The Mena weekly star., 1907-11-14
THE BURNING OF
 THE STONEW ALL
How a Life Was Saved When the Steamboat Was Destroyed
HE people of Mena are quite a
 mixture. They are frOn al-

HE people of Mena are quite mixture. They are fr0n al-
 most everywhere. Perhaps every state in the Union is repre- scented here. They are from the lakes and from the funereal pines of Maine all the way down to where our republic washes her feet in the waters of the deep blue Mexican sea; they are here all the way from Van couver and the Golden Gate to the Rio Grande and the Florida reefs. And we have nearly all the races. nations. tribes and breeds in and around our bustling little city. This makes rather complex mixture, but we all get on well and are busy making Mena an up-to-date city. It may also be said that there are men in Mena who have been men elsewhere men of high aims, noble motives and clean minds. Some of these men are on the wrong side of fifty now, and the siftings of silver is in their hair, but they are still fighting the battles of life. These old veterans can tell stories and recite events through which they have passed that would read like romances and remind us of some of Munchasuen's visions.
 A little covey of these old vets were gathered in knot down the street the other day, talking over the days of long ago. After awhile one of them said:
 When I was a young man in Illinois I decided to go to Memphis, Tenn. There were few railroads then and had to go by boat. When I got to Cairo I found three big fine sedi-wheel steambbats, all lying at the wharf and all headed down the Mississippi. One was the Stonewall, another the c. A. Arthur and the other the Indiana. They all had up steam and were hissing and frying like they were about to go. 1 de cided I would ship out on the Stone wall and had all my traps put on the boat. When I went on I found her lower deck full of mules and her cabin full of people and she was taking on more mules and more people.
 Well, sat around on the boat until got tired of the crowd and l saw she was not in hurry to go, so a notion took me that I would go out and take stroll over Carlo. I over-stayed my time for it was dark when I got back and my boat was gone and the Arthur too, so 1 went on the Indiana, one of the best boats of her day. It was 4 o'clock the next morning before we got off and headed down the big stream. It was terrible morning, for the river was full and the storm and wind drove us until we dragged the banks and raked the timbers, smashing and popping things in general. It was squally time on the Mississippi I tell you. A little after breakfast time we ran upon one of the most pitiful and heart-rending scenes of my life. It was the burning hull of the big Stonewall. They had run her in and damned her onto the bank, but she burned like straw stack, and nearly every living thing perished on the boat. Two hundred and eighteen people were reported lost and we found only few of the mules that had escaped. Everything went down and the boat burned to the waters edge.
 This was not caused by the wind or the weather, but gang of gam- blers were playing poker on the lower deck and they set some hay afire and the boat went up in smoke as result. Now I'll tell you, it has always been a mystery to me why.or how I ever took that notion to take | in Cairo that night. You may call lit luck, providence, the Lord, or any way you please, but l was power fully pleased when my boat put me off at Memphis, sound as a dollar and not hair singed. No, reckon If hadn't taken in Cairo that night 1 would not have been here in the ! = = = =