The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-02
New york SUM

sippi river packet NdtcneZ, an some
times the on expected is tu!l sur
prise f'r an hands. I've knoWed II 10
be so when a bifer bust in the old days,
night In the midst Of "a eNcltm race
with the two boats side By side, an
one on 'em a blame sight nearer the
bank than was any ways comfortable,
an the other boat crowdin' Per higher
Vel Sich times they is usually consld-
able excitement gOin'. an a biler bust
in' amt cal-Iated 10 sOothe nobody s
feeliE' none.
'BiIers don't bust nowadays likes
they useter. though. ] reckon. maybe,
they build 'em better'n they did, for
one thing am they don't use en- the
same for another.
Befo' the war there was racin' on
the river pretty nigh all the time, an
'twan't no usual thiEG for a cap'n 10
take an the chances they was 10 take.
ratheru TO see the other boat get
ahead I've herd stories of cap'rs
that ri burn up their cargOes. u set
niggers on the safety valve. rutner' n
he beat but ] never seed nOthin' quite
like that.
There was excitement enough. an
oilers enough busted. without that, but
don't say it didn't happen Some o.
The river men them days was reckless
enough 10 do most anything
Whatever warn't likely 20 happen
on q "trip up an down the river gen
Is did happen. whether 1t We're a Inn
propmtoo duel on the upper deck or
Sire on board. You never knOWed
whether il would he you OF the other
felier that wouldn't finish the trip
alive. an whatever else you might miss
on "a packet ride. YOU Warn't likely 10
miss excitement.
There was one trip the old LOuisi-
ana made rom Memphis TO New Or
leans I'D The spring o. 81. though. that
held the record for a good many years,
an SO fur as 1 know, holds II yet. There
were more devilment or board them
few days than I ever seed afore or
since inside Of q month, an. looking
back at IT, now. I Amt surprised at
uuthin but the fact that the old boat
finished the trip ON top o the water.
Pears ike she'd oughter have struck
a snag. or caught fire on the way, SOS
TO kind o. round things up like. But
she didn't.
The trouble began afore re left
Memphis. on the main deck. The Mig
gers was Troublesome, an had been
for some time.
You see the war was comm on, an
there was any Gods quantity of Abo-
lltionlsts tryin' to stir en- up We
kept a lookout for EN- as well as we
could. an when we'd catch one 1t d be
all dag with him. but every one we'o
hang. or throw overheard, q seem 10
leave TWO in his place.
somehow they'd set hold o. the
rousta bouts on the Louisiana. while
we was a l0adin' UP at Memphis. an
the crazy fools got il into their heads
that they cd seize the BOAT an run her
uu north. Wher they'd stand a chance
o. goin free Course they had as good
q chanct as bag o feathers in a blast
furnace. but they tried it,
"One powerful big black niger hit
the mate back o. the ear with bale
stick. an four or FIVE others made
rush for him o. throw him overheard.
The Lord only knows what they eX-
pect to do next. but they Wan't no
next
"A little fellow from Texas stood on
the upper deck that was a crack shot,
an he had his gun out an shot three
of -em dead in their tracks afore the
cap'n seed what was gOin' on. Soon
as he seen 70 he jumped in. an ten min
nutes later every live niger on board
was i'm irons.
I'VE left thar crew in the Memphis
cafabo0se an started with new one
the same evenin. Tie mate was only
stunned. not killed, an he made IL
mighty pleasant for them other mig
gers for three or four days
Then there was a game @ poker
started I'm the saloon after supper the
first night that finished up in as me
mix-up as ] ever see There was
couple o. New Orleans sports that had
come up with US on the last trip look
IN Cor game.
They found il. too. for they was
nlaviu' an the way sip the river with
some young bucks that had more
money than they had knowledge of the
game. an they made COnSid' able more
xxi. suSeS. besides what they did IN
Memphis which T heard tell was far
THEY'D started q game Wi5l couple
o. clanrers I'm Mississippi an after
they'd played spell little Sawed-o1
cuss from cairo. ne said ne was. reck-
oned he'd take 81 hand If there warn
no objections which there warn Z none.
and he bought stack. He had good
bands. too. risht I'm the jump, an
-tuarn't morc'n half ara hour or so a.
fore he Vas three or four hundred Jc
the good
II recken il were straight play
enough. fcr the two gamblers were on
TO All tRr tricks u the same wei
euoush to keep him en- tryin' anything
crooked but they ed see he were
pretty wise his Own self ana j noticed
mat they was p.ayn straight too. [
reckon they CO see tNarut no use 70
$50 ans funny business
I'll were a-WaIchiu' The game an /
seen EN- give each other tie look
when the little saWed-of opened a pot
after while which there was about
$50 In FL. an they Doth come in. the
second man raising II $50. The sawed
an-hiS name was Taylor-he seen the
raise am ali three took cards.
"Douglas one o. the New Orleans
men he draWed first an took two
cards, Hopkins. the other one. be too
one. an TAYLOR he grinDed an said he
leckoned he'd play what be had
eft were his bet, 81 course. an hS
showed un SiGG. Douglas De offended
~ study a while an then be- come IN
Hopkins he raised IL "a Puudred an
TAYLOR come hack al him with a hun
dred more. Then Douglas he kind O
fauzhed am he SAYS. Z WIS layiu for
y0u.' an he Sh0yeS i'm five hundred.
maxim a raise D. two hundred more,
II seen then that il were the old
erfss-cross game, an the ouy question
for Taylor so consider was whether
ne go his pile or lay down They did
n0- play table stakes much them DAYS.
IN when a man set into a game on the
river he gently reckoued on WiDnm or
goiu broke.
'O- course Hopkins raised again. an
Taylor he went iiEEin'. He pulled out
seven or eight si06 bills an simply
made good, which took $500 OF IT,
The New Orleans man was out for
his blood an they seemed 10 think he'd
weaken afo-e his pile was gone. 50
they both raised again I'VE hundred az
clip. maxim 10 thousand more for
Taylor TO come in. an thinkin Z he'd
likely lay down in his clo'es But the
little fellow was good grin, an 7 reck-