The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-02-26
lust an Every Day Life.

/ II Tom Boone were alive today and
! looked as he was IN 1858 he would BE-
! pointed out as q man resembling Lincoln.
His face was lightened and sh dowed
4 alternately lie wore his beard as Lin
coin wore his. He was not SO tall as
I Lincoln, but he had his walk and Stoop.
Ton Boone was river hero. He
! never knew he was q hero, for he seem
/ cd 10 do things just because il was right
/ for him to do them. If John Hay had
/ known Tom Boone he would have immor-
/ taiized him in verse.
! Tom Boone was a pilot, first on the
/ Missouri river. then on the lower Mis-
! sissippi and again on the Missouri. In
his day a pilot ranked well Up. he was
next to the Captain.
Cholera was IN the country one season
when he was a pilot on the Missouri.
| Passenger traffic was slow. People along
/ the river avoided q steamboat in the
/ cholera season. But there were no rail-
/ roads. and freight had TO be transported
] just the same
The scourag &c broke out among the crew
when the boat was upward-boUnd- Sew
eraI OF the reusta bouts, negroes. died on
ed and dropped into the river. Tom
Boone was the only one OF the crew.
except the first mate, 10 attend TO this
river sepulture
Tom Boone was the only pilot left. He
stood at his post until ne was wanted
on a mercy call. and on more than one
/ occasion he rounded his craft TO tieup
along the shore while he went below u
take a dying message and fix the body
for burial in an exposed sandbar, with
or il was rowed IN the yawl.
One day he was Captain, pilot clerk,
and mate When the boat reached its
destination the crew consisted of
dozen men and some Of them were unfit
for duty.
Tom Boone went ashore first and in
formed the few who had come down to
see the steamer that It was a cholera
craft That was enough. They disap
peared in fright. Then the remaining
roustabouts VINO wanted to quit We're
lined up, and Tom Boone pulled Cots
navy from his pocket and said TO the
men:
The freight must be discharged. The
first one who tries to shirk is q dead
niger. After the cargo is ashore you
are free. But you've got to unload
first"
They knew him, and they fell to their
work Then ht ordered them aboard,
and, cutting the lines, the steamer drift
ed into the current. Tom Boone ran to
the wheel and a few moments later the
boat was headed down stream on its re-
turn It made no stops until it reached
St Louis, except to wood-up. Newspa-
pers in those days were not edited as
they are now, and this IS the first time
that Tom Boone's beroism in taking the
steamer to its destination while it was
cholera stricken has been printed.
Racing on the river in Tom Boones
day was quite common. The fastest
craft carried the horns on its forward
hurricane deck One day the fastest of
that season turned its prov dow
stream. The boat Of which Tom Boone
was first pilot was not noted for It's
speed. It had never contested for the
horns It was at the same landing with
the champion the day the champion pull
ed out.
Wen beat It to st. Louis" said Tom
Boone, IF have my way
Boats were not permitted to race down
stream at night Tom Boone knew
where the champion would tie up for the
night He loafed along until darkness
had come on. Then he ordered all lights
out; the furnace doors were shut; the
paddles in the wheel-house were stopped.
Tom Boone knew the current as per-
fectly as an old stage driver knows his
road.
He put his boat in this current and
the great pldCk craft HOdLeQ town me
river as silently as if It had not q living
soul aboard. 1t passed within the throw
of a hat OF the champion. which was
tied up for the night. Once out Of sight
the signal hard ahead" was given, and
the old Nfonongahela fred UP and shot
ahead it never stopped during the
night The start was sufficient. The
champion never overlook II. and It land
ed in ST Louis ahead Of the swiftest
expect to get the horns for his boat. He
knew as a river man that he was not
entitled to them. He was content TO
tell that he had beaten the champion
with boat that had no record.
Different historians have told the story
of how Farragut Porter and Butler
opened ND the Mississippi river after 1t
had been blOckaded during the civil war
OF how Farraggt broke the chains which
the confederates had placed in the river
ar Forts Jackson and St. Philip, seventy
miles below New Orleans, and how NJ
passed the forts with his fleet and cap
tured New Orleans, The story II how
he captured Baton Rouge and Natchez.
and passed Vicksburg and Joined the
feet above IS history.
Those were times which required not
only skinful pilots but pilots Of nerve.
Tom Boone was at the vEeel Of one
waters Of the Mississippi His craft took
thu lead When Farragut asked Tom
Boone If he thought he could pass Vicks- /
burg and reach the feet above, the moi /
est pilot resolute but quiet. replied IF
the water doesn't DRIP up III get nv
boat past Vicksburg. II the fleet up the (
river doesn't take 10 the woods wen +
reach IT,"
Years after the war was over Tom /
Boone told this incident IN q gathering +
OF steamboat men IN ST. oLuis Some +
body said to him:
''Tom Won are a id fool that you F.
never told that before"
IT don know" Tom Boone replied. I
''why man In my position should 60 (
about telling what he dia to save the +
Union That was the work Of solder /
and sailors Z was only Q pilot"
stiH later long after the conflict Tom 4
Boone returned 10 the wheel But the
river business was not what 4 had beer
teamboattne had dsterioratei parficu-
larlv on the Missouri river. Tom Boone
however. took an inferior craft no
stream. 6odrlng snags. which we-e as
numerous as turtles On 2 log on q sunny
day. When i1e reached Kansas Cify he
went ashore
Boats were few al thai time but
stern wheeler. which Tom Rome always
dsspsed mar into Kansas City Gre day
ard Tom Boone took passage
Il was IFS last voyage. There was
lack Of that interest which had made
eaultoaf'ng BIZ hEs fav Peep et5 rot
rome down ~ see tire stern -~rtr ec er when
Il MADE landings The r0ussabouts ara
not gather at the Prov ard sing fae
songs ~ the plantation.