Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-27

| w. p. Lamothe the only truth IN tss
/ notice probably being that tbls dorot!e3s
| estimable mariner OF inland waters no
| longer lives There was only one real
| Jim B.udsoe, engineer "of the Prairfe
| Belle" and II IL a great many years sgo
that the, present Secretary OF State said
| Of him:
Wall, no; can't tell whar he lives;
| Because he don't live you seel
| The real Jim Rludsoe. who gave his
| life that others misht live, was no mere
fancy. but veritabie hero, who perfshed
in a burning steamer precisely as related
in one OF the best-known poems In the
English tongue. These verses made their
first appearance In the Tribune, and
thence went all over the world
Secretary Hay knew the original lin
Bludsoe OF the Prairie Belle. and when
years afterward he went on the editorial
stan OF the Tribune, the son OF Jim Biud-
soc. Henry FairchIld, OF New orlpns.
called to see him in his newspaper Vliice
and talked with him over the incident.
Oliver Fairchild, the engineer, the father
OF the young man. had lost his life un-
der just such circumstances as related In
the poem, while sticking TO the engines
OF the steaue- Fashion, plying between
Memphis and St Louis. The Fashion had
independent horizontal engines, each one
driving such a huge paddle-wheel as Ia
common on all OF the western and south
ern river steamboats,. This arrangement
Of Independent wheels was adopted in or
der that one could be stopped or re-
versed, while the other was kept going
ahead. the better 10 navigate the vessel
in the tortuous twistings OF the eccentric
channels and bends OF the rivers. The en-
gineer OF such a steamer was second In
Importance aboard TO the pilot alone, and
it required an active resourceful man to
NIL the position, especially In times OF
danger, or when another steamer was
overtaken and race ensued Such race
with the Movastar IL will be remembered,
caused the catastrophe to the Prairie
Belle when
She come tearing along that night,
The oldest craft IN the line
With Niger squat on her safety-valve,
And her furnace crammed rosin and
pine.
Every one ia familiar with the skiifui
word-plcture of the flaming steamer max
ing FOR the willer bank on the right"
and Jims emphatic refusal to leave his
post.
About the time that Mr.. Hay was tenn
porarily in charge OF the-Trbune. a con-
troversy arose between Mark Twain and
himseu over what appeared TO be q
technical incongruity in the little classic.
Twain holding that an engineer could not
nave performed the heroism ascribed TO
him, as the steering OF the vessel WAS
altogether the pilots duty. who would
alone have held the steamers nozzle
agln' the bank till the last galoot's
ashore"
Mark Twain's hypothesis. based upon
his own extensive experience as a river
pilot, might ordinarily have carried con-
Viction, had not MIR. Hay had the unas-
sailable argument OF historical exacti-
tude on his side; for, as matter OF fact,
the steering-gear OF the Fashion had
been quickly destroyed almost at the be-
ginning OF the fire. The tiller ropes had
burned away as soon as the flames from
the overhead furnaces swept upward
through the vessel, and the engineer, I'm
the merry hell below, became the sole
human being possessed OF the power TO
turn her toward the bank and keep her
there. Secretary Hay verac.ously de-
scribed the incident, even to the declara-
ton that
Bludsoe's ghost went up alone
In the smoke OF the Prairie Belle.
Every one else was saved but oliver
falrchild, the engineer. and no "real'
Jim Bludsoe has lived since that night.