The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-05

DROVE A TEAM OF GEESE.
The Novel Descent of the Ohio Rfves
Falls Many Years Ago.

Falls Many Years Ago.
From the New York Herald.
Jack Harper was an odd man. He NOV,
ed to Ohio Falls, Ind, from Newcastle
England, and was employed by the 7
NJ. and Railroad Company, in its shoDs
He was a good mechanic and fond of fun.
1t was in the summer Of 1870 and thera
was to be a grand Fourth of July cele-
bration at Old Camp 10 Holt, in which
not only the shop men but hundreds Of
others We're to take part. The managers
of the affair Were very anxious to make
it a grand success and for that purpose
racked their brains for novelties. but
when Jack Harper proposed to tame a
team of geese and attach them to Il wash
tub, in which he proposed to sail down
over the rapids of the Ohio and land Just
below the picnic ground, they were para
lyzed, especially when he insisted that it
could easily be DONE and to prove his as
sertion began forthwith to train his pl,a-
posed team of four geese
Many of the persons who took interest
one way or another in the picnic are still
alive and some of them reside at Indian
apons. These will remember that Harper
began to train his odd team on the quiet
waters of the Ohio above the falls He
put queer three-cornered Jokes upon the
necks of the birds and by means of these
attached them to his frail craft He guild
ed them by means of reins attached to
their bills and long, straight switch
1t took him nearly three months and
much patience, before he had his birds
in trim, but the geese showed thems elves
much more intelligent and teachabIe than
they generally get credit for, and the
people of Jacksonville had the satisf;.c,
ton of knowing that in their city was the
only four-gOose team in the world.
Long before the Fourth of July the queer
outfit was the talk of the three falls
cities, and when the great day arrived
there was a concourse of thousands at
the picnic grounds waiting to see the
novel Lohengrin descend the river 1t
was near noon when he launched his I'M
wieldy bark from the Indiana shore at
the government dam, ana began his de-
scent, the geese swimming proudly ahead
and drawing the teetery vessel in which
Harper was balancing himself. The falls
of the Ohio are not safe for a good, WELL
manned boat, unless the crew understands
the currents and knows the rocks, so it
can be better imagined than told what a.
risk Harper ran in his washtub. But he
braVely went on, keeping his geese, who
swerved occasionally from the channel in
the way they should go by means of hiss
switch. He managed his team admirably
in spite of his uncomfortable and delicate
position in the tub, and the crowd cheered
him as he safely passed one danger point
after the other, but as he swung AROUND
the bend to the deep and swift
waters of the big eddy the wind rose TO
almost a gale, and water began to dash
over him and into his tub, and, to make
matters worse, the geese became unruly,
and would not obey his guidance.
He must have been a coa-headed man
not to have lost his head, but he did not.
and with a great effort and much cOaXing
and whipping, he managed to turn mis- re-
fractory team in shore and reached land
safely, amid the huzzahs of the crowd.
He was completely drenched and worn
out Since then no one has attempted to
descend the falls of the Ohio in a tub
drawn by a team of geese