Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-06-21
A CRUISE ON THE "DR.
NEwBILL.n

NEwBILL."
On last Saturday morning about
3 o'clock the residents of our village
were awakened by hearing ooh,
Baytou," shouted time aud again.
OF course they knew what was the
matter as few of our young men
had been talking for some DAYS
previous as to how they were going
to Fredericksburg on the yacht "Dr.
w. j. Newbill," owned by IL. G.
Dayton, of White Stone, and these
calls were to let him know that he
was little behind the appointed
hour. BY 4:3o, however, the little
yacht hove in sight, as did also
steamer Richmond, of the Weems
Line, and both steamers started for
the Burg at the same time. Much
speculation ensued among the yacht
ing party as to how many hours
they would beat the Richmond, but
the idea of not reaching their desti-
nation at all never once occurred to
them.
The party was comprised of Messrs.
Gouldman, Rowe, Burke and Wagner,
of lrvington, and V. Garland Weaver,
of Urbanna, with III. q. Bayton as
Captain and one other as fireman.
The run to Tappahannock, where
l.. l.. Gore, of the Stieff Piano Co.,
of Baltimore, joined the party, was
made in fairly good time, although
it was impossible to open the engine
owing to the trouble in keeping up
a sufficient quantity of steam. After
remaining at Tappahannock an hour,
where canned goods, crackers, pickles,
fruits, etc., were put aboard in abun-
dance, the party again got under way
just as steamer Richmond came up.
From there to Leedstown we made
fine run, but coal was getting
scarce and then our troubles began.
Hard coal was procured but proved
unsatisfactory and at every wharf a
stop was made in the hopes of secur-
ing the much needed fuel. Spill
mans Wharf was finally reached and
here two boxes of soft coal was found.
The wharf agent was soon hunted
up but declared that he would not
sell it for 500, but on being shown
a So note and told that we would
put that in his hands as forfeit if the
coal was not returned by a certain
hour, he yielded. Everything passed
of nicely then till s o'clock, when
steaming along at good rate that
little yacht decided to rest awhile
and forthwith stuck its nose into
one of the marshes above Greenlaw's
Wharf, just as heavy storm was
coming up: Try as hard as we could,
the steamer could not be moved, SO
we settled ourselves down to await
the rising of the tide, and for one
time the tide in the RappahannocL
appeared to run exceedingly slow
The rain fell in torrents and tn,
members of the party huddlet
together like sardines in order t.
keep within the one little dry spot
and the jokes that were cracked, tn,
songs sung and the efforts to snatch
a short nap were a caution. But
sleep was out of the question, fol
whenever fellow was caught on tn,
road to dreamland he was recalled t.
this world by the cry of "W'at yor
doin' NIT de axe-handie ont" ant
at that silly expression, which hac
become our by-word, all would breal
into a hearty laugh. At midnigh
we were afoat once more but decided
it would be much better to return
to Greenlaw's Wharf to spend tn,
night Upon reaching there ou
party aroused Mrs. S. G. Staples
(and let us say right here that tina
name will ever recall sweet memorie.
to us ally, who quickly made us bed
in an empty store house and W,
turned In, save our Captain wht
seized on to an ironing-board anc
being little damp laid himself on
to be pressed, and the next thing w