This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
Are you one of those who harbors a secret desire to have a police officer jump into your passenger seat and cry "Follow that car?" There's an easy cure, as William Reinbeck, a businessman from Buffalo, Iowa, found out in 1888.
At the time, Reinbeck was learning to be a telegraph operator. One dark and misty night, Deputy Sheriff H. L. Jones showed up in Buffalo with a warrant for the arrest of a bad guy, who, rumor had it, had crossed the Mississippi over to Andalusia. Sheriff Jones deputized the local doctor and hired Reinbeck to row them both across the river in search of the criminal.
The chase had sounded exciting at first, but Reinbeck soon regretted his decision. The wind was blowing gale force and the waves were rolling high. Eventually, the three got safely across, found their man in bed in a hotel in Andalusia, arrested him, put him in the boat, and began the return trip.
Halfway across the Mississippi, the gale winds became the least of their worries. The prisoners had surrendered meekly, but now began to rock the boat back and forth threatening to upset it.
Quickly, Sheriff Jones drew his revolver and held it to the prisoner's head. "If you ever move again," he said, "I'll blow your brains out." The prisoner quieted down. The waves made it difficult to keep the gun pointed in the right direction, and almost impossible to keep just the right pressure on the trigger, but with this tense standoff, Reinbeck eventually rowed the boat back to Buffalo.
William Reinbeck later recalled this night as the most exciting of his entire life, but one such night was enough. Reinbeck made a vow "to make no offer of his services to join parties in search of criminals either on land or on water."
Reinbeck, the town doctor, and Sheriff Jones were not even able to claim bravery as their motivation and get some credit in the town annals. The three men shared a much more practical motivation. None of them how to swim.
Rock Island Lines is supported by grants from the Illinois Humanities Council, the Illinois Arts Council—a state agency—and by Augustana College, Rock Island.
