The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-14

erals, learning of it's whereabouts. or
 uered It's captain brought before theIr commanding officer, who forced him
 10 land the boat at Montgomery ievee wilson would give no assurance as 70 the boat. since she was engaged in the Confederate transportation service
 and her crew regularly detailed as part | or the Confederate army. but he did promise to release 312 bales of cot
 ton which. were stored in the hull, the private property of the captain. No sooner was the boat landed and the
 cotton rolled out than a squad of fed | eral soldiers in charge of an officer
 came down, sprinlSIed turpentine on the | deck and in the cabin touched a flame
 to it and one of Alabama's finest spec linens of naval architecture was a
 blackened hull
 I The cotton was treated in like man.
 her and thus. without a charge and weil-nigh penniless. our heroic boat | man crossed over to the Bigbee where
 many Mobile steamers had taken refuge
 after the fall of Mobile. True. Captain
 t1nnegan owned some likely slaves, most Of them deck hands on his boat put they were soon to be freed. With all these disasters he was not dis
 -heartened. for there were still left to | nm his wife and babe, who though ! Tn hostile hands, were more to him l than all on earth besides-and sto them
 m the city of Mobile he must turn On i reaching Demopolis he heard of the | surrender of General Lee. He engaged | skiff and in company with MT. Levi
 Williams, a noted pilot, set out for the Gulf City. with only a few negro oars men. With the final surrender Cantaip Finnegan was not to remain idle. With that characteristic determination born . in the breast of the Anglo Saxon he began life anew-his own and the for tunes of the city of his love and adop- tion must be rebuilt He secured tha jeff Davis, a side-wh steamer. and started in the lake trade. Landing at Ponchartrain, the United States inspect DTS came down and after looking over ms boat forced him to discharge what cargo had been shipped and con- oemned his boat as unseaworthy. Tn, real casus belli was the name of the craft, and thus was our captains first post-be1lum venture a decided loss Learning that the United States gov ernment was soon to sell a number of transports, he passed through the city and visited the levee, inspecting sev- eral steamers that were for sale and selected trimly built stern- wheeler called Nyanza, price $34,000. Here was dilemma. With only about s1O.O0O a 7, | his communication at the very out side-he sat himself down and sat very nara to figure out the problem Hau- | pehing to meet with Capt. Fred Del ] nonde. he related his troubles and asked | Ior aovice catain Delhonde was a New | iork refugee, former merchant of tnat city. and had lately commanden a Con1ederate organization stationed at that GUY AS Captain Finnegan desired l his boat for Mobile and for, MobiIe,s sood, the merchants of New Orleans couid not be expected to lend their aid but Delhonde advised him to telooront
 r. nf al prepared to assist, could securn tha amount from MT. Phil Weaver. .. very wealthy and liberal citizen of that sams city' NO time was to be lost as the sale was to be made at once and the apount must pc Tn cash The telegram was 9omI Shi, ana me reply came: Draw on Pnll Weaver at sight for S2OO0O'
 When Captain Ffnnegan arrived In Mo piie With his purchase. he secured pilots at SlOo per day and began the most enc cessrul work of his life. With cotton at sie per bale as freight he soon secured the s1O,VOO to spare. and to the credit of | MT. Weaver be it said he refused all ,, terest: Captain Finnegan then entered the Trade company and for many sea. sons commanded some of the finest of our late river boats, besides owning whole or in part some of our best
 In lsSs-69-7o-71-72 he had full hand in the Alabama river with the Republic.
 
 E Gastrell. Lula D., and the fine John | T. Moore. pa1atial iron steamer built Tor the Red river trade at cost of $lio,oo At the last he commanded the Armstrong and Josie w
 captain F1nnegan never built nor did ne superintend the building of any of the above boats except the Maggie Ir Burke-all others were purchases, or were given him to command: and as a boat mans success is mea sured as much by his constructive ability as by his com II manding qualities, we declare that, talk Ing into account adaptability, carrying capacity. faultless material, speed beau t1ful lines enduring qualities and com plete equipment on deck and in cabin. the Burke was the best boat that has landed in Mobile since the war It was burned at the wharf at Mobile, together with several hundred bales of cotton. The boat cost some $25.OOO, was insured for only sl50O0. and though rebuilt, we did not consider her the complete craft she was at first
 In former article we referred in detail to only one living ante- -bellum commander, Capt. Luck Wainwright whose life upon the water, and whose happy domestic relations are a parallel to those of his aforetime comrade. out the assistance of a collegiate edu- cation. both were poor, energetic, be- | gan at the bottom and climbed to the top-unlike the first man, who began at the top and struck the ground floor Both have been rulers on the Alabama when she was second only to the Mts- sissippi, and today both sit in con tentment and quietude, looking back to the shore of their chaildhood; and after fourscore years and more of life. both are patiently awaiting the call of the Great Captain. who is the ruler of us all.
 Owen Finnegan never loved a man Tor his wealth nor his infuence-he ,ourted no one for his trade, nor greeted him for what he might gain thereby. He loved all alike, and the world has been the better for his hay. ng lived therein and we have often -hought that he enjoyed the education | nat fell to some of the more fortunate | nen of his nation-with his sound com non sense, his appreciation and knowl- edge of human nature, his scientific ions of wit. his energy and his love or home-Alabama might never hayc claimed the honor of naming him 'mong her sons-and upon the pagesJ 'f Irish history he might have figured II rie"