The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-18

u
"TRow OVERHEARD TIE ANCH'!"
However, ) I foraave this one, for his
story of Gheistear1boat made me laugh
"a thing had not done since l went
into the.writtng sousiness.
Octave iLaun,lr.y.was ruined by fool
fish idea. That shows the difference
between .AulprasanogNewtYo Such
a foolishsideas asahis, if sprungsin New
York, wonld thave sbeen sure of plenty
of advertising. advertising would
have brought Investors; investors would
have brought capital; capital would
have broughtt temptation; and that's
what we 'reallfiooa1ingifor here. Laun-
dry niFhthave stranded his steamboat
nnd.his compan IL, escaping with the
capital to some friendly shore beyond
the jurisdictioni of the New York
courts
His scheme wasto. make Fox river a
nayigabiesstream., FThat:was the basis
of it. The value ofsthe achievement [
will explain later. Fox!river is pull
damp weather trickles through Aurora.
1t has.been damned, by several millers
and. in general, byreverybody,who has
had anything to doSwith it. If man
should walk up thisstream to Batavia.
seven miles from Aurora, and keep in
the! middle of it a.n the way, he would
probably get his,feet wet
Thee, Il. & .. railroad tat that time
had a monopoly Of .Aurorajs commerce
n Of,
Batavia where the Chicago d North
western had a station. 1t came into
the alleged mind of OCTAVE that con-
nection cculdy5e MADE with the c. 6,
n. ". by way of Fox'river. He would
open ACCOMPANYING line andSruin the c.,
B. & q.
a. Very soon afterward there appeared
In an old deserted coal yard near Oc-
tave's home the outline of a strange.
unnamaHle structure. Ats first it was
supposed to be acoal shed; then some
body said it was a hen coop A local
editor, to solve these doubts, INQUIRED
Of Octave, who said'with pride that it
was a steamboat. The editor wa
glad that be hadnit'relied upon guess
work.
81 am rejoiceGttllat you call, said Oc-
.tave, who spoke with a strong French
accent. Il have since a long time, the
desire to pray your;adviee."
Fire away" saidtthe editor. in that
classic English ,sor which Illinois IS
justly celebrated.
Il go to make said Octave, that
Fox river a navirable stream
You'd better get-a move on" said
the editor; 'itswas drying up as / came
over the bridge
You mock yourself of me. hey?''
said Octave, but / sshow you.
make him NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. l navi-
gate him. i navigate him-till to Ba- 1
tavia."
There are three dams and two
bridges between here and Batavia"
said the editor
They will disappear; they will van
ish.'' cried Octave.
The rivers agood deal more likely
to do that"
you know the law. hey?" said Oc-
tave. Does it not say that dams and
bridges cannot be built over a navi-
gable stream"
Undeniably; and'Dctave stuck to the
point The editor tried to explain
that ''naviga bic" was technical term.
and the nation would not protect e
trout brook Just because somebody had
padded across it in punt
When the hull was COMPLETED he
moftgaged it and bought little up-
right engine which he set up on the Tor
ward deck Instead OF paddles he used
two endless chains such as are en-
tplcyed to hoist water ont of wells.
Then came the launching. 4 house
mover hauled the boat to the edge of \
mill pond, where the raging waters of
'F'oxtwere turned back bv a dam. All |
the dignitaries of the city assembled. !
The steamboat sat upon two four-bv- !
four sticks of timber which formed the |
ways and were sharply inclined toward !
the pond The most distinguished |
guests crowded her cabin, where Oc- (
tave had provided little refreshment.
The signal was given; the queer little |
tub started down the ways; the people .
in the cabin held on to each other and 4
yelled; the crowd on the shore laughed 1
Gnd cheered.
Just as the boat dipped her rudder
into the miilpond one OF the WAYS (
broke and she turned upon her side. /
The party in the cabin were hurled
against the lower side OF it. and the /
mayor sat down on one of tba 4
windows. A large portion of his cor
poreai being went through it into the
muddy water. There was panic. /
Everybody fell over everybody else In
q wild cndeavor to get out Forum +
ately there were no serious casualties.
and eventually the boat was righte5 /