The morning call., 1891-07-27
RICH FOR AN HOUR.
A True Story Which Is Stranger
Than Any Tale of Fiction.

In the south end of this city, commonly
called Carondelet but which at one time
bore the very significant name of Vide Poche
(empty pocket. there resides one Of the early
French settlers, Joe Marshall by name, says
the st. Louis Republican. sold Joe," AS he
is called by every one, is one Of those IN
fortunate FrencEmen who settled in Caron-
delet while it was yet burg of some six or
seven houses. He acquired a great deal of
property, as did all the old creoles, and
when a more active civilization encroached
upon the district and the property began to
be worth something he lost it all through
careleSsnesS and bad management.
1t may not be generally known that Joe
was a millionaire for two whole hours at
one time, and the circumstances of his rise
and fall are best told in his own words:
at was in the summer Of 1881 was on
the river then. The river was booming, and
it was unsafe to go out in it in a small boat,
That was in the early steamboat days, when
every one Travelled by river, and the wharf
in st. Louis was lined with boats which
stuck their bows so close together. In order
to get to the wharf at all, that they formed
a wall along the river front, and when fire
broke out on one beat the others were so
tightly wedged in that escape was imposSi-
be. 1t had been storming all day, aud in
the evening the river was raging torrent,
ready to tear away its banks or to dash the
huge trees that had been uprooted by it in
its mad course through the huh of the
steamer that ventured from the bank out
into midStream.
g. bout 9 o'clock that evening fire broke
out on the leyee among the boats. There
was panic. Some of the passengers who
were spending the night on the boats in
order to make sure Of their State-rOoms, lost
their lives in the panic which followed and
others left their valuables. The loss was
immense both of life and property. The red
10 in
Vide Poche, and L and my partner sat up
and kept watch on the river. expecting to see
some of the passengers OF the burned boats
drift by and rescue them IL possible. We
waited long, but no victims of the fire came.
AT last, As we were about to give up the
watch. We saw out in the current dark
object that appeared to be raft. 1t shot
swiftly into view, and as 1t passed us we
could see the white face OF man holding
on to raft which had been constructed
of four life-preseTvers, and on which he
floated large chest, which, from the care
he had taken to place it in safety at the risk
of his own life, we judged TO be very valua-
bic. We resolved 10 save him, II possible,
and jumping into our skitf we pulled toward
him. AT that moment the raft was caught
in one of the whirlpools below the Ellwood-
street dixie and was broken to pieces. The
man lost his hold and WAS swallowed in the
vortex, while the chest, too, went down. We
rowed about the spot to pick up the life
picking up the second one found rope at
tached to it. My partner wanted to cut it,
but | stopped him and told him to save the
rope, as it might be useful. He commenced
pulling it in, but before he had gotten much
of ii in the boat he called me TO his assist
ance and we worked away pnlling in the
dead weight at the other end of the rope.
Finally the task was finished, and as q re-
ward instead of the body of the man whom
we had seen drown before our eyes, we
found we had the chest which he valued
more than his life. We hauled it ashore
with many misgvings. and l did not open it,
but put it careessly before my shanty. The
next day | had plenty TO do picking up the
wreekage and watching for tie bodies of
those who had persisted on the boats.
About O'clock in the evening gentleman
drove down TO the shanty. He seemed
greatly excited. lie was accompanied by a
constable. They asked me if | had seen a
chest floating down the river. Well, 20
make long story short, the man was the
owner of the chest, which contained his
whole fortuue-more than 4 million. The
man who was drowned was his brother,
who had locked him in his stateroom to
perish and tried TO make off with the treas
ure in the way described
Il told him Of his brothers death, and he
remarked: Poor fellowl | forgive him,
and shall not tell father of his attempted
crime. lie was a member of one of the
best families of the city at that time, and
after taking me to the nearest saloon, where
we had the best in the house, he gave me
$1,000 to keep the whole affair quiet and
not let his name be known. What did | do
ON it for "a year.
did l ever see the gentleman again?
Yes, quite often. He is one of the leading
| men OF New Orleans to-day" "a.