Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-07-06
THE SPECTRAL BOAT.

Louis. IlADy introduced ule W hihhoy. |
In Kinney found a short, thick bodied |
man with half gray and blue eyes, tawny |
coiored mustache, a goatee, full cheeks, |
ruddy with health, and the natural color
of one whose hair was mixed red and |
brown.
Kinney stood watch six hours off and |
six hours at the wheel He knew the his |
torical points Of the river, and he pointed
them out one after another.
Dancing and flirting in the cabin below,
and drinking and cards were going on al
ways, but / spent most of my time with
Kinney, who went on too. As we passed
Natchez he began abruptly;
Believe in ghosts"
mo"
"Never see one2"
Never"
"WhatP not of dead manp
"No. never"
"Wait till pass this bar. I'll surprise
you with a fact about ghost Yes, the
ghost of u steamboat, too, by the great low
water bayoup
Kinney turned his wheel with a spas
modic violence and rang the engineers
bells to 'slow port" to fast starboard,"
and reversed his orders with such rapidity
that the mechanic below wanted, by the
Internal, to know what he meant. Present
ly we rounded the bend.
"See that corner of the island, thereS"
asked Kinney.
Eyes"
'"There's where the bones of old 'Alonzo
Childs' are laid"
"Well2m
mark Twain had his license on that
boat. She was taken in the days of the
war and run by the Confederates, and
Clemens was her pilot. After he had left her
and Joined the Confederate army the ma
ohinery, OF so much Of it as was any good,
was taken out, aud her hull passed into
the possession of an old chap that owned
plantation just 'round Bayou Sara, below
here. He had land boiler and engine,
and used it for boiling sugar and pressing
cane Colonel Hubbard burned the sugar
house as he passed by with his detachment
of soldiers, but the boiler and engine were
saved in a somewhat disturbed condition.
The old fellows name was De Soto.
"De Soto put his old engine and boiler
ON the hull Of the Alonzo Childs and she
was made to travel up and down, inside
the Confederate lines, Of course. She went
between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. At
that time | was cub pilot on a big
steamer, and used to see her. One day |
heard she exploded OF snagged, and every
body on board was lost. The circumstances
of the disaster no one ever knew. A few
bloated bodies and some charred pieces of
the old crafts Uimbers floating down the
river indicated the extent of the horror.
after the war | went west to San Fran
cisco, but three years ago | came back and
took up my old business Pm going 10
quit it pretty soon, and want you TO stay
up tonight TO see the reason"
'Tell me about it now"
Il will indeed. | never pass the place
without horror. It's just over that clumI
of cottonwood trees That's where they
suppose the old 'Alunzo Childs' passed in
Two years ago was standing watch alone
In the pilot house. The river was up, and
we were pushing the gray, muddy waters
aside under a full head of steam. l haC
Just pulled the wheel over to make th'
bend, when | saw steamer heading
straight for us 1t appeared to me tina
she came out of the bank rather than VI
the river, and noticed at the moment tina
she was strange craft to me. Well,
blowed once to pass to port and steered of
to the west shore. Giving her the advan
tage Of the backwater watched her, AM
presently saw from her whistle two es
capes of steam. BY that l saw that sh
had blown twice, although had not hear
the blasts So blew twice and reverse
my helm.
"Still she came on. Do you know
thought she was some up river boat c
Pittsburger, thinking sheowned the eartl
and pushn me round SO her pilots coul
tell midwinter yarns about how they ha
made it hot for big New Orleans and S
Louis packeti ! whistled again. No Al
swer, and she came headin right for u
and getting so near that the danger of
smash was imminent. | blew an alar
blast and stopped, and as she came neare
bidding fair to strike us just forward
the starboard wheel, ! rang the bell
back hard. In the second of interval ne
essary to reverse the engine | looked
the approaching craft and noted that
speed was terrific and that she made
sound. closed my eyes for moment,
order that my sight should not interfe
with my ears. There was no noise of
Gaping steam, no beat Of paddle whee
opened them again She was upon
and, with bare thought Of the pass,
gers below-my own family-I closed tn,
again
sIn that second Of mental agony hea
the piano down In the main saloon. Son
body was playing Natalie, the Maid Of
Mill | heard the discord which KIN
must have been occasioned by the a
alarm Of danger-the sweep Of the ha
over the keys as the player turned sudd
ly from the piano. seemed to see
piano cover swept from its place, the Of
doors Of the staterOoms and some chs
thrown aside. So vivid was the picture
my senses that ] saw, for the nome
which of the chairs were broken. In a
ond grew old and lived twenty years.
never thought of escape. | could not h
escaped had so chosen. Ny senses W
80 alert as to give me a physical pain.
Il opened my eyes a second afterw
and there was no boat. Nothing In sig
ONLY q blank spread Of water, fast fl
ing current and ox own boat backing