The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-09-25
THE BOAT WOULDN'T
|TARRY FOR ANYONE.
Good story Of Steamboat Captain in
Days Before the Civil War.
(By J. N. ANDREWsl

Il a.
walk was laid here in 1886; the type
setter put it 1865: that was about when
Macarthur was born-he was scarcely
having walks laid then.
IN this am going to mix UP some
Santa Rosa matters and some antedi-
luvian things before the Civil War.
Simpson, Fla. at Bagdad, of which e.
e. Simpson was the main member, had
steamer named Erving running be-
tween Milton and the navy yard. She
carried passengers and mail. The cap
tain's name was Rowe. one OF the kind
that would cbbey orders IL he broke
owners; they rang a bell instead of
blowing a whistle. Promptly at a. m
the last bell rang at Milton and she
moved away from the wharf Promptly
at p. m. the bell rang at the wharf
at Pensacola on her return trip and
when she left the wharf one day Mr..
Simpson has just reached the foot OF
the wharf when the bell rang. and one
Of the deck hands told the captain that
Mr.. Simpson was coming; he said,
push off," and away she went. So the
next day Mr.. Simpson went down thor
and asked the captain If he did not
know that he wanted TO go up the day
before. He said. yes, but II you want
to 80 up on this boat, Mr.. Simpson,
you must be here on time. The Err
wing came down one day after the war
started; when she reached the navy
yard she was pressed into service to
carry troops over to try to capture
Fort Pickens. Her name was changed
to the Bradford The smoikestack was
riddled by the minnie balls and her old
bones rest somewhere out in the bay.
When the sailing vessels used 70
come here in such numbers for cargo,
Canadian stevedores used to come here
and load them and then go over to the
the other ports and unload them, and
they made stacks of money.
Now I viii tell you how old Pensa-
cola has been treated In the past. Be-
fore the Civil war q railroad from
Flomaton to the bay was built. The
main man concerned was John r. Mil
ner, OF Montgomery. believe the city
was bonded for 100000 during the
war. Miner took the rolling stock and
the iron up into the interior and sold 1t
TO the Confederate government, and
got his money. which. OF course. should
have released the city OF Pensacola,
but after the war those old bonds
were saddled on the city again. If the
people had listened to J. Dennis Wolfe
they would have repudiated those
bonds. which was the proper thing 20
do. Instead OF that. they made new
issue OF $2so.000 and retired the 9TH
ers. and we have that debt hanging
over us now; a quarter million was
issued under aldermanic form to re-
tire the old bonds.
Now, touch Santa Rosa again
Monday, the fifth, I went up to Milton;
It certainly was a great day. the best
advertising Milton has ever had. I was
glad to see the improvements up there.
Milton has always been q nice place
to me. We were treated royalty while
there I heard the speakers, who glibly
told of what they had accomplished.
and they are entitled to credit for
what they have done. They told of the
100000 and $4,000, etc. that they had
secured and that was nice, but II
brought to mind the time In 1874 when
fifteen of us, eight from Bagdad ana
seven from Milton, took the ballot
boxes from the scalawags and re-
counted the votes, and we finished the
carpet bag government in SAINTS. Rosa
county. John W. Butler ran against
old Uncle Nell Mcmillan, father of N.
G. Mcmillan, and swindled him out. of
the election. We recounted the votes
and found Uncle Nell duly elected and
put. him in office. Butler went to
washington and was sergeant-a t-arms
IN the senate for q while. That was the
foundation work for what has since
been accomplished. J. s. Strickland
and myself are the only two living Of
the fifteen.