Newspaper Page Text
SOON
VEILED. Ma
- whiol
BY AUGVUStUS As . found
There is love in same heart de
That will never find tongue;. he
There aressongs On soe lips "I
That will never be sng; lte
For the love is ground down stabi
In the dust of Despair, racin
And the songs are entombed horse
In the dungeons of Car. bMl
There are problems of life strel
That are better unknown; boos
There are sees ogood deeds body
That have never been sown; John
For the problems of life him,
; Might chill us, could we know, acee,
And the sowers were dead boys
Before they could sow. then
Sout I
"His Last Hand." Here
"""" The
DEATH OF A MlSisseiPPn RIVER T
GAMBLER. * e
expr
[Piilad.elpha Tfies.] oard
Old John Watts was a gambler by righi
nature. He would bet on everything, MeG
add last Thursday, when he died in his hand
little room on Tenth street, the last say'
words he uttered were: "I bet you I he c
get well." There were no takers, for door
, a respected and able physician 'two
I4w Jersey, stood by his bedside and we
tw hed the dying man only to that
alleviate MUe pains of death, not wlth path
any hope of saving a life. They carried spor
Watts out to Mount Moriah yesterday, ever
and the humble little funeral cortage Al
that paid the last tokens of respect to steal
the gambler's memory past out of the and
gate of the cemetery as the long line of Lodi
mourners that came to bury Major Ma- pletb
guire filed in ostentatious hundreds mine
down the road to the railroad station. sons
Watts was not known much in Philadel- Nate
phia, but more than a score of years room
ago his face was much seen on the West- trip
ern river steamboats, and his name was pied
as well known as any man's in the Mi and
sissippi river valley. He was thetypic stoo
river gambler. Elegant of address, un- rail,
excitable, calculating, skilled at cards pion
and willing to bet anything in the shoe
world, he lacked nothing' that could best
distinguish him in his calling. oonl
He was one of the men who traveled che:
mi the lower Mississippi in the ante- PW
bellum days, when the entire long cab- no
ins of the steamers were given up to he I
card parties, poker their game, and the ed,
stakes thousands. It was in these days don
that the pistol and the bowie knife often of
came in as referee in discussions over
the game, but that occurred only when hol
somebody did a mean thing with an ace his
or filled a pair by stealing a card, or girl
doing some such little pleasantry in a whi
way so shamefully bold and unskillful d
that detection could not help but ensue. son
Watts would not do that, it is said. He for.
played fair and demanded fair play or to
fight. That these encounters were not no1
of unfrequent recurrence with him two an(
bullet holes in his cheek, others in his f
body and knife wounds of greater or
less dimensions all over him gave evi
dence. For many years he traveled on car
the New Orleans, St. Louis and Louis
ville line of boats. His peculiarity of in
traveling was that he always made the o
full trip; for instance, if bound to St.
Louis on one steamer, if there was n6
play or if nluck went aganst him he wi
would not drop off at Memphis, Vicke- dir
burg or Cairo and try a new lay. He
was always the best dressed man to be wi
found on the river.
His jewelry was unostentatious and
his clothes of the latest fashion. He
had his measure at Bell's in London,
and the Regent street artist supplied
him. A swell tailor in New Orleans
once solicited Watts for an order so
that he finally gave it. Watts wore the Tn
clothes for some time and talked in
terms of much praise of them, bnt re
fused to pay the bill when presented.
By this means he found himself defen
dant in a snit of law, but, setting up
the plea that in condescending to wear un
the clothes he rendered the tailor full be
value in adding to the reputation of the he
maker, he thus won his case. Although w
SWatte profeessed to be a man of honor- th
although a gambler-he was by no fr
means the best of mortals, and he did fa:
not object to taking advantage of his 5*
fellow man in this way. For instance: er
With his friend and accomplice he ha
would board the boat at Louisville and, wl
scanning the passenger list, pick out for mi
his victim some old card-players of de
wealth with whom he was personally ga
S acquainted. To these people he would (3
go very quietly and say of his own ac- mi
complice, "There is a man who plays gr
high, and we can beat him; you join a
me and we will do it." The victim w
agrees, the party is made up, but Watts m
always succeeded in regulating success t
the wrong way for his victim, and thus fr
the would-be biter is often bitten. w
One time he was accused of swindling pi
in that way, the charge being made in is
the heat of the game by a man from di
whom Watts' accomplice had just won
$10,000. a
"Is that your opinion " he quietly S
asked. o0
"Yes, sir; that's what I think," roared iE
the loser; "you swindled me, and I tl
stigmatize you as a scoundrel." fe
The hour waslate, and only the watch- "
man and the party engaged in playing I
heard the charge, but all of them drew
back and held their breath, for they ei
were sure Jack would take a life to 2
wipe out the insult. It is said he has tl
done that thing. a
"I will give you five thousand dollars l
right here if you will not make that u
opinion any furthePublie," said Watts, b
drawing forth his pocket-book.
"No, sir, I do not want the money; a
you cannot buy my silence with mon- i
ey, sir."
Then Watts smiled in a wicked way ii
and held a pistol in one hand and the c
money in the other, and said quietly as u
' before: c
"My friend, for the suppreben of d
your opinion I o~ered you Ave tl~usand c
dollars. You refused. I now offer you i
that amount of money and your life. r
Do you accept ?" I
The man looked into Jack's cold, steel I
gray eye and what he read there was I
convincing. He took the money. and a
his life and kept silent. a
Many stories are toarld t .Wr e% !
which are not traceable to. 'any good be
Poundald d, lie th s but here is one
lhe lgll~ d 0n. tielling, and for which
he vouched fok the truth: Id nI
"I wu always ap ardent race6-oU Toqrda;
better, and A foll6wed tlh s ntn°k of 1ig
stables for many a seaso. My last ng s
racing was the season McGrath's great Kanem
horse Tom Bowling broke down. I was while
brkiag up. myself then. 'We were in acres
8rastoga, and Barron, the ,negro min- that a
strel singer, came into Morlissy's club Mimsom
house one night with a party, and some- , Wh
body proposed that he give us a song. dulge
John Matthews, the actor,' was with freque
him, and urged Barron to godahead. He seven
acceded and sat down to thetpiano. The hour,
boys turned round from thei game, and drop
then Baruoi, striking afew ejiords,with- ere
out further prelude, struck up: So0
Here a sheer hulk lies poor 1rom Bow
ling, day e
The darling of our crew. r
i a doirw
"He sang it through with reeling and
expression and I looked doVn on my
cards, And by Jove, there has a tear
right on the ace. Just thex in burst was
McGrath. He caught Barren by the was
hand and pressed it fervently) trying to ong
t say 'thank you,' but he couldn't. All did a
he could ejaculate as he wentoaut of'the stanti
door with his eyes full of fears was,
'two baskets of wine.' It wa4s not until insta
we were well into the second basket and
that we lost our impression of, the most like
h pathetic scene-one that moIved more
a sporting men's heart's to pity than I stg li
ever witnessed in a gambling house." his a
All relations concurred that the great souri
o steamboat race between the R. E. Lee when
e and Natches from New OrleAns to' St. like
,f LotiLebroke old John Watts' heart, de- and l
º- pleted his purse and even un)ettled his
s mind. lie staked every dollar he had,
. some twenty' thousand dolldrs, on the
1. Natche and lost it. He too c state- An
s room on board his favorite to m'Ak6' the offen
t- trip and see the race, but he never ocon- jury
is pied it. Night and day for five days ney I
and odd hours the race lasted he wtnh
stood on the upper deck leaning on the Patr
- rail, just where he wanted the cham- said:
s pion trophy placed when the Lee had "I
ie shown that she was only the second Mr.
Id best boat on the river, watching the me a
contest of Leviathans. When the Nat- TI
chez fell back and the Lee swept by and "I
e- passed on so far ahead that there was dy
no longer any hope, and old John, for sure
he had come to be known as old, stamp- am
eed, raved andewore, and finally Dushed hom
down to the bar and took the first drink savil
n of liquor that had ever passed his lips.
r He paid up his losses and came East and AF
n took up racing as a betting event. In sinn
e his early life he married a young Ohio up,
or girl, whose heart it is said, was broken after
a when she discovered his vocation. She gam
ul did shortly afterwards, leaving him one der
Le. son,whose:education was carefully cared "l
le for. The schools of Europe cbntributed your
or to his learning, and the old mnan stopped "l
ot no expense in advancing his s$n's welfare hav
and position. The boy was not ungrate- tive
is ful, for when age and adversity had not,
or brought the old gambler to the thresh- can
hold of want, his son came forward and _
n cared for him lovingly and' tenderly.
For nearly a year the old nmar has been
of in Philadelphia receiving Itreatment
he from a great specialist in nervous affec
t. tions. The old gambller prekerved till
n6 the day of his death the pack of cards
e with which he learned to play poker
and all-fours. They were worn and
e dirty, but he would have no othere, and
be it 'was with many a game of solitaire
with these old cards the paralytic old
d gambler solaced the last days of his in
e life. He was 74 years of age, and he Od(
used to say he was the first white child and
Sborn west of the Mississippi. que
S A TEAOHER OUS RIBIrE , and
tol
he RTHE PRANKS OF THE MUDDY MISSOURI- it
in CHANGES IT8 COURSE, 8TEALS FARMS
re- AND SWALLOW8 CITIE. 1
en-e [St. 'Pat Pioneer ?resi.J an
The Missouri is a remarkable river, for
ear unlike any other that I ever saw. To
*ll be aplpreciated it must be seen and j
he heard during the April or June rise, sta
gh when its waters are red and thick with rea
r- the powdered soil they havo brought
no from the mountains and stylen from the No
did farms in the valleys. Thea it pours and sal
his swirls and eddies along Witth a treach
co: erous sound between a c'hnekle and a
he half suppressed whisper, that repels j
wd, hile it fascinates the listenet. It has
for made millions of acres of rich black
of deposits, on which it stil holds a mort
1y gage, the foreclosure of ,bhich no man
uld can foresee. Some of tkele fertile acree
ac- may sustain forests tjat have been 12
ays growing for hundreds of years, but not
oin a rod of the vast lev1 bottom lands
im which lie on either sict of the muddy
tte monster, varying in width fromi two to BE
ess twenty miles, stretching all the way
hs from Yankton to St. Leuis, and covered
with the finest woods 3nd richest farm me
ing prodnuce that land can, bear up under, P
in is exempt from the po~sibility of some
om day being devoured b its hungry and
won ficokle mother. Hundeds of farmers, wl
after clearing away the heavr timber CO
stly and raising fine crops' year after year,
on their eighty or mgre acree: of deep,
red inexhaustible river bottom, hkve seen
d I their entire possessioep swept i'way in a
few days by a suddeq and unexpected
tch- "change of channel" 'uring ax April or
ing June "rise."
rew These changes of channel hate differ
hey ent causes. Sometimes a giant cotton
s to wood tree that has been uprooted where
has the river has been raised upon the forest
above, is borne down by the curreht and
lars lodged in the mud, where it will grad
that unally become imbedded in the yielding
tts, bottom, and, perhaps, lie in :wait for
months or even years, without giving
ney; any particular sign of existence. At G
non- last an unusual rise takes place, and et
this hidden "snag" creates a diversion Bi
way in the strong current, which begins to
the cirole around the spot, and then culmi- -
y as natesin a boiling eddy. The eddy in
creases in depth and force, gradually li
i of diverting the water from its formerl1
sand course until a new pathway is formed -
you in the river bed. If the eddy is located
life. nearthe shore aftthe upper edlge of aD
promont ir),andt(e water is suficiently
steel highto 6uriow the fiats, a new chan- )
twas f Wslet etimes carved straight across
and son luasthle farm or timber strip, and v
a tri town, whohe steamboats took
I
Them .n~+ P+ +
e, gablw er'at t
l odavey to e thee
of spgt Ofthleep e a d t oii e' ed
d tre He Igo., t
rt Kanasld e, br, wo td o r hi ti;h .
s while the wtotheutmero
w acres of poido tihe :io ori
- that now gpon5tls hcp a . to t
r. aulge in ami am-ane quit. ab
did ot wait to es e his lines, but n
Son Nebraska.ven$ u p
citny' up and on ." The
- instant dostrip of cottonwoodi lnd pt
rived close to the mainerand lyingforever;
dowing the shadoct to thank the river for
drorpped ff " to sleep and to ple
Ir dreams. Ile was awakened quite Arb-eoLi
his neighbo or, whsaving his life.UMi
wasosleeping on the wrong siade, exof a
long, nlocated on crevi thablet had nd
bot rod Kan Cithe river's brink.
did not waitto save hisngines, bualt nfor some
e oantly "got p and "Not" The guilty nd the
instant a strip of cottonwood land part
et ed company with the mainland forever;
at and with its freigit of trees dissolved
re like somuch sugarIn a cofe cup, leav
ury being the dotorto thank, the river for
stealing his fash-line tand the laudge and
his neighbor for saving his life. Mnst
at sourriver towns arenever saso.fe, excep
, when located on bldifr or table lade s, guilt,
lirke Omaha, White Clode; not Jepause I
and Kansas City.
`d' HE PLEADG LTY.
I- An Irisltyan, being'on trial for some
he offense, pleaded "Not guilty," and the
honorsy being in the boxut ji the distrit on account ofr
yes ny proceeded tocall Mr. Fkisukion's as owl.
he witness. With the utmost -innocence
he Patrick turned hi o fae to them dge and other
m-der and said
ad "Do I understand, your honor,e way to save
nd Mr. Farkisson is to be a wtneSami, who,
he me again 1"
at- The justdge paid dryly d, was attn
rase "Well, then, yer honor, I plade guilty,
for sure, if your honor plase; not because I
- iveam guily cty, for I'm s innocend, as"perhap
ed honor't, babute, but jseemt on the besaccount ofthing I
Sscan do to save my JacFrksson' sow."
Ps.
Fnd Astride a log at am and anothers.
In sinner, engaged in a little game of sevoh
hio up, when a minister approached, who,
en iafter. a solemn contemplal on of the
the game, laid his hand on amnel'g, Patchoul-y,
e derandsad:ranium,
red "My friend, is that the way to save -
ted your soul t"
pod "Perhaps not," answered Sam, who,
ae having just played a card, was atten
qua- tively considering his balsod, "perhapes
had not, but it seems like the best thing I
tsh- can do to save my JacCERINEk." St
it has no equal for toilet purposes. Roe Jame,
rd Violes French Toil Bouuet Powder.
Somethiang new; the latcodies will fyd this
ad most DELIGHTFUL Jock USEFUL olwb,
for summer use; it does w ay with aCO
sireat mny of the eraniumnoyances of hot
old Stweather.phanotis, very fe
he istantly arrivmg antoped in store, for sal and with the at
Odorator attachment-something novel
qaled in this sountryld be wothout it. Fornes
of fine Extracts, ColoneLUVERIUS, CalifoDruggistnia
and lorida(rogeters for the hand,)kerchief
andjtoilet Baton Rouge, La.ttention
a most DELIgHTFUL and UedEFL powder
weather-BY
Rith reasonable prices.
inght Brode's .....CHARTRES ST Cordal.......
t eNo family should be wtounse 8t., For
and sale by
ach-Mr. W Tax calls the attention of hisUVERIUS, Druggist,
pelsmany friends in Baton Rouge and the
has
la contemplate visiting the city will find
Notice to Tax-Payers.
been 126X-PAYERS are hereby notified that.126
in my haBetds for colrle & ctiolone, and that I
ddy NEW ORLEANDOLPH,
to BER I. LOON EWNPINT ALLE ATACHED
wayh
aered Mrpply to J. L.,Wax calls the of a. Gottention of hiseb.
farm many friends inthe steamer EDWARD J.the
SblGAY wigenerally not take the place of that he is
reBayou Sar aned to provideast trade during theh
s when vtire seaon.ewOrlean Thosewho I
mber nTAPLE Hardware-Wthe cityare now pre-find
excellpared to fill orderations for artices in thise
l ine, at New Orleanx- p rices. Nails a
ee always buy our gteries rom
in a Avid & Garig. e hereby notified that
e l the TaVx oll of 188 hasbeen placed
n in to buy ha forancy and lple goods, is n, and that
WAavid & Garigs.RANDOPH
t and apply to J L, care of S ottlidver-b
Soto t tie n the Cpaeot,
I took Il tiso inth.eCapitolian.i
WN
ib- t iu
A
o .r; VI, .. -
rod
rd ro
LwiUOeS, a l" ;,ie.ii
me
7 o.ý = = '- , m, m"; - ." - o
1o01 feob BATON017 R0t, LA.
kilo
save PAf
M. J.IWILLIAMS EAM`
-tenl
Steam Trains, Strike Pans, Boilers and fTa' i.ks .
STEl PIE AD QSTEAM F·IT S .iB, ' .
- AND -
ALL, s ~oe s F a- OasiE WIKIt
.,ly,
fine. feb8 BATON BOUGL, LA,
A. ROSENFIELD.
OA P;
wder
S-D A.E. IN- ; . ,, .. ·-. · rL
ith a
ho, Shoes, Notions, Trunks,J: W I
ap Valises, WndoTURER Shades,
r OIL AND ENAMELED CLOTHS,
g It
La.Steam Tr CARPETS, MATTING, ETC., ETC.,d
its. ,
feb8 ,,,. ..
. 1 p2r's furniture and llneraking Est&lliint,
ACHED PIPEA t dr BRADFORD'E OLD CA.ND,
thAIN T ET, - ATON OU,
-:o:
d LA ER IN BEDDT~EADS. RMIOIRS.BUREAUS .CHMIRSv
oS. O' aVUr maimo wu o N,
thI GL
And various other articles at the lowest market price. Metal1( d Imitation
or Cases, Coffins of *ll kinds with Hearse when required, furnished at any hour.
- Also, Woven-Wire Mattresses. These Mattresses are so well known that it
is n*t necessary to enlarge upon their merits. Their superiority over -
v, and all springs is, they are Elastic, Noiseless, Durable, Cleanly,
, etc., Healthful and Economical The Guy Wire is an improvement,
consisting of a large wire put on the fabric, which
-makes a stiff edge, and prevents its being presed C
rf hson the rail. No other Mattress posseuees this C
twith- excellent feature. Guaranteed for fiveyers. * fob8
nI I
RED STICK DRUG STORE.
(Established in 1870.)
CORNER OF AFRICA AND SOMERULOS STS.
B3. A_ ,DAY,
Proprietor.
Keeps constantly on hand a full aisd
fresh sssortment of Drugs, Medicines,
Chemicals Patent Medicines,
Toilet soaps, Perfumery,
Nail and ToothBrushes Fancy Articles,
Cutlery Fishing Iacide, Night Ta
pers, Insurance Oils five and ten
cent Cigars, Stationery, etc.
?uuuastP1SCACt¶1ffb PWAI A ALL AItS
BLUE STORE C
Corner Ohurob ad WahM Sreets.
NEWS, LITERARY AND FASHION MAGAZINES a
AND!PAPERSIRECEiVED REGULARLY,
Staple and I Staion , .
Cromno, e
Articlesfor Fahe -rJ
THE CAPrroLA. Walways on band fr
eale. fld
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REAL EST 'IT
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GLASSWARE CROCKER,NOION
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?. O;mer W~Y!ttS mmd Xa Ate.,i
feb15 BAO ROUGE, L
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