The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-06-28
ON The MISSISSIPPI.
Quaint Superstitions That Prevail
Among Rivermen.


depend in large measure on the ele-
ment of chance, seem to forter a belief
in the supernatural that could scarcely
have existed in the dark ages Every
gambler has his series of mascots and
hoodoos. His private hunch' is a
thing to be watched for and obeyed.
The men-and women, too, we must
confess-who follow the races, get tips
that come from a far more trustwor-'
thy source than the average stable boy
or racetrack tout" would be- Six
years ago the ''bookies' at the fair
grounds thought for awhile they were
going to be swamped, and all because
the spirit Of a departed jockey had ac-
quired the objectionable habit of visi-
ting a party of spirituallsts in seance
and revealing the names Of the long
shots booked to win.
Everybody has heard of the gray cat
that used to hang around the Chicago
Board Of Trade and rub her shedding
coat against the left leg of the lucky
Spectator. The quantity of hair she
left on his trousers was fair gauge Of
his days success. Some of the mem
bers came to trust SO entirely in this
feline prophecies that they stubbornly
refused to do business on those days
when she neglected to greet them with
q rub and purr,
Cold logic may argue until it is blue
in the face. 1t avails nothing. For all
the reason and all the ridicule, the SUI
perstitious man thas the s'incontrovert-
ible fact to offer in rebuttal. He
knows that certain circumstances al
ways follow certain omens, and that by
giving heed to his "hunch" he had
snatched victory from defeat times
without number. The man who has no
patience with superstition has nothing
but negative theory on his side, and it
is but natural that he Invariably fails
in an attempt to argue with the man
who has the facts.
Nowhere is this unstable element of
chance" more constantly to be reckoned
With than on shipboard. From the adj
miral on a man-o'-war to the roust-
about on a Mississippi steamer, there is
scarcely a man on the water who is
without the vein of superstition. Any
old tar you might chance to pick up
could tell you stories from his personal
Experience that would convince you of
the Intervention of supernatural forces.
Phantom ships that pressage disaster,
lights that glow suddenly on the masts
and dreams that have been fulfilled to
the minutest details, he will relate; but
the chief prognosticator Of all the water
people is the rat There is not negro
roustabout on the river that could be
chained to his boat after the rats had
left her
Only a few years ago, when one of
the New Orleans packets was making
landing a little way below st. Louis, a
moss backed, gray whiskered rat
marched pompously UP the gang plank,
paused and lifted himself on his hind
lega, emitting peculiar squeal and
then scurried up to the bank. In five
minutes there was CONSERVATION on the
lower deck, and the mate was COM
PEELED to use his axe to prevent all his
linen from leaving him. That rat, they
declared, was the old man of the boat,
They all knew him. The thing that
had happened that night would, in all
probability, have happened just the
same if Mr.. Rat had made the journey
as usual So at least the rational land
lubber would say. The river was high
and the pilot, relieved of the necessity
Of picking a narrow channel, had diff
Guilty in keeping out Of the way of
driftwood, for there must always be
something to worry the man at the
wheel. Toward morning, when the sur
face Of the stream looked innocent as
babe suddenly the prov of the vessel
struck something. There was ripping
sound, terrific shock and for a few
minutes it seemed that the boat was
seized with swamp chill. She had run
into a submerged snag and had torn a
hole in her hull, through which you
could have thrown, not a rat, but a
mule. All the roustabouts said, Il told
you So" that is, all those who were still
capable of utterance No one was
drowned, and before the end of the sea-
son the boat was running again. When
the disaster was found not to be SO
great after ALL the friends of the old
man declared they knew it would not
amount to much, for he would have
taken all the rats with him in the
steamer had been doomed. He only
left in order to escape the shock to his
NERVE.
The rat is common property with all
on board; but the pilot has his own
private hoodoo that is of a much high
er order. 1t is called the pilot house
spectre, and it looks very much like
any other self-respecting ghost. 1t
never presents itself directly in front of
the pilot preferring to occupy posi-
ton at his elbow, so that it can dodge
around behind him as he turns. On
one occasion the spectre was imperson-
ated by being who was still in the
flesh, and it required the intervening of
a vast concourse of genuine spirits to
save the pilot from greater disaster
than, the real spectre had ever threat
ened. 1t happened opposite Fort Pol
low, down the river an old stone fort
that was made memorable by the mas
sacre of a whole regiment of negro SOL
diers during the war.
AT certain seasons of the year lights
are seen fitting about in the marshy
ground below the fort, and during the
day a veil Of smoke hugs the earth
Jack Written had studied physical ge-
ography, and consequently knew all
about marsh lights and tendency of
smoke to collect in damp ravines, so
the ghosts of Fort Pillow presented no
terror to him. One night he was alone