The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-21

duel to the death to settle Quesuon or nreceaence arising out of the possession of n hot drink served at Taggarts par, but 1t was into Taggarts store that the father of Little Brooches" had gone the night of the runaway. when the boys life was saved by angels. The remains of Rockpcrt are in Pike county Illinois: and 1t was in that county that Giigai was located in It's nourishing days. Now there is absolutely nothing left of It. A few years ago there was haystack and house. The only question now Is as to the house, add reports from the Shy bottom are not reassuring enough to lead us to any hope or expectation that what. might in future generations have become a literary shrine is not now mingled with the wave. There are people so peculiarly constituted that they would travel far to see what might be left of Gilgai after hearing that it was upon that spot, In all probability, that Jim Bludsi got his second wife. "one wife in Natchez un- der the hill and another one here In Pike" is the way the poet expresses the fact of Jlm's bigamy. As Gilgal was the only Pike county port of that day 1t must have been there that the engineer found his second wife. The fact would make the ruins of Gilgai more interesting to incoming pilgrims, if there were any ruins left. and those who were unable to extract much beauty out of an adulterouz union of that sort might exhiIarate themselves with the reflection that they were standing where Judge Phinn and Colonel Blood died in maintaining mt tual dignity.
 Illinois, Ancient Capital.
 The destruction of Kaskaska has been so often and so much written about 1t ts needless to repeat the story here. There they were less soiicitous for their dead than were the people of Milton and buried them on the outskirts of the town and not far from tha river. For years the the cemetery and took away some of the dust as spoil. Twenty years ago it was seen that the next great flood would take all of the cemetery into the river. Father Ferland. xeaious young Catholic priest then located at Kaskaskia and since re- tired to Canadian monastery sappcared I Before the Illinois assembly of 1893, asking an appropriation for the removal of the bodies to the bluffs, the inclosure of a cesnet6ry mot and the erection of a mon umesit In the midst. The appropriation passed and now for q long distance up and down the Mississippi you can see, on clear day. this towering monument. marking the spot where the dead Of old l Kaskasixia lay. The monument Is also a | headstone to mark the grave of Kaskas- kfa itself for where the old town once stood beneath the blum on which the monument rises the river now sweeps in full tide, with not a human habitafior to check it's course. sisa.sts .;ass q
 But not so with Napoleon, Ark. A town | with such name could hardly be expect l Cd to be ordinary and while Napoleon has! | left no literary or historical name to cofu-
 memorate 1t. 1t has left as a "reminiscences | the name of the hardest town that ever stood on the banks of the Mississippi. That fs saying so much that there VIII be l incredulous people inclined to question | the statement. But let these so to either | of the pilot associations which maintain | headquarters In St. Louis and have his | doubts removed. The older pilots, who l knew Napoleon in its fiourishfng days. I will tell bim that 1t did not need fhe re- cent flood in the lower Mississippi to ob- l literate Napoleon. That was done yeara ago, but 1t was not done by the Hood of I fS44, for at the time of that flood Napa- ! Icon was not in existences- Between that 1 year atid the beginning of tho war ft y1se
 to lta EyeAtest prospe erfty and during tl1At | time reached population of few thou. lsAhds, During the war hsWaS aspaaiitaryi | post and after that for some years, 1t re- ! tained It's safslace on the man and also in nUtnniUrca But successive h0odg destroy ed N as a town, aite. The town stood at I the junction of the Mississippi and Arkan- I sas rivers. only few naiies below the I point where the White river poured its I waters Into the Arkansas. ] Life Always in Jeopardy
 I It may readily be seen how 1t would suffer more from ordinary floods than I places not so unfayorahly situated. At I any rate 1t is gone, and the waters cover
 Tits old site. River men agree that Ma Il poleon was the hardest town they ever | saw. Gamblers were there In plenty. but Il theyywere far, from being the worst of the 4 criminals. IL was, there that,.a man on Il the levee once showed q passenger on a I steamboat coming up the stream a pock-
 etfuI of ears and announced that qonne of T the boys had been out on a froilc the
 night before. Murder daily, was the rule
 and not the exception. Brawla always
 ended in bgrials. A pilot on one of the
 upriver steamers one day went into a
 saloon where a group were playing cards.
 The bystanders laughed at the loser and the pilot joined in the mlrth. Being a
 stranger the pilot found his laughter re-
 | sented by the loser, who pulled a bowie
 knife from his boots and made a desper-
 ate lunge at him. The pilot ran for 1t,
 which was all that saved his life. for in
 all questions raised with outsiders the cit
 izens of Napoleon had a community of
 interest among themselves. A lower river
 pilot will take pleasure in pointing out to
 you the place where Napoleon stood. It I seems to afford him satisfaction to look
 upon the grave of the hardest town that
 ever grew along the river, and which, for
 that reason, was always detested by the
 river men of the better sort. Napoleon
 was a sinner beyond saving grace, or it's
 deep and continuing baptism would re-
 deem it. A river pilot will be sure to tell
 you there Is not water enough in the
 | world to wash It's sins away.
 l