(See Chapter xxvii)
The item which served as a text for the “Sergeant Fathom” communication
was as follows:
VICKSBURG, May 4, 1859.
My opinion for the benefit of the citizens of New Orleans: The water is
higher this far up than it has been since 1815. My opinion is that the
water will be four feet deep in Canal Street before the first of next
June. Mrs. Turner's plantation at the head of Big Black Island is all
under water, and it has not been since 1815. I. SELLERS.--[Captain Sellers, as
in this case, sometimes signed
his own name to his
communications.]