The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-08-06
BOSTON TEA PARTY
SHOCKS CAPE men
Commerce Women Charge Steam.
boat Looking for Drink With
a Kick in it.

Jack Womack. 1t was a Boston Tea
Party" brought up to date.
Last Sunday Franz and Womack
motored from the Cape to Cairo, ILL.,,
and when they boarded the ferry
across the river to come to Commerce,
the captain of the ferry told them to
keep their eyes peeled" for some
good amusement.
On board the ferry boat were sever
al negro men and women travellers.
Many of them carried suitcases that
had every appearance of being ex-
tremely heavy Moreover, it seemed to
both Franz and Womack that the dar-
kies took extraordinary care with their
luggage.
They never allowed themselves to
bump the sultcases and telescopes into
one another, and it seemed that such
an inadvercant act as letting a satchel
fall with Trump to the deck was I'M
heard of on the trip across the Mis-
sissippi.
! Every darky was a careful custo-
dian of his luggage. Likewise it SEEM
ed to the Two motorists that the dar-
kies gathered in little knots and held
earnest conversation with one another
in more or less subdued voices on
some subject or other that maybe was
none of the white folks business.
Anyway, the attention of the mo-
florists was called from the darby pas
sengers as the frery boat approached
the Missouri shore at Commerce by
the appearance on the bank of the
river of a band of about IL or Is de-
termined looking women.
They were not more casual onlook-
ers, there to watch the ferry come in,
although their actions soon showed
that they were there to see what the
ferry had brought across.
The boat kept warping little closer
and Il little closer to the bank and the
women began TO siZe-up the situation
little more circumspectly. Two or
three of them pointed out things on
board the beat and the motorists
coulnn't help but imagine that maybe
they were pointing at the darkies'
suitcaseS. ..
At length the ferry had been warp
ed into position and the gates had been
opened.
One of the women stepped out in
front of her small band and as she
brandished a club over her fair head,
exclaimed IN almost stentorian tones
"Women % Commerce, do your
dutyw
The battle-cry of the women was a
commingled screech, scream and
Shrek. They ran down the slope
leading to the boats plank, mounted
the deck and soon the Cape motorists
were in the midst of scene the like
of which they never had witnessed be-
fore.
The charge was directed upon the
group of darkjes who had the suit
cases of which they had taken such
great care. 1t was to no avail that the
blacks protested they could pass a
rigid Commerce Women's Board of
Censorship" Actual inspection was
the only thing that would satisfy the
women.
Many suitcases were torn open and
contents oft times dropped upon the
deck. Their searching examination
failed to reveal anything of a fluid
nature. The heavy suitcases seemed to
contain nothing but cloths.
The captain of the ferry boat slip
ped up beside the motorists from Cape
Girardeau IN The midst of the melee.
They're looking for something to
drink. A bunch of bootleggers were
caught this way last week and the
women dumped about 40 gallons of
perfectly good liquor into the river"
he explained.
Womack carelessly put his foot
down upon his own suitcase which had
been placed on the running board of
the machine. He bore down pretty
heavy, too.
One of the women came alongside of
the machine, eyed the suitcase, looked
over Womack's foot, glanced at Wom-
ack's countenance and back to the
suitcase. He, hand went out toward
the handle to jerk it away, but she
stayed her action and sided away.
In another few moments, Womack
and Franz saw their chance to drive
off and as they gained the top of the
slope leading to the ferry, both pulled
from the suitcase that had been on
the running board "tall something"
which was capable of being a "cold
bottle" and derisively waved them at
the women left on the deck.