The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-26
AGED UNDER WATER.
whisky Raised From the River
bottom.

From the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
One foggy morning, just about dawn, in
August, 1865 the sidewheel steamboat
Twilight was making her way cautiously
up the Missouri river. In the wheel house
the pilot stood dripping with the heavy
mist, calling TO the wheelman:
Keep her jackstaff on the lone cotton
wood on the starboard shore and swing
her stern around"
The Twilight was chug-chugging along
slowly against the current. Right ahead
was a bend in the river. Suddenly there
was a Jar. The hog chains snapped with
heavily "hogged," or bulged up in the
middle, began to sink. She had struck a
submerged sycamore tree of huge dimen-
sions, having got out of the channel in
the fog.
The passengers were cared for by the
farmers in the vicinity and taken to Kan
saS City twenty miles distant, by a boat
that came up the river that night. The
cargo of the Twilight was very rich. 1t
was composed of 300 barrels of whisky,
hundreds of cases of wines, liquors and
canned goods, and large stock of general
merchandise
For several years she lay on the log in
the river, visible when the water was low,
and again covered. She was a thing of
fascination to country boys, who dreamed
of all sorts of exploits to get the treasure
about her that thrilled the farm lads
like the tales of Captain Kidd or the
stories of the adventures of wreckers.
Four years after she sank an unsuccess-
full attempt was made to get the cargo.
Several years after that farmers in the
vicinity got two barrels of whisky out of
her, and when they went for more she
could not be found. The treacherous riy-
er had shifted, and she was buried in a
sandbank. Then the river cut in along
the south bank close under the bluff and
the great rise of 1877 made a sand bar
on top of her, buried her deep and left
her far inland, under thirty-nine feet of
sand. 100 cards from the bank of the
river at lis = water and half a mile from
shore when the river was down.
Last year number of Kansas City gen.
tlemen organized company to recover
the sunken cargo. BY a series of ingen-
ious mechanical devices they located the
wreck in thirty-nine feet of water, and
found the freight in comparatively good
condition. There have been many inter-
ruptions of the work, but a large part of
the merchandise has already been recoY-
cred.
The 800 barrels of whisky in the hold are
in perfect state of preservation. One
of them was tapped, and the whisky was
( found to be beyond compare. A glass of
1t, which was poured out before a com
pany of men in the Kansas CITY Club
filled the entire floor with its aroma. II
was thick and oily almost of the consist
ency of New Orleans molasses, and after
the glass was empted it chung to the sides
as syrup would.
The whisky will not be taken out until
the government officials shall become sa It.
| isfed that IL is tax free. The taxes were
paid at the distillery where the stuff was
made more than thirty years ago.
There is a rumor that abaft of where
the whisky was found is the purser's cab
in, and in II Is a safe containing a large
sum of money which was being carried
from St. Louis TO up-country merchants
and army posts The money question
however, is forgotten for the present in
the joy of the wreckers at the finding OF
the whisky. Speculation is rife as tc
| what will be the profits of the wreckers
Experienced dealers say that the whisky
| will sell readily for at least 500 a barrel