THE POWER OF THE WHITE MAN.
MEDICINE TOO STRONG.
While holding a council at Pierre with about three thousand Sioux, the General told them of the great power of the American people and the uselessness of their trying to resist them. He was anxious to exhibit some proof that would appeal to the native imagination. Finally a thought struck him. Chloroform was just coming into use in surgery, and the hospital equipment with the expedition had some of it along. “I will show you the great power of the white man,” said the General with impressive gravity. “I will show you how he can even kill and bring to life again.” He called the surgeon, explained what he wanted, and then, through the interpreter, commanded that a dog be killed and afterward restored to life. He cautioned the surgeon to be extremely careful not to overdo the matter. The surgeon proceeded to chloroform the dog, while the Indians looked on in mute astonishment, if not with superstitious awe. After the dog was insensible the General called the chiefs and told them to satisfy themselves that he was actually dead. The surgeon was then ordered to resurrect the dog. He applied the usual restoratives, but the dog slept on. He nipped his tail with a pair of pincers, but still no sign of life. The surgeon finally gave it up, and the white man’s marvelous power did not materialize. The Indians looked on, and putting their hands to their mouths said: “Medicine too strong, too strong.”[32]
ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.
After the return of the St. Mary to St. Louis, Captain La Barge, as was his wont, ran in the lower river trade the rest of the season. In the following winter, February 27, occurred the famous ice “break-up” of 1856 on the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The winter had been very cold and the ice was three or four feet thick and the water low. The break-up was not caused in the usual way by the thawing of the ice, but by a rise in the river from above, which caused the ice to move before it had become much disintegrated. It was an appalling and terrible example of the power of a great river when restrained in its course. The following account is from the pen of an eyewitness:
TERRIBLE DISPLAY OF POWER.
“The ice at first moved very slowly and without any perceptible shock. The boats lying above Chestnut Street were merely shoved ashore. Messrs. Eads & Nelson’s Submarine No. 4, which had just finished work at the wreck of the Parthenia, was almost immediately capsized and became herself a hopeless wreck. Here the destruction commenced. The Federal Arch parted her fastenings and became at once a total wreck. Lying below were the steamers Australia, Adriatic, Brunette, Paul Jones, Falls City, Altona, A. B. Chambers, and Challenge, all of which were torn away from the shore as easily as if they were mere skiffs, and floated down with the immense fields of ice. The shock and the crashing of these boats can better be imagined than described. All their ample fastenings were as nothing against the enormous flood of ice, and they were carried down apparently fastened and wedged together. The first obstacles with which they came in contact were a large fleet of wood-boats, flats, and canal-boats. These small fry were either broken to pieces or were forced out on the levee in a very damaged condition. There must have been at least fifty of these smaller water craft which were destroyed, pierced by the ice or crushed by the pressure of each against the other.
A DESOLATE SCENE.
“In the meantime some of the boats lying above Chestnut Street fared badly. The F. X. Aubrey was forced into the bank and was considerably damaged, the noble Nebraska, which was thought to be in a most perilous position, escaped with the loss of her larboard wheel and some other small injuries. A number of the upper-river boats, lying above Chestnut Street, were more or less damaged. Both the Alton wharf-boats were sunk and broken in pieces. The old Shenandoah and the Sam Cloon were forced away from the shore and floated down together, lodging against the steamer Clara, where they were soon torn to pieces and sunk by a collision with one of the ferryboats floating down. The Keokuk wharf-boat maintained its position against the flood and saved three boats below, viz., the Polar Star, Pringle, and Forest Rose, none of which was injured.
“After running about an hour the character of the ice changed, and it came down in a frothy, crumbled condition, with an occasional heavy piece. At the end of two hours it ran very slowly, and finally stopped about 5 1-2 o’clock P. M. Just before the ice stopped and commenced to gorge, huge piles, twenty and thirty feet in height, were forced up by the current on every hand, both on the shore and at the lower dike, where so many boats had come to a halt. In fact these boats seemed to be literally buried in ice.