The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-04-11
DRUMMERS AFLOAT.
statesmen WHO WORK THE OHIO AND
MISSISSIPPI BOATS.

OonNinuhhy WONG OoWn the fNtNefs W NOW
Orleans Selling Goods on Board and
Ashore Man Who Had The Boat
Stop TO Let Him Sell Gun.
"Say, what would you think Of going
up In one of the big Albany day boats and
having her stop and set you ashore long
enough to sell n gun to countryman,
then pick you up again and go onf"
Such q question could be asked only by
q commercial traveller 1t would bo un-
Just to him TO say that tho little bottle of
wine with half dollar table d'bote din
ner made him talkatlve, because ho Is al
ways talkntive, always interesting, too,
and full Of good stories.
"Knock you crazy, wouldn't itr' he
went on, not expecting any answer be-
yond look Of surprise "Of course IL
would. But had just that thing happen
to me down on tho Ohio river some weeks
ago. That's my country for business
the Ohio and tho Mississippi basin and all
the other basins in that region. Its about
the finest racket that any travelling man
in this country has too. take boat at
Pittsbarg, and with two changes 1 go
right through to New Orleans putting in
O little time at every town on the way.
reckon four or five weeks for the trip and
from eight to ten trips year.
"There are-well, can't say Just how
many Of us work the river boats. never
strike a boat without meeting two or three
others, and, to draw it mild, should say
there were several hundred. It's just like
o profession, the river business is-takes
a long time to get into 1t, but when you
once get there you're solid. It's snap
when you have the right line. You don't
want to go down there selling French
clocks or ball shippers, you know. In
my line-light hardware cutlery and fire.
arms-it's about as soft berth as man
could crawl into. Come back by the riverH
OF course don't. 1t would take me, say,
O month to get from New Orleans to Gin
cinnati by boat, and that would be
month wasted.
II make up my list and have the goods
boxed and shipped to Pittsburg about
three days before am ready to start. My
business is not in full swing till get to
Cincinnati That's where the big Ohio
river packets start from, and 20 one Of
them my goods are transferred. don't
go through TO New Orleans on that boat,
only to Memphis, because the Ohio river
boats don't make many stops after they
get into the MISSISSIPPI.
"No matter what boat take from Gin
cinnati, there's sure to be queer lot Of
passengers On her. Nobody is supposed
to travel by the boats nowadays who can
afford to ride in the cars. Last time down
was right in the swamper season, and we
had about 30 Of them on board. You'd
think from their appearance that the
swampers were lot of daredevil cowboys
hungry for o fight, but they're not.
There's always work to be had in the
swamps of Louisiana, especially along the
Red river, cutting lumber for barrel slaves
and shingles, and when winter comes on
In the north hundreds of farmer boys in
Ohio and Indiana and Illinois 90 down In
the boats and put in winters work In
the swamps. They're the swampers.
They're great on guns and pistols and
knives, not for fighting, but TO give them
a real sporty appearance, suppose, and
work my cards to sell them all can. It's
very much like peddling to be sure.
Sometimes sell as much as $500 or $500
worth on the boat between Cincinnati and
Memphis. The swampers haven't got any
money, but pay with orders on their en-
ployers.
This work on the boat of course is only
side show. My main business is In the
towns. How long the boat stops at place
depends entirely upon how much freight
there is to take on. At least it's supposed
to depend on that, but sometimes 1t de-
pends more upon the commercial travellers
on board, as you shall see. We're ap-
preaching Shawneetown, on the Illinois
shore, let us say, and when we get up
close enough we see that there's very little
freight for US, not enough to keep US
moro than 10 or 10 minutes. There are,
We'll say, four commercial men on board,
and we all want to spend two or three
hours in Shawneetown. We get right
down into our pockets and pull out about
dollar apiece and put the money where
1t will do the most good, no matter where,
but somehow the boat is delayed, and we
do our business on shore. At the next
landing there may be enough freight to
keep us four or five hours, and we don't
have to spend any money there.
II was going to tell you about stopping
the boat and setting me ashore while I
sold gun to a countryman. don't sup
pose such thing could happen anywhere
in the world except along the Ohio river
We were poking along one morning pret-
ty close to the Kentucky shore somewhere
between OweDsboro and Evansville. The
river is very wide there and in some places
almost six feet deep. I was up on the
Texas deck leaning against one Of the
pilot house windows talking to the cap
tain when happened to see an old chap
walking along the shore with a gun over
his shoulder. The captain was a great
friend of mine, and just for a joke said
to him, Say, cap, wish you'd stop the
boat while 90 ashore and sell that fellow
q decent gun
"Well, sir, the words were hardly out
of my mouth before the captains hand
was on the whistle cord, and the old thing
gave q most unearthly screech. 1t was
the big whistle, you understand, that they
blow only when they're going to make a
landing. Most Of these boats carry two
whistles--on for ordinary use and dia-
bolical one of about 2, ,0o1 horsepower to
let people know they're going to make a
landing. The old fellow on shore acted
surprised, but he was no moro surprised
than was. They set me ashore, and
braoed the old hunter, and in mighty
short order l sold him a breechloading
shotgun. / had to wait nearly half an
hour too, while he went up to his house
to get the money. When l got back to the
boat, they started her up again, and away
we went. New York Sun.
No s1OId Hau,aB