Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1886-10-15

and IL u customer wanted any thing hi
helped himself aud entered il on slat,
left upon the counter for that purpose
In answer to question he said iha
theft was OF very rare occurrence, ant
when any fellow was caught at sucl
dcviltry, quick work was made witt
him; the citizens held n meeting ant
took il out of his hide with hckorcs.
had ofton heard of Arcadinn simplicity
but this little town furnished the only
instance of IL that ever fell under my
notice.
Arkadolphia is situated about seventy
miles above Camden, which is the usua
head of navigation on the w chita. II
can be reached by boats scmi-occasion'
ally; that Is to say, when there are con.
siderable frcshcts. 1t was one of these
occasions now, and Captain ID, took his
boat up there TO get a lot of cotton that
was awaiting cheap transportation. The
land opposite the town was quite high,
nearly ON Lowell with the tops of the
steamers chimucys. and between ii and
the river bank was slopng beach
about fifty feet wide. The high land is
level and was covered with dense
growth of small cane as far as the eye
could see. A cancbrakc is an object Ol
singular interest TO spectator who secs
one for the first time, creating an i'm.
preston of profound solitude. A por.
ton of the cave had been cleared from
the edge OF the land, and several tiers
of cotton were piled up there. To en-
able this to he loaded onto the boat Il
staging had to be constructed over sixty
feet long. 1t was made of scantling
and boards, supplemented at the end
next the land by the regular boat-stag-
ing. In hauling up the foremost one OF
these stagings one of the ropc-cyes
broke, forming II rugged hook that had
Il very threatening aspect 10 the un-
wary. The loading on of the cotton ex-
tended far into the night, and it became
necessary to build fires all along the
banks TO light the men at their work,
and the passengers found it very pleas
ant to ramble about in the edge of the
canebrakc by the dim light of the fires.
Of ursc, they soon began to talk
about what they would do if they should
see bear, and every one was going to
do something very brave and dar-
ing. One big, burly fellow said
if he should come across bear,
he would catch it by the cars
and kick its bowels out. Among the
hands on the boat was an Italian, vile
acted as porter, eking ou5 his mcagcr
wages by means of certain entertaining
tricks for the performance, of which he
received small donccurs from the pas
scngers. He had been an attachc OF
various side shows, and was Il tocrable
iugglcr in II small way, and Il pretty
good vcntriloquist in smaller way.
That is, he could initiate the snaring
and swapping of n dog Mt n man S heels,
or the caterwauling of cat in some
ones hat, and various small tricks of
that kind. Hearing the boasts of the
passengers as to what they would do il
they saw a bear. he concluded to have
n little sport at their expense, even nj
the risk of getting Il chance shot from Il
revolver. Donning buffalo robe he
slyly made dctour from the boat to
the rear of where the cotton was being
handled, and as he drew near com.
mcnccd making jumps. Stimulating as
nearly rs possible the loping of II bear
through the brake. The passengers as
well us the boat hands soon got 4
glimpse of him, and then such n seam.
pcring took place rs has seldom beer
seen, every one seeming 10 forget the
brave things he had promised to do
The man who was going to take the bcal
by the ears was the worst scared of any
and in his haste to get on the staging
missed his footing, and would have
gone down the bank but .hpt his cloth
ing caught in the jaggc.i nook before
mentioned and there he ppmg suspend
ed, uttering the most fearful shrieks
The hook had torn his flesh little ant
he thought himself in the grasp of tn,
bear. While he was still hanging ther,
the porter came stalking on board will
the big buffalo robe wrapped arounc
him, "a la big iniun, and appeared to b,
quite curious TO learn what the row wa!
about. He had some trouble to max,
his peace with his irate victims, but sue
cceded in persuadmg them that it wa
entirely mintentional on his part anc
that he had not the least idea of being
mistaken for a bear.
The return passage being without
stoppagc, was made much quicker ant
when | regained New Orleans
felt that | had been amply repaid fol
my trip up the Wachita. had seen ;
strange river and strange country
unlike any thing to be seen elsewhere
as well as a strange type of people. pc
culiar t. the river II d the country
Such trip is well worth making by
any one who has the leisure and i
willing to go slow.-!St. Louis RepaJN
can.