The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-07-23
A MYSTERY OF THE FLOOD.
The Tragic Fate of an Old Gentleman and
His Young Companion.


The Tragic Fate of an Old Gentleman and
His Young Companion.
During the late floods of the Missis.
sippi and Missouri rivers and their trib.
utaries, the daily papers have chron.
tragic and pathetic, which have occurred
along the banks of these streams from
the junction of the two great bodies of
water to points below St Louis. But
while hundreds of cases have been de-
hcribed, there have been also hundreds
of cases that have not been mentioned.
Homes have been swept away pros
porous men made paupers within few
hours, and poor dumb brutes drowned
while pleading in their pitiful way for
aid. Among the incidents of the flood
too, have been few instances of gem
uine heroism which stand out as a well
come relief to the usual somber hues Of
life.
Among the strangers recently located
in the locality just above st. Louis was
| a man from Iowa. He had settled in IA
little cabin near the river, and knowing
no one was unaware of his danger till
he found himself in the center of n
| rapidly rising. Unable to escape, he
was step by step driven with his few
| effects to the fiat roof of his cabin, ard
prepared his frugal meals there for two
| days. Two men saw him. finally risked
their own lives to save him, and sue
ceeded in bringing him safe to dry land
Other similar cases have occurred, in
striking contrast with those numerous
instances where the possessors of small
boats and skiffs have compelled un-
happy wretches to give them almost
their entire possessions for merely pas
sage to land.
A pathetic and mysterious incident
occurred in southern suburb of st.
Louis, known as Happy Hollow"
where poverty and squalor usually
reign, which embodied in itself very
evidently the elements of an interesting
romance Happy Hollow on one side of
the street or alley or creek (river Du
Peres), doesn't know Happy Hollow on
the other side, and doesn't desire to.
The poverty and misery, and usually
the crime, of each individual, is surly
ana desires no companionship Hence
when a gray-haired gentleman and
young girl moved into the neighbor-
hood and took little shanty down on
the levee, no one asked any questions
for no one cared anything about them.
They attracted no attention except for
their neat appearance. Their clothes
were clean, in spite of their manifest
poverty, as were also their hands and
faces. After Happy Hollow recovered
from its shock of surprise at this phe-
nomenal cleanliness, it went its way
without another thought of the stran-
gers.
The new residents of Happy Hollow
had not been there long when the flood
came BY the end of second day they
are cut off from escape and on the third
their little shanty was swaying to and
fro The few rough spectators who
cared enough tonote their distress were
Indifferent. One or two who had boats
called over and asked how much money
he had, and when the old man shook
his head sadly, they turned off with a
laugh and went TO the nearest saloon.
One man, less brutal than the others,
sprang into a skitf and started over but
he was drunk and, capsizing the little
boat, he went to the bottom like lump
of lead. The skiff righted itself and
floated along on the water, and the old
man saw the only chance for escape
drifting away. Springing into the
muddy, seething waters he succeeded
by almost superhunan efforts in reach
ing the little boat only to find that the
oars had been lost out just as he be-
came aware of this fact, he turned and
saw the little shanty. washed from its
foundations, come drifting down the re-
sistless stream, while the young girl
stood in the doorway
Casting look of regret behind him,
he sprang from his boat, which was a
haven of safety, into the water once
more, and caught the edge of his shanty
as it came past. Climbing into the
r;clety doorway, he had just clasped
his companion in his arms, when pile
of driftwood struck the little building,
, tore it to pieces like child's playhouse,
, and the muddy, roaring waters swal-
lowed up forever two human lives
A reporter for morning paper found
among the debris washed ashore next
day several books with other things
| from the little shanty. Among them
were "Histoire de la Poesie Proven
. Gale" by Fauriel; Kant's "Kriti1 der
Keinen Vernunft," and well-thumbed
/ copies of Homer and Shakespeare. Each
, work was in it's original tongue, and
: had evidently been read before. The
name of the owner on the fly-leaves OF
l inner cover had been carefully cut out
( and the secret of their lives, if there was
S one, was buried with the owners in the
' muddy and turbulent waters of the great