The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-07-17
INDIAN JOHNS NERVE
ADVENTURE OF A RAfTMAN WITH A
CARGO OF NlTROGLYCERlN

RCNEN OnC Vt - ihPNI -
CARGO OF NlTROGLYCERlN II
The Death Dealing Craft Was Deserted by
Its Regular Crew, and Awful Things
Might Have Happened but For the Cour-
age mud Skill IA II Pilot Shown by John.
"Jnhn JcffcrSy, or Indian John, as
nc WAS called, who died near TioniS
Ia, Pa, the other day, " said G. Il. Ne
Dcrmott, "a western Pennsylvania lum-
Der operator, twas one If the last of the
old time Allegheny river pilots, the
men who guided the immense pine RATS
frcm the headwaters to Pittsburg i'll the
DAYS before the big steam mills and
the railroads camo into tho wilderness
and made rafting Il thing of the past.
lie was an Indian Of the Conplantcr
family, and must have been well on to-
ward 100 years old. They tell hundreds
If tales Of Indian Johns exploits as
raftsman Il calling that was attended
with constant danger and great hard
ship. l remember we'll one act of his
that showed the GOODNESS and bravery
Of the man.
1T was ~ the days when the lower
Pennsylvania oil districts were supplied
with nitroglycerin from the isolated
factories in the woods of Warren and
Mexican counties. The explosive wasn't
manufactured elsewhere i'll the region
then to any extent. The nitroglycerin
was run down the Allegheny i'll stiletto
shaped boats 80 feet long and 4 feet
wide. Each boat carried about 10, 600
pounds of the stuff, and each boat was
manned by two men. They ran swiftly
III the current, and the weight of their
cargo was SO great that i'll case of col
hsion between one of these boats and
other craft i'll the river the chances were
10 to that it would be followed by
horrible consequences, and everything
else ON the river gave them wide
berth.
The men who ran these nitroglycerin
beats had strict orders to tie up wher-
ever night overlook them and not to
run minute after dark. These men, as
may well be imagined We're absolutely
without fear and managed their death
bearing craft with nonchalance and
independence that were Il source of per-
petual terror to the crews of ordinary
boats, to raftmen and to the citizens of
the towns past which they ran or near
which they tied up.
ION one occasion the crew of q nitro
glyccrin boat We're overtalicn by dark
ness ut lonely spot where there was
nothing but deep woods on either side.
The night was cold, and ID is presumed
that tie men We're hungry. The men
We're Jake Barry and Dick Spooncr, bet,
ter known as Devil Dick, from his
rerklesSncss in handling nitroglycerin
while hauling it in wagons to the mills
OF i'll unloading It. b is known that
these were the men, because they had
started down tie ritey with n bo;rt]oad
of nftroglycerin, which they meyer de-
nvcrcd at its destination. and they were
|. not seen in the oil regions again. 1t is
I supposed that after being overtalien by
darkness they decided TO keep ON until
they got iraar to Brady's Bend village
tbl'tEt bltNl vi iiiiS = uiil lbOSA-
tive, anyhow-it was a dark night l
know this because | was u passenger on
one cf my RATS, which Indian John was
plotting, and We were making for
Brady's Bend ourselves for the night.
We were nearing the place, and the raft
was being gradually pulled ashore, when
we heard some one shout out of the
lnrl.npSs NOT far aSrprn.
Look out, there, you fellows!
Jump!
Then we heard two splashcs in the
water. We didn't know what it meant.
We couldn't see anything behind us,
and the men on the raft kept pulling i'll
for shore. Then out of the darkness an
object bore down upon us dimly, scrapcd
the hind end Of the raft and came gently
OH down, gliding noisclessly along the
side Of the raft. Then one of our men
yelled:
\ torpedo bOatn
For moment We We're all terror
stricken, bat quickly saw that all dam
ger to us from the boat was past. Ey-
erything was plain to us now. The boat
had bVn abandoned by its crew when
they discovered us ahead i'll the dark
hess and expected the collision that
would have rent us to atoms. But In
dian John thought quicker and farther
ahead than we did. Like flash he
thought it out that if that boat went on
down the river with its cargo of de-
struction it would surely come i'll con-
tact with something afloat or ashore
with consequences horrible to contem-
plate. He no sooner thought than he
acted. The boat had gone on past us,
or rather our raft, drifting shorcward,
had parted from the boat. 1t was 10
longer visible-at least to me Indian
John jumped overheard and likewise
disappeared. 1t could not have been
more than ten seconds when the old In
dian voice shouted to us from sOme-
where out i'll the river:
g Me got it him! Nc run it him in
and ticr
"And SO he did. He guided the nitro
glyccrin boat through the darkness that
was by this time utterly impenetrable,
and brought it to shore at place of
safety. When it is known that slight
miscalculation Of distance or locality
might have brought that deadly craft
into fOrciblc collision with Il rock on
the shore or bottom, and its pilot would
nave been scattered to the winds, the
nerve and skill it required for that old
river man to voluntarily take the risk to
avert possibly greater loss Of life and
destruction may b" imagined
Whether Jake Barry and Devil Dick
succeeded i'll 4, ting ashore or whether
they were drowned no one over knew.
If they did ct ashore, they didn't show
themselves i'll Brady's Bend If they
had, after the news got around, they
might just as we'll have been drowned
OF staid on their boat and been blown
up for they pever would have seen day.
light again. New Yorfi Sun.
PHfti Piles! Itching Yitel>