History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Volume 1 (of 2): Life and Adventures of Joseph La BargeChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Volume 1 (of 2): Life and Adventures of Joseph La Barge
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
La Barge, Joseph, 1815-1899; Missouri River -- History; Steam-navigation -- Missouri River
“Lead the way, and I will follow,” said La Barge, taking down his
rawhide and starting along with the constable. La Barge told the people
he met on the way to come and see the fun. In due course the trial came
off and La Barge was fined four dollars. He thanked the Justice, but
handed him eight dollars, saying that the fun was cheap at that price,
and he would give the fellow another dose. He then seized his whip and
started for him, chasing him out into the street, where he gave him a
second drubbing, to the great delight of the crowd, who stood around
shouting and setting him on.
[Sidenote: NOT A THIEF.]
Another incident, which occurred late in life, exhibits the sterling
integrity of the man who could withstand the temptations of wealth
rather than do the smallest act of injustice. About the time that the
elder La Barge was married he purchased from Joseph Morin, for the
sum of twenty-five dollars, a small tract of land on Cedar Street,
between Second and Third. Land was then of very little value, and
transfers were often made without deed and with no more formality than
in exchanging cattle or horses. In this way La Barge traded off his
lot on Cedar Street to Chauvin Lebeau for a horse, with which he moved
to his Baden farm, only recently purchased. Here, as already narrated,
he manufactured charcoal and hauled it to town, where he sold it to
Theodore Bosseron and Vilrais Papin, then the principal blacksmiths
of the village. Long years afterward, when these transactions were
almost forgotten, and the property had become very valuable, a lawyer
presented himself to the old gentleman and asked him if he had ever
owned any property on Cedar Street. La Barge replied in the affirmative
and described its locality. The lawyer then asked him when and how
he disposed of it. He could not at first recall, but Mrs. La Barge
remembered the circumstances and related them to the lawyer, at the
same time remarking to her husband that that was the way they got their
horse to set themselves up on the farm with. The lawyer then assured
La Barge that the title to this property was still in him, and that he
could hold it against all comers, for there was absolutely no record
of the conveyance in existence. The old gentleman, with a look of
indignation, asked the lawyer if he took him for a thief. “I traded
that land,” said he, “to Chauvin Lebeau for a horse, which was worth
more to me then than the land was. I shall stand by the bargain now.
If Chauvin Lebeau’s heirs have no title, tell them to come to me and I
will make them a deed before I die.”
Such are some of the glimpses we still have through the mists of time
of the father of Captain La Barge.
[Sidenote: MOTHER OF CAPTAIN LA BARGE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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