The Mississippi River Pirates
The River Pirates of the Mississippi is a novel by the German writer Friedrich Gerstäcker (1816–1872), which was first published in 1848 and is almost a continuation of The Regulators in Arkansas (1846).
action
In the 1840s, the small town of Helena, Arkansas on the banks of the Mississippi River was bustling with activity. Farmers, hunters, trappers and traders come together there, as well as many boat people. Although steamships are already operating, a large part of the goods downstream is still transported in flat boats . A trip in such a clumsy box that only drifts with the current can be profitable, but it is also very dangerous on the rivers that are still unregulated. Many flat boats have crashes, often they even disappear completely without a trace. Nobody suspects, however, that a significant proportion of the alleged accidents are the result of a gang of criminals that has established itself a few miles below Helena on island number 61. From the outside, this island appears overgrown and inaccessible, but the tangle of fallen trees is partly artificially arranged and hides a small but well-fortified settlement, the headquarters of the pirates . In addition, the gang has helpers along the entire river system, some of them in very inconspicuous bourgeois existences, including police officers and public prosecutors. Worthwhile prey is already being scouted in the upper reaches of the rivers. Then gang members can be hired as pilots or rowers and ensure that the boats are stranded on the island at night and in fog, where they are looted and the crews murdered. The smart and cunning bandit Sander plays a special role . In changing identities, as a marriage swindler and legacy sneak, he also steals the victims' immobile property when the opportunity arises.
The pirates' leader is the charismatic Captain Kelly, feared for his brutal determination . He also leads a double life . He rarely shows up on the island and with his wife Georgine there ; he usually lives in Helena with his wife Hedwig as a popular and respected doctor, lawyer and justice of the peace Dayton . Thanks to this position, he cannot hide the fact that the immense expansion and ramification of the gang, which for a long time guaranteed their security and made treason almost impossible, is gradually becoming a risk. To counter this, he forges a plan to legally acquire a steamship and, of course, manned by pirates, to operate it as a parcel boat near the island so that at least the core of the gang and the stored loot can be found in the event of imminent danger Texas or Mexico can settle. But it is already too late. Suspicions that have long been perceived by individual urban and rural residents are growing, targeted investigations draw attention to the island, and finally armed men are called up. Dayton-Kelly can only sabotage these measures for a short time and hastily pull together the main part of his gang in Helena, then it comes to an open fight. It is true that the pirates hijack a steamship that happens to be anchored off Helena, and it almost seems as if they were able to escape, but the wild desperados cannot handle the machine, and a boiler explosion is their undoing.
As usual in the trivial novel of the 19th century, extremely improbable encounters and other coincidences continue to occur. Everything is in unexpected connection with everything, mysterious fates are still cleared up after a long time.
filming
- The River Pirates from Mississippi (D, F, I, 1963) directed by Jürgen Roland , with Hansjörg Felmy as Sheriff , Horst Frank as Captain Kelly, Sabine Sinjen , Karl Lieffen and others. a.