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931 Series I Volume XLI-I Serial 83 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part I

Page 931 Chapter LIII. EXPEDITION TO BAYOU GRAND CAILLOU, LA.

up and said she was the blockade runner. We also saw Mr. Wasser and Mr. Whitfield leave the house and take to the woods, Mr. Whitfield climbing a tree and with his glass was looking up the bayou. On landing in front of the house we went ashore, inquired for Mr. Wasser, and a strange man told us that he was in the woods chopping near by. We asked him to go for Mr. Wasser, which he did. Mr. Wasser came, looking somewhat surprised and alarmed. We inquired of him for Mr. Whitfield. He said that Mr. Whitfield was in the woods near by. We asked him to go and tell him that we wished to see him. Whitfield came, looking somewhat excited, with his glass in his hand. We asked him if he had been across yet; he replied no, and said that he had been waiting for the last three days for the wind to go down so that he could go across. We then asked him when he was going across; he looked somewhat excited and said he did not know. We asked him if he could get a cart and horse to bring a trunk of goods from Houma, as we had succeeded in getting them that far. He told us he thought not, as there was no horse and cart to be had. We then continued the conversation, talking over our former arrangements. He told us we had better wait until he went across and got us a permit to ship. After talking for some little time was saw three or four strange men coming in from around the house. Mr. Whitfield then proposed that we should stay all night, as it was getting late, and in the morning we would make some arrangement about getting late, and in the morning we would make some arrangement about getting our goods from Houma. I and my partner did not like the way things were going, so we thought we had better get away. We got into the boat and went up the bayou to Hancock's. While going up the bayou we looked on the other side and saw Battice Luke on horseback watching us. We landed our boat in front of Hancock's house, went ashore, and talked the matter over to ourselves. We saw that we were betrayed and had better do the best we could, so we told Hancock we were going up the bayou to Mr. Cornell's to see Jackson and try to get him to send to houma and get our trunk. Arriving at Mr. Cornell's and taking supper, we told Jackson, the overseer, that we were going up to Mr. Blanchard's to see him. Going up the bayou some two miles we thought they would be likely to follow us, so we took our horses back in the woods some distance from the road, then crept up in the grass close to the roadside. We had not been there long until three men rode by; they went a short distance above us and surrounded a house, but not finding us there they crossed the bridge and went up the bayou, and in about two hours they returned, going back down the bayou. We remained there until morning and then went up the bayou to Ernest Lambert's, and of him we borrowed a revolver; then went back to Hancock's again, and on arriving there we found no person at the house. We returned to camp again. This is a full statement of the facts connected with the detection.

In order that you may more fully understand the country and locality in which these smugglers live, I make the following statement: Mr. Hancock lives on Bayou Grand Caillou below Pelton's plantation; the locality of his house is such that it is impossible to get here either on foot or on horseback except by one road leading down the bayou. Mr. Wasser lives about one mile below Mr. Hancock's on the bayou, and it is impossible to get there except by water. Mr. Raymond Luke and brother, Battice Luke, live one mile below Wasser's, on the opposite side of the bayou, and it is impossible to get to these houses only by one road leading down the bayou. My opinion is, in order to arrest this band of thieves and smugglers it will be necessary to blockade the mouth of Bayou Grand Caillou so as to prevent them from going


Page 931 Chapter LIII. EXPEDITION TO BAYOU GRAND CAILLOU, LA.