The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-19
FOUND 4 MILLION ADR1Fr.
Joe Marshalls Story Of an OId-time
Mississippi Flood and Levee Fire.
From the 81. Louis Republic.
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From the st. Louis Republic.
In the south end of the city, commonly
called Carondelet, but which at one time
bore the very significant name of Vide
roche empty pocket, there resides one Of
the early French settlers, Joe Marshall by
name. "Old Joa," as he is called by every
one, is one Of those unfortunate Frenchmen
VINO settled in Carondelet while it was yet
burg OF some six or seven houses. He
acquired great deal of property, as did all
the old creoles, and when a more active
civilization encroached upon the district
ana the property began to be worth some-
thing 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 circum-
stances of his rise and fall are best told in
his own words:
1T was in the summer of lS49: was on
the river then. The river was booming,
ana 1t was unsafe to go out on it in a small
boat. That was in the early steamboat DAYS
when every one Travelled by river, and the
wharf ia 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 wall along the river front, and
when 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 evening 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 vent
ured from the bank out in midstream.
About o'clock that evening fire broke
out on the levee 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 staterooms lost
their lives in the panic which followed, and
others left their valuables. The loss was
immense, both of life and of property. The
red glare of the fire distinctly visible
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 burning
boats drift by, and to rescue them if posi-
BILE. 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 cur
rent 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 man holding on to
raft which he had constructed of four
life preservers, and on which he floated a
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 valuable.
We resolved to save him if possible, aud,
jumping into our skiff, we pulled toward
him. At that moment the raft was caught
in one Of the whirlpools below the Elwood
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
preservers which had been separated, and
in picking up the second one found a rope
attached to it. My partner wanted to cut
it. but l stopped him and told him to save
the rope, as 1t might be useful. lie COM
ma vNt1l15 -, h,,A H,H 49, ~
ten much Of it in the boat he called me to
his assistance, and we worked away pulling
in the dead weight at the other end of the
rope
Finally the task was finished, and, as q
reward, instead of the body of the man
whom we had just seen drown before our
eyes, we found we had the che IT which he
valued more than his life. We hauled it
ashore with many misgivings, and did not
open it, but put it oarelessly before my
shanty
The next day had plenty to do picking
up wreckage and watching for the bodies
Of those who had persisted on the boats
About o'clock in the evening a gentleman
drove down TO the shanty. He seemed
greatly excited. He was accompanied by a
constable. They asked me if l 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
whole fortune-more than a million The
man who was drowned was bis brother,
who had locked him in his stateroom to
perish and tried to make off with the treas
ure in the way described.
81 told him of his brothers death, and he
remarked: Poor fellow, forgive him, and
shall not tell father of his attempted crime
He was a member OF one of the best families
of the city at the time, and after taking me
to the nearest station, 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 with the
$4,000. lived like gentleman on it for
year.
Did 1 ever see the gentleman again? Yes,
quite often; he is one of the leading men of
st. Louis to-day"