SNAGGED IN TENNESSEE CHUTE.
President's Island, Dec. 21, 1903.--Yesterday was one of high hopes and
unexpected disaster. All morning Taylor wrestled with the engine; Fluent
ran down to tell of a telegram awaiting us; we went up in the
_Desplaines_ and found it was concerning some mss. not delivered by the
express; found the office open, the mss. had been returned to Chicago
Saturday on wire from there, and no explanation as to why it had not
been delivered during the week, on every day of which we had been to the
express office after it. Holiday rush.
At 1 p. m. we got off, the launch behind and steered by ropes running
around the cabin to its front. All went well till Jim came in to dinner
and we took the ropes--gave one turn to see which way the steering ran,
found we were wrong and at once turned the other way, but that one turn
gave the unwieldy craft a cant in to the shore, along which ran the
swift current, and we drifted among a lot of snags, the launch caught,
the boat caught, tore the blades off the propeller, broke the coupling;
let go the anchor, and came to. In the melee we noticed the front end of
a gasoline launch rise from some snags--a wreck, buoyed up by the air in
the tank. The boys rowed back but could not locate it. Then we tried to
lift our anchor, to find it fouled with something too heavy to be
raised, and had to buoy it and cast loose with the 75 feet of cable
attached to it.
We drifted quietly down to the southern end of this island, where we
tied up to the sand bar.
Out fenders, one long line to a half-buried log far up the shore, the
boat held well off to guard against the falling water leaving us
aground. Well we did, for this morning the launch was so firm in the
sand that we had trouble to get loose. The night was clear and quiet,
and this morning the same--a light wind blowing us along down the river.
Laid in a lot of driftwood in long sticks. Missy had a good night but is
a little asthmatic this morning. Swept out into the current and floating
now in true cabinboat style. We will keep clear of the Tennessee Chute
next time.
The _Desplaines_ came along as we were lying at the lower end of the
island, and came in to our signal. As we were totally disabled and would
have to send to Auburn, N. Y., for new flukes for our propeller, they
agreed to help us out, and took us in tow. They ran back to see if they
could find the anchor or the sunken boat, but failed to locate either.
* * * * *
Hardin's Point, Ark., Dec. 23, 1903.--Yesterday we ran in here after a
fifty-mile run. Tied up quite near the light, which was not well, as the
_Kate Adams_ coming near rocked us as badly as any steamer we have yet
met. We passed her and her consort, the _James Lee_, both aground within
half a mile of each other, near Mhoon's. Both got off, as the _Lee_ came
down today. The river is lower than usual, as the Mhoon gauge showed
minus three.
We laid in a good supply of wood, and then Jim and Frank found a lot of
cannel coal over on the sand bar, and all day they have been loading up
the _Desplaines_ and our boat with it. Some barge has been wrecked there
and the small pieces washed away, so that what is left is in large
pieces, the smallest taking a strong man to lift. It is curiously
water-burnt. The edges are well rounded, so it must have been long under
water. A little darkey brought around six silver bass, weighing possibly
half a pound each, for which he accepted forty cents. They have a barrel
ready for shipment. He called them game fish.
A fine buck shot out of the woods on the other side, followed at a
distance by ten hounds, and the deer nearly ran into Woodruff's boat,
then swam to this side, where our boys vainly tried to get a shot. An
old darkey said he could have been easily drowned by the man in the
skiff; but we are glad that species of murder did not offer attractions
to Woodruff. The bars are resonant with the honking of the geese. The
natives have no cows, chickens, nothing to sell, not even pecans--which
here become "puckawns." This evening Jake brought in a fine wild goose,
the first we have seen on board as yet. It has blown from the south all
day, but is quiet this evening.
* * * * *
Helena, Ark., Dec. 25, 1903.--We left Hardin Point about 9 a. m., with
the wind dead ahead, and strong enough to make the beating unpleasant.
The front deck is loaded with over a ton of coal, and this seems to make
the boat steadier, less inclined to pitch and toss like a cork on the
waves.
Christmas day is clear and bright, the sun out, thermometer at 10:30
standing at 55 outside in the shade, and with a little wood fire running
up to 90 in the cabin. The Missis is better, her asthma becoming more
spasmodic and better controlled by smoke. It rained all last night, and
though the caulking did good, there was still some water came in around
the surbases. We got some putty to help out the lead. At every stop we
pick up something of value to us; usually some good hard firewood. Here
we found a section of the side of a boat washed ashore, solid oak, with
several bolts a yard long through it. Frank lugged it in and has broken
it up into stovewood, and secured the bolts for stakes.
About 2 p. m. we reached Helena, a town of about 25,000. Moored at a
distance up the stream, and landed on a muddy shore. The muddy south. We
are all coated with the most adhesive of muds, the fineness of the grain
rendering it difficult to remove from the clothes. The town is full of
negroes, celebrating the holiday; and nearly all carry suspicious
looking jugs. The costumes and shouting would make the fortune of a
museum in the north. Found it impossible to secure a turkey fit to eat,
but got the Missis some fine oysters and a chicken, and bear-steaks for
our dinner--at 25 cents a pound. Game is not allowed to be sold in the
state. Pity they do not extend the prohibition to whisky.
We made candy, and in the evening had the crew all in, and grabbed for
presents in a big basket under a newspaper. We had a happy time,
although we were all out on the big river far from home. The
_Desplaines_ let their wild goose spoil, and threw it overboard this
morning. At 10 a. m. we set out for down the river.
We searched the Memphis papers for some intimation as to J. J.'s fate,
but found none. Found the tale of an Indiana man who was coming down on
a houseboat with his wife, intending to make his home in Greenville,
Miss. He was told at Cairo that there was a law in Tennessee against
carrying concealed weapons, so here he started out with his pistol in
his hands. He was arrested and sentenced to jail for a year less a day,
and $50 fine, the law forbidding the carrying of weapons. Such a
punishment, administered to a stranger unaware of the law seems a
travesty of justice. It is said here that it is safer to kill a man than
to carry a weapon; and it seems so.