The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-30
ANTE-BELLUM FLOATING
 PALACES OF THE ALABAMA

A half hour was satisfied that the Cuba was still queen of the Alabama waters and at the end of two hours or, per haps three, the swift and beautiful but unreliable King was beaten packet.
 No attempt was made to race be- yond the junction, as Captain Luck was anxious to have his friends inspect his fine charge--so he tarried at many points along the route.
 ''Only once did the Cuba fail to catch a competitor, or to distance pursuer. Capt. Henderson Kennedy commanded one of the handsomest steamers that ever lay at the wharves of Mobile-the Ambas- sador with a capacity of some 2600 or 2iOo bales-the regular Saturday night pocket to Demopolis and Merriwether's landing on the Warrior river. No boat had ever matched this one in speed, yet 1t was not given to racing, but did large plan tation business, and was commanded by one of the best old men of the day who took it lesurely. as the trade was short one. There had been sudden rise in the upper Bigbee and Captain Otis was ordered to make a flying trip up to Vienna for cotton. He left Mobile with little freight, and resolving to test the speed of the great Ambassador, he laid wait as he knew that if Captain Kennedy started behind the latter would make no effort to pass, so Captain Bob's plan was to get behind and pass the conservative Am bassador, but in that he failed, as old Kenney was not caught mapping, and opened wide his favorites throttle. They made the race for the first 50 or 60 miles and the Cuba reaching Demopols first her crew claimed the victory, but the Ambassador had made 50 or 60 landings, while the rival boat landed only occasion ally therefore to claim a victory was absurd.
 '@rhe Ambassador. with the second Sam no1n 1.r,r, ,a1 of ho vbD If a | Friday night, and the Wilcox and Mag noia barely escaped like fate. "The Sam Dale was the last boat built and owned by Capt. Frank Johnson of whom we spoke in the opening chapter. He had built two fine boats for the Ala
 bama trade, naming each for the cele- brated Sam Dale of Canoe fame With the destruction of the Dale No. 2 was lost the noted rifle used by Sam Dale in that historic fight, after which it had been restocked and presented to Capt. Johnson
 "The hull of the Ambassador was saved and for many years after the war it was the largest and best barge used in the bay of Mobile as a lighter to the lower shipping. The loss of these two boats was a sad blow to their owners, and a severe loss to Mobile.
 Captain Kenney afterward chartered the Empress to accommodate his trade. ana Wfl1lG dTTanRlnS SOIllt Ol Ii6 QeT1lckS on the upper deck he lost his balance and fell to the lower, crushing his skull and dying instantly.
 If the writer remembers correctly, Frank Johnson at once became a cap- tain with Cox Brain X Co.,, and at a good age, just before the war, he mar ried Miss Philbrook, a noted musician and society lady, with whom he lived happily, and when he died, it was as most of the steamboat fraternity, poor. Just after his marriage, the firm of Cox, Brain & Co. gave him and his bride an elegant recep- tion on board the St. Nicholas, which left Mobile with some 400 invited guests and was run to Fort Stoddard, where all were requested to disembark. in order that the table might be spread in the saloon. That table was the talk of the river folk for years thereafter, and yet there is no doubt in the mind of the writer that each day the St. Nicholas set a table that equaled that enc, only cham, pagne was an additional extravaganza in those days were acknowledged to be the finest in the land.
 Capt. Frank Johnson was, perhaps, the most universally beloved commander of those days. Honorable truthful, tenn sperate in all his tastes, he yet had a very positive way of telling people what he thought of them.
 "Cnce a sudden sQuall came up. His boat had safely housed the freight in- tended for her, but large quantity of parishable goods lay on the wharf, awaiting a rival boat, which had not yet dropped down from the cotton wharf, and Captain Frank and his crew got good drenching while COW ering his opponents freight with the tarpau1in of the Sam Dale. He did not care continental for the other boat but he did not want the peoples goods 10 he damaged.
 "Another popular captain of the anto-