New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-18
THE REAL JIM BLUDSOE.
OLIVER FAIRCIiILD. JOHN HAYS HERO.
AND HOW HE STEERED THE
PRAIRIE BELLE.
PRAIRIE BELLE.

Washington. Dec 1.-THE occasional rumOf
OF the death III the Mississippi Valley or in
the Far West of the alleged Original Jim
Bludsoe" who. according to newspaper dis
patches published in re .ent years must have
been an exceedingly ubiquitous individual, has
had another rcnascencc recently in the obtu-
airy notice widely copied throughout the coun-
try of one CAPTAIN w i. LamOthe, the only
truth in the notice probably being that this
doubtless estimab" mariner Of inland waters no
longer lives Their, was only one real Jim Bud
soc, engineer "of the Prairie Belle and II is
great many years ago that the present Secret
tary of state said Of him:
Wall no; can't tell whar he lives;
Becase he don't live, you see!
The real jim Rludsoc, who gave his life thai
others might live, was no mere fancy, but n
veritabIe hero, who persisted III burning
steamer precisely as related in one of the best
known poems in the English tongue. These
verses made their first appearance in The TrIb-
une. and thence went all over the world
Secretary Hay knew the original Jim Bludaos
of the Prairie Belle, and when years afterward
he went on the editorial staff Of The Tribune,
the son Of Jim Bludsoe Henry Tairchild. CT New
Orleans. called TO see him in his newspaper Of
flee and talked with him over the incident OIL
yer Fairchild, the engineer, the father OF the
young man. had lost his life under just such
circumstances as related In the poem, "h"e
sticking to the engines of the steamer FASHION,
plying between Memphis and St Louis Ihe
Fashion had independent horizontal engines
each one driving such huge paddle wheel AZ IS
common on all Of the Western and Southern
river steamboats,. This arrangement OF inde-
pendent wheels was adopted in order that one
could be stopped or reversed, while the o'her
was kept going ahead the better to navigate
tho vessel in the tortuous twistings of the &C.
centric channels and bends Of the rivers. The
engineer of such steamer was second IN I'M
portance aboard 10 the pilot alone, and 1t re-
quired an active. resourceful man to HI the po-
sition especially in times OF danger, or when
another steamer overtaken and race en-
sued Such race witls The Movastar IT VIII he
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 lety-VaiVe'
And her furnace crammcd rOSln ana pine
Every one is familiar with the skilful word
picture Of the flaming steamer making Tor the
willer bank on the right" and Jirns emphatic
refusal to leave his post
About the time that MI Hay was tt"P'i"'5
in charge of The Tribune, controversy arose
between Mark Twain and himself over what APP
peared to be "a technical inconfruity IN the niue
classic Twain holding that an engineer couId
not hav. performed the hcroism ascribfd TO hin
as the steering Of the vessel was altogether the
pilots duty who would alone have hello the
steamers "nozzle agn the bank till tho last
galOOt's ashore"
Mark Twain's hypothesis. based upon his own
extensive experience as river pilot, might or
dinariIy have carried conviction, had not MI
Uay had the unassaabe argument OF hstorical
exactitude on his side. for. matter 81 fact
tbe steeriug-gear OF the Fashion had been
ouickly DESTROYED almost at the beginning OF
the fire The tilier ropes had burned away as
soon as the flames from the over1leated furnaces
swept upward through the vessel, and the en-
gineer in the fiery hell below, became the sole
human being possessed of the power to turn her
toward the bank and keep her there Secretary
Hay veracously described the incident, even to
the declaration that
Bludsoe's ghost went ny alone
In the smoke Of the Prairie Belle
Every one else was saved but Oliver Fairchild,
the engineer and no real" Jim Bludsoe mas
lived since that night
LORD NANSFIELD'S BADGE GIVEN tF