was acci-
dentally broken open, the cover lost,
and quart or SO of the black sand
scattered about the hold. The barrel
was set out of the way near the wine
cask. and apparently was forgotten.
At dinner time some more wine was
wanted by some of the passengers, aud
| went down to draw it from the
cask. As the hold was dark took
broken piece of candle for light
Scarcely knowing what / did l stuck
the candle upright in the black
sand and sat down on the floor
to draw the wine. / had been up
all night and was very tired, and
some how or other fell asleep. l must
have shut off the faucet while asleep,
for when awoke the wine pitcher was
filled and the faucet closed. As |
reached out my hand to take up the
candle l saw a sight that froze my
blood with horror. While had slept
the candle had burned low and was on
the point of Pickering out. In another
instant the'flame would reach the pow
der-for of course it was powder, and
no black sand-and blow boat, crew,
and passengers to atoms. died q
thousand deaths in an instant. I was
paralyzed with fear, and could only
wait with staring eyes for the end.
Death was already at my throat. The
sound of laughter in the cabin came
strangely to my ears. They were feast
ing in the face of a terrible death. At
last the end came; the light flickered
for moment, flared up for the last
time, and then"
And thenrt whispered the skipper
and the clerk with breathless interest.
..And then went out AS it was
nothing but black sand for molders'
use. nothing occurred beyond the up
setting of the pitcher of wine as I fell
forward in faint"