July 26, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
111 
we have three versions of a barbarous spectacle 
which was perpetrated in the summer of 1827. 
He wrote that 13 “Scenes of a barbarous char¬ 
acter have, upon various occasions, been ex¬ 
hibited in this spot, for the purpose of collect¬ 
ing and amusing a number of people. In the 
summer of 1827, a small vessel, filled with ani¬ 
mals of different kinds, was sent down the Falls, 
in the presence of several thousand spectators. 
The unfortunate animals, consisting of bears, 
wolves, dogs, cats, geese, etc., covered the deck, 
and for a while looked at each other with sur¬ 
prise and fear, as if unable to account for this 
sudden and unusual association; but, when the 
bark struck against the rocks above the Fall, the 
confusion on board was beyond description, and 
in the midst of it a bear was shoved into the 
stream. Luckily he swam on shore, notwith¬ 
standing the rapidity of the current. The small 
vessel, meanwhile ran aground, lost its masts, 
and gradually filled with water. The poor ani¬ 
mals gathered on that part of the deck which 
was most elevated above the water, and in a 
second the whole party was precipitated down 
the Fall. Shattered fragments now appeared on 
the surface of the deep, and of all the animals 
only two were picked up alive—a cat and a 
goose. What cruel sport for an enlightened 
people!” 
Of this same incident, President Dwight, 
Jr., of Yale University, said that 14 “In the sum¬ 
mer of 1827 an old schooner, called the Michigan, 
was towed by a rowboat to the margin of the 
rapids, where she was abandoned to her fate. 
Thousands of persons had assembled to witness 
the descent. A number of wild animals had 
been inhumanely placed on. her deck, confined, to 
pass the cataract with her. She passed the first 
fall of the rapids in safety, but struck a rock 
at the second and lost her masts. There she 
remained an instant, until the current turned her 
round and bore her away. A bear here leaped 
overboard and swam to the shore. The vessel 
soon filled and sank, so that only her upper 
works were afterward visible. She went over 
the cataract almost without being seen, and in 
a few moments the basin was perceived all scat¬ 
tered with her fragments, which were very small. 
A cat and a goose were the only animals found 
alive helow.” 
“The Rapids begin about half a mile above 
the cataract. The inhabitants of the neighbor¬ 
hood regard it as certain death to get once in¬ 
volved in them. Instances are on record of per¬ 
sons being carried down by the stream; but no 
one is known to have ever survived. Indeed, it 
is very rare that the bodies are found. Wild 
ducks, geese, etc., are frequently precipitated over 
the cataract, and generally reappear either dead 
or with their legs or wings broken.” 
The last notice of this event and the last 
reference to be presented is that of Sir Francis 
Head. His comment follows: 15 “Some people 
in the neighborhood, who in their composition 
had rather more curiosity than mercy, subscribed 
a sum of money for the purpose of sending a 
vessel full of living animals over their watery 
precipice into a watery grave. As soon, however, 
as the unpiloted vessel reached the vicinity at 
which I had arrived, the sagacious bear, on see¬ 
ing the mist, felt exactly as I felt, namely, that 
there was danger ahead, and, accordingly, he 
jumped overboard; and being diagonally hur¬ 
ried down by the current, with great difficulty 
he reached the little island flourishing on the 
brink of the grave before him. The other ani¬ 
mals made similar attempts, but in vain; and 
this, on the vessel reaching the cataract, the only 
living beings that remained on board, and who, 
therefore, must have been devoid of the instinc¬ 
tive feelings which had ejected the rest, were 
those, who, having wings, had no need of it, 
namely, geese; but their brother biped, man, had 
cut their wings; and as they had no intuitive dis¬ 
position to escape, and could not fly away, they 
met the doom which had so unkindly been pre¬ 
pared for them. Several were killed; and al¬ 
though a few, by fluttering, preserved their lives, 
they were almost immediately killed for the sake 
of their feathers, which were sold to the human 
species as curiosities.” 
• BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
1. Fleming, James H. The Auk, Vol. XX\ , July, 
1908, pp. 306-309; XXIX, Oct., 1912, pp. 415-448. 
Savage, James. Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sciences, 
IX,’1908, pp 23-28. 
2. Kalin, Peter. In John Bartram’s Observations, etc., 
London, 1751, pp. 87, 88, 93. 
3. Rogers, Major Robert. A Concise Account of North 
America, etc., London, 1765, pp. 173, 174. 
4. Hare, Robert. Penn. Hist. Soc. Colls., Vol I, 
Phila., 1853, pp. 368. 
5. Weld, Isaac, Jr. Travels Through the States of 
North America, etc., Vol. II, London, 1799, pp. 
124, 125. 
6 . Volney. View of the Climate and Soil of the United 
States of America, etc., London, 1804, pp. 104, 
106, 107. 
7. Clinton, DeWitt. Letters on the Natural History 
and Internal Resources of the State of New 
York, 1822, pp. 202, 203. 
8 . Howison, John. Sketches of Upper Canada, etc., 
2d edit., Edinburgh, 1822, pp. 116, 117. 
9. Stansbury, P. A. A Pedestrian Tour of Two Thou¬ 
sand Three Hundred Miles in North America, 
New York, 1822, pp. 112, 113. 
10. Englishman, An. A Summary View of America, 
etc., London, 1824, pp. 11, 12. 
11. Beaufoy Tour Through Parts of the United States 
and Canada, London, 1828, pp. 101. 
12. Arfwedscn, C. D. The United States and Canada, 
2 vols., London, 1834, Vol. 11, pp. 318, 326. 
12. Hinton, John PI. The History and Topography of 
the United States, London, 1832, 2 vols., Vol. II, 
pp. 149, 150. 
14. Dwight, Theodore, Jr. The Northern Traveler, etc., 
6 th edit.. New York, 1841, pp. 54, 55. 
15. Head. Sir Francis. I he Emigrant, New York, 1847, 
pp. 132, 133. 
To a Trout. 
Hail, O flash of lightning! 
Fish thou never wert! 
Am 1 then so frightening 
That thou break’st my heart, 
And ere I near thee, quick away dost dart? 
Poised o’er patches weedy, 
Basking in the sun, 
Fat “Ephemeridae” 
Sucking in like fun, 
But oblivious quite of my Pale Olive Dun. 
Tasty nymph pursuing, 
Smutting, bulging, tailing; 
All to vex me doing, 
[And not often failing!] 
Then perhaps you’ll ask wherefore I am hailing. 
This I think the reason— 
We must have great skill 
If each day in season 
We our brace would kill, 
For most of us are striving at this object still. 
So hail, O flash of lightning, 
Flash more at my fly, 
And my basket brightening, 
G'adden yet my eye— 
Thou shalt be my favorite fish till the day I die. 
-—Olive Dun, in Fishing Gazette. 
Magna est Veritas 
By MIQUE WEBB 
O the old rock-dam, the old rock-dam, 
Where we fished in the June days gone, 
Where the game fish grew in the crooked slough 
And our life was a summer morn. 
We caught some few, and lied some, too, 
But the camera man came by 
And gave us a chance our friends to entrance 
With this photo to prove—no lie. 
John Hurt, in background, holding up shovel-bill cat—Hermitage, Term. George Henderson, with pipe in 
mouth—Hermitage, Conn. John Mogan & Son, holding second string—Nashville, Tenn. Morton Bros., holding 
first string—Room 7, City Hall, Water Works Department, Nashville, Tenn. 
This old rock-dam is in the Hermitage district, very near the grave of Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory), seventh 
President of the United States, in Davidson County, near Nashville, Tenn., on the Cumberland River. 
