Besides such adventures as fighting with each other, and with the inhabitants along the river, these men had conflicts with robbers. There were many gangs of robbers living along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and they had places of resort known only to themselves. Some of the limestone cliffs abound in caves, and here the robbers generally had their concealment. They watched for the boats ascending and descending the river, sometimes fired upon them from the bank, and sometimes came out in skiffs to capture them. Many a boat, while quietly anchored for the night, has thus been attacked, and its crew murdered, and thrown into the river. The boat would then be drawn to the spot most convenient for the robbers, plundered of its contents, and set on fire; or it might be manned by a portion of the gang, taken to New Orleans, and sold.
Such an occurrence was not unfrequent, as a rapid passage down the river would enable them to sell the boat, and return again to their place of concealment, before the officers of the law could go in pursuit.
THE DAYS OF THE FLAT-BOATMEN.
There are many interesting stories in the robber history of the great valley. One was told to me, some years ago, by an old steamboat-man, who had worked in his younger days on board of keel-boats and “broad-horns,” as the flat-boats were generally termed, and are now to the present day. I give the story, as nearly as I can remember it, in his own words.
“There used to be a famous place for robbers on the lower part of the Ohio, down below Paducah. Many a boat has been captured there, and the men on board of it were never heard of afterwards. They were a desperate lot of fellows. These robbers did not mind killing a man any more than you would mind killing a rat. I shipped on board a broad-horn once, from Louisville, going to New Orleans. We had a load of pork and corn, and the captain of the broad-horn owned about half the boat and her cargo. We got along very well without any trouble until we got down to the place where these robbers were, and just there we ran on a sand-bar. It was a ticklish place. There we were stuck; the river was falling, and if it left us on the bar, we would have to stay there until the next rise—that is, if we did not die in the mean time. We worked away all the afternoon, and all night, but to no purpose. One after another, we had dropped off, and gone to sleep.
FIGHT WITH RIVER PIRATES.
“We were about a quarter of a mile from the shore, but the current was not very strong. Towards morning, when I was on watch, I heard some men on shore. A little while afterwards, I heard the sound of oars, and saw a boat coming out of a little creek just above us. By the sound of their oars I knew that the boat was coming towards us, and I waked everybody. The captain got out his own rifle and every rifle and pistol that was in the float, and prepared to make fight. When the boat got within fifty or sixty yards, and we could just see it through the mist, our captain yelled out to them to stop.
“‘Want to come aboard,’ said a voice from the boat. ‘We want to buy some pork and corn. We are camped here, and have got short of provisions.’
“‘Haven’t anything,’ said the captain; ‘not a thing. We have not a pound of pork or corn on board.’
“‘What have you, then?’ came from the boat.