The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-12-28
an fNszTf1TE RIVER.
HOW THE MISSISSIPPI SOMETIMES
EATS UP REAL ESTATE.

Miss. During the civil war, 1t will be
much in the shape of the letter S, of the
river at Vicksburg. General Grant, voc
know, wanted to change tho course Of the
river by cutting a channel through De
Soto peninsula, thus cutting off the upper
bend and causing tho river to flow straight
across below Vicksburg and leaving the
town high and dry. Grant could then
have sent bis gunboats by Vicksburg and
escaped the Smelling from the upper bat
teries Of the Confederates north Of the
town. He put General McClernand and
several thousand men to work at cutting
this channel across the peninsula In front
Of the town, and they worked for some
time, Notwithstanding the harassment
from the lower batteries Of the enemy.
But the contrary river wouldn't show the
least desire of accepting such an artificial
channel anyway. The plan was finally
abandoned and Grants gunboats had to
make the run before both the upper and
lower batteries. But in 1876 the Missis
sippi river, Of its own accord, cut its way
across De Soto peninsula below Vicks
burg, but farther up than Grants artificial
channel was started. De Soto peninsula
Ia now Do Soto island, and the body Of
water in front Of Vicksburg Is now known
as Centennial lake, taking the name from
the year that the Centennial was held at
Philadelphia. This Is only n of many
instances showing how the Mississippi re
fuses to submit to the dictation Of oivi;
engineers and how it follows its own stub
born course, winding and washing Ito
way here and there at its own will.
"By the way, the Mississippi washed
several thousand dollars out OF my pocket
In n night about 10 years ago. At that
time I owned O row Of houses which began
almost three blocks away from the river
In Greenville, Miss. One day a govern.
ment engineer said to me, The river will
some time wash away Its bank here, and
your buildings will tumble in
"Well, I laughed at him. The bank.
was 70 feet high, and, besides, the river
was quite low. One morning I awoke to
learn that there had been a big cave in Of
the river bank the night before, and that
Q couple of my. buildings had been carried
away. I Joined the crowd Of people that
rushed to the river bank to see this de-
struotion, and, I tell you, I never ap,
preoiated the terrible power Of the Father,
Of Waters until I witnessed this scene.
While I was standing there talking with
friends another big slice Of land, q block
In width, crumbled away and fell into the
river, carrying with 1t several more OF my
buildings. You can imagine how ! felt,
because I had been drawing an income OF
81, 900 q month in rentals from my build.
ings. Now over half Of them were a mass
Of debris floating down the river, and my
real estate was only 80 much, dirt In ths
bottom Of the channel.
"As I stood there watching my build
ings and ground slip away into the river
q citizen approached ME and said, Cap
tain, I'll give you $1,000 for the remain
der of your property
"'No, I'll not take less than $1,000
said I.
1.-THE words had no more than left my
tongue when there was another cave In,
and two more of my lots and buildings
tumbled into the greedy river. The citizen
then remarked to me, Captain, I'll give
you 81, 900 for your property now
81 refused to entertain this proposition,
which, Of course, was a pure speculation,
as no human agency could stop the cave
in. Pretty soon another n OF my lota
and Its building went into the river, and
my speculative friend then offered me $500
for the remainder Of my property. BY this
time I had concluded to trust to luck and
stand all losses, and I refused to sell at
any price. I now had one lot and one
building left. During the excitement an
old colored woman came up and said to
me:
"'See heah, oap'n, will ye give me dem
brick what's in dat cellar under yer
housep'
II told her she could have the brick. ]
had a pile Of new brick In the cellar under
my only remaining house. The old col.
ored woman gave her husband % cents
to hire @ team and wagon to haul away
the brick. Now, upon my word OF honor,
what I am now going to say is true.
While the old colored man was gone for a
wagon another cave in occurred, and my
last house and lot, brick and cellar and
all, tumbled into the river. The cave In
came SO suddenly that the crowd OF people
standing on the bank had to flee for their
lives. After the excitement had somewhat
subsidized the old colored wonan exclaimed:
CLAWS O. massy! Dere's my brick In
de bottom O. de ribber, an I done los my
quatah.'
"Of course, while the old woman was
out e5 cents, I was out another $1,000.
During this series Of cave ms that day
efforts were being made to place a long
frame store building on rollers and move
10 to a place of safety. But before the
building could be raised 1t began to tilt,
and the men were compelled to desert 1t.
Soon the store building slid into the river
and went kerchug to the bottom OF the
channel, as completely out Of sight as II IL
had been the only pebble on the beach,
"In my opinion the Mississippi river 10
all right-when it doesn't come my way. !
built q nice residence in GreenVille several
years ago and had q beautiful flower be.
decked lawn between the house and the
river, which was a block away. That1awn
has long since been swallowed by the 70.
~raoious NAV Of the Mississippi, and today
my residence stands on the edge of q bank
that is 75 feet high."-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.
Medieval Lynch Laws In Bavaria
It is curious to note that In some parts
Of Bavaria a method Of procedure which is
called Haberfeld treiben still prevails and
L. practiced by the people IN case OF
offenses which do not come within the