Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-27
A MILLION IN A CHEST.
HOW Joe Marshall Came into Possession
of a Fortune and Held i. for a Easv

of Fortune and Held Is for a Day.
In the south end of this city, says
the St. Louis Republic commonly
called Carondelet but which at one
time bore the very significant name OF
Vide Poche (empty pocket), there re-
sides one of the early French settlers,
Joe Marshall by name
Joe clings fondly to the traditions
and superstitions of the early French.
and his stories of events that occurred
In his early life about Carondelet are
marvellous in the extreme. Joe's lit
tie cabin on the river bank near ELL
wood street is often filed with eager
listeners to his marvellous stories, and
none of his friends ever question the
veracity Of his accounts; for the mo-
ment they do the Ancient Mariner"
as he IS sometimes called in conse-
quence of his knowledge of the river
will point significantly to the door of
his cabin with the words:
You don't believe it you-P
There's the door"
Joe is in the habit of prefacing his
remarks by stating that he remembers
the time when the Mississippi was
creek. 1t may not be generally known
that Joe was a millionaire for two
whole hours at one time, and The Cir
cumstances of his rise and fall are best
told in his own words:
ut was in the summer of 1871
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 a fire broke out on one boat
the others were so tightly wedged in
! that escape was impossible. 1t had
been storming all day, and in the even
ing the river was a 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
hull of the steamer that ventured from
the bank out into midstream.
about nine o'clock that evening
| fire broke out on the levee among the
| boats. There was a panic. Some of
the passengers who were spending the
night on the boats in order to make
sure Of their staterOoms lost their lives
in the panic which followed and others
left their vaiuables. The loss was i'm
mense both in life and property. The
| red glare of the fire was distinctly Wis.
ible in Vide Poche, and | and my part
ner sat up and kept watch on the river
expecting to see some Of the passen-
gers Of the burning boats drift by and
to rescue them if 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 d dark object that appeared to
be a raft. 1t shot swiftly into view.
and as it passed us we could see the
white face of q man holding on to
! raft which he had constructed of four
| life preservers, and on which he float
ed large chest, which from the care
he had taken to place it in safety at
i the risk of his own life, we judged to
be very valuable We resolved to save
him, if possible, and jumping out into
our skiff we pulled toward him. At
| that moment the raft was caught in
one of the whirlpools below the Eli
wood street dixie and was broken to
! pieces. The man lost his hold and
was widowed in the vortex, while the
chest, too went down. We rowed
about the spot TO pick up the life pre-
servers, which had separated, and in
| Io1- +l1
rope attached to it. My partner want
ed to cut it, but I stopped him and
told him to save t e rope. as it might
be useful. He commenced pulling it
in, but before he had gotten much Of
1t in the boat he called me to his
assistance and we worked away pull
ing in the dead weight at the other
end of the rope. Finally the task was
finished, and as a reward instead of
the body of the man whom VIC had
| Just seen drown before our eyes, we
found we had the chest which he val
ued more than his life. We hauled it
ashore with more misglvingS an 1 did
not open it. but put it carelessly be-
fore my shanty. The next day | had
plenty to do picking up wrcckage and
watching for the bodies of those who
had persisted on the boats. About 5
o'clock in the evening n gentleman
drove down to the snanty. He seemed
greatly excited. He was accompanied
by constable They asked me if
had seen a chest floating down the
river. Well, to make a long story
short, the man was the owner of the
chest which contained his wAolc for
tune-lnore than a million. The man
who was drowned was lis brother,
who had locked him in his state room
to pc ish and tried to i re Off with
the treasure in the way jcribed.
Il told him OF his br' hers death,
and he remarked: Poor fellow, /
forgive him, and shall not tell faith ar
of his attempted crime He was a
member of one Of the best families
of the city at the time. and after taxi
ing me to the nearest saloon, where
we had the best in the house, he gave
me s.. 900 to keep the whole affair quiet
and not let his name be known. What
did l do with the $1,000? lived like
c gentleman on it for a year.
'Did | ever see the gentleman
again? Yes, quite often. He is one
of the leading men of New Orleans
to-day"
The Trick the Clock Played.
/ The clock in n workshop OF a hard