The Washington herald., 1913-01-19

Capt. c. E. Heating won his title on a
Mississippi River steamboat in the early
| days Of river traffic. That fact in itself
| should be sufficient to qualify him as q
| story teller of distinction. He was
twirling the wheel in the pilothouse at
the same time that that most noted OF
| all Mississippi River pilots, Mark
Twain. was plying the river, and those
were the roseate days OF river navigation.
Those were the days OF romance along
the great stream. The country was just
opening up to the pioneer and things
| moved rapidly-both for good and Tor
bad. The Mississippi was the CHIEF artery
OF traffic in the United States and the
steamboat captains formed an aristoc-
| racy of their own, held in supreme awe
by many and in respect by all. The
successful navigation or the river de-
manded men of quick brains and iron
nerves and the life OF the navigator
was far from dull The man who held
a captains papers in those days had
necessarily seen much that made inter-
esting narrative.
But in addition to this training for the
telling Of thrilling stories, Capt. Keat-
ing took an active part in the civil war.
He was in the pilothouse OF a river
steamer when the war started and when
IL closed he had added materially to his
store Of experiences.
Capt. Keating never tires of telling or
his runs up and down the big rivers-he
was in the pilothouses of many of the
famous boats, even the noted Robert E.
Lee-but the stories that he likes best
to tell are. OF his activities in the civil
war. and especially of the time when
he carried a message sewed in the sole
Of his shoe through the rebel lines to Gen.
Banks for the relief of the starving crew
Of the monitor, Kickapoo, of the Mis-
sissippi River Squadron.
Boat Needed Provisions.
The boat was in sore straits for
provisions and capt. u. e. WOODS called
for volunteers to go to Gen. Banks for
aid. Capt. Heating, then pilot of the
Kickapoo. and one of the seamen, Ben
Colon, stepped forward. OF the prepara-
ton Of their DISCUSSES ana Of the trials
they encountered in making their way
through the rebels to the Yankee lines,
Capt Heating says:
THE captain gave us two rebel suits.
We looked Just like rebels The suits
had been stripped from some dead rebels
we had shot My shoes had never been
blackened since they came out of the
store, all worn out. but the soles were
good. One shoe string in my shoe was
of yellow calico. the other a piece of
blue calico. The shoemaker on the gum
boat put new soles on the shoes and in
the mean time the captain put a message
wrapped in waterproof silk between the
soles on the left shoe. The shoemaker
-pegged 1t In the shoe. / never saw It,
but the captain told me it was In the
left shoe sole. and told me not to deliver
1t to any one but Gen. Banks We waited
until stormy night about o'clock,
and then the captain took us to the side
OF the gunboat and put us in the yawl
-Four sailors rowed us ashore When we
were ready the captain came out and
gave me a compass. about the size of
watch; he also gave us a canteen half !
fun OF whiskey and some horse corn
that was baked on the boat The cap
tain said for US not to drink the whisky |
unless we felt sick.
We walked up in the canebrake and |
stayed until day. Toward morning We |
heard something swimming around in
the creek. We waited until daybreak
and found that 1t was four or five allie
gators swimming around trying to catch |
fish early. We threw a stick at them |
and they ran when said 'shue. shue.
They sre afraid Of any white people.