Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 134, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1912 — Page 2

REAL ROMANCES OF THE SEA

by GEORGE JEANNATHAN

(Copyright, by the Ridgeway Company.)

7 fURIED away in the records of the American Seamen’s society, the writer recently discovered a report made by the Captain of the bark Anjou (2,069 tons) upon his arrival in Marseilles aboard the liner Ernest Simons iu 1906. sa! After a mysterious disappearance from the face of the earth for a period of many months, he reappeared. During this time not only had all trace of the captain himself been lost, but, alas, of the Anjou with her crew and twenty-five passengers. The scant, scenario-like report, unaI domed further, follows in the captain’s words: * “The Anjou, while on a voyage from Sydney to Falmouth, was wrecked on one of the Auckland group in the Pacific. We had ■left Sydney on flsssg January 20, and during a thick Tog and rough weather on February 4 the ship struck on a reef. The masts fell 'Sg§s|P^ and smashed some of the small boats, and there was a panic on board. "Fortunately all , escaped in the boats that remained whole, bat many * ■ Were only partly dressed and some not 1 at all. After a terrible experience in a . heavy gale, lasting for almost a whole day, we reached the shore of one of the deserted islands the following afternoon and, after a battle with the heavy sea, managed to drag our bodies up on to the land. “Naked and wounded, for what clothes We had had been ripped off, our bodies tom and bruised by being battered around, we looked like a band of phantoms marching on to the conquest of some infernal island. “Almost starved, we lighted a big fire with flint and attracted some seabirds Which we captured and ate. Making clothes for ourselves out of long grass and leaves, we started out to explore the island. After a search that lasted three days, some of our party discovered a rude shelter, showing that shipwrecked people had been there at some time before. "On the following days we killed, with rocks, a number of albatross and caught a quantity of shellfish, on which we subsisted. Also, we captured a small seacow, which proved to be decent eating. "As a chance of making our condition known, we caught three albatross alive and set them free with bark cardß tied around their necks, stating our plight in French and English- But day after day passed and help failed to come. ; "We resolved to make the best of our condition, because we feared —and rightly so—that we might be left on the inland for months, even years, before vfre could in some way or other attract the attention of a passing vessel. The vessels, we knew, gave the-" particular island we were on a very wide berth. “Sc we got- up a little government all of our own and called ourselves the ‘Ship-wrecked Kingdom.’ We had a sort of king, or boss, a cabinet of. advisors and all that sort of thing. Our ‘army’—or exploration party —was dispatched into the interior of the island and the ‘army,’ consisting of eight men, discovered some wild sheep. “On May 7, after we had been on the Island Kingdom for over three months, the New Zealand government steamer Hinomoa rescued us. This vessel had on board the two daughters of Mr. Mills, the New Zealand Minister of Commerce, who superintended most of the work of helping us back to our natural civilized state and, as a token of our gratitude, we gave them the cat that had been saved from the wreck of the Anjou and that had gone through all our troubles with us as mascot of our little Kingdom.’* At the end of the captain’s report, there la the Binrple statement that ten large vessels before the Anjou had been wrecked at the same spot during fifteen years, among them the General Grant with a loss of seventy-five ■-""lives. ~ ~ And there are scores of true tales like this that haye never come to the eyes of the great reading world, actual romances and dramas of the deep that rival the attempts of fiction. The Voyage of the Kerosene-Laden , “Thomllebank.” '• a ship’s fight against a storm, made r - .more exciting by the fact that some dynamite happens to be included in the cargo, is one of the favorite and stock devices of the sea-fiction writers. i What would you think of a story concerning a leaking clipper ship, with eighty-six thousand cases of kerosene ■ • and benzine aboard, that went through nplfcking storms, that was on the point of being smashed to pieces every other minute, and that was finally brought Ito port eight thousand miles away? She was saved only through the sleepless efforts of her starved crew, who (or two and one-half months guarded the shifting cargo against explosions night and day. E The clipper Tbornliebank, of Glasi. gow, Captain Smith, left Philadelphia : bound for Wellington, New Zealand, Iflujy. 1, H 43. It carried a cargo of •labiy-slx thousand cases of benzine

and kerosene. When the vessel reached latitude 41 south, longitude, 13 east, off Cape of Good Hope, on September 9, it encountered a cyclonic storm of such unabating fury that for days theTThornlfebank to go under. As the storm worked its havoc, the men were compelled to lash themselves to one another, after the fashion of Alpine climbers, to prevent their being sent overboard. Let us quote now from the plain, unvarnished record of the Thornliebank’s perilous trip. “In the evening the ship gave a sud-t-en lurch, plunged Into the seas and for a moment was submerged from stem to stern. Every one on board thought she was foundering and the sailors dropped on their knees and prayed. While the vessel was submerged, everything movable was washed overboard. “After a fine struggle on the part of the men, Captain Smith succeeded in keeping the ship off before the gale for safety, using oil from port and starboard and thus diminishing the force of the gigantic waves. After a day filled with awful dread, the weather began to moderate and the ship was put on her course again. The officers noticed soon after she had resumed her course that she was moving sluggishly, so the wells were sounded and it was found that there were eleven inches of water below. “After successfully battling with a terrific hurricane, to realize that death by drowning was still a matter of possibility nerved the crew to redouble their efforts to bring the vessel to a safe harbor. Slowly but surely the water was gaining. When the ship took the heavy plunge that carried away bier deck-house and smashed several skylights, she started some of her rivets. With the donkey-engine gone there was no other alternative than to use the hand pumps, and from that day, September 10, to November 29, they were kept going night and day—two and a half months’ of Incessant pumping. “Not for an instant were the pumps allowed to remain idle. With half the crew below decks working to keep the water down, the other half was laboring above decks to bring the vessel to safe harbor. On November 6 the Thornliebank rounded the South Cape and the course was shaped for New Zealand.” In other words, the sieve-like Tboraliebank was brought by tireless and fighting seamanship to her destinatioh after an eight thousand mile struggle with death. Here is another real tale of the sea. In actual sailor lore, they characterize the story as that of “The Fire Woman of the Sea.” The latter, concretely, was—or rather is, for thefy say she is still alive at the age of eighty-four and living in Massachusetts —Mrs. D. B. Bates, the widow of a Well-known American sea captain. She later mar-, ried Lieutenant James F. Hyde, of the United army. For years there was a superstition among American seamen that whenever Mrs. Bates went to sea a hoodoo fire was sure to break out on the vessel that carried her. According to the chornicles of the American Seamen’s society, Mrs. Bates had more narrow escapes from the hoodoo fires that pursued her than Kate Claxton ever dreamed of. Mrs. Bates always went to sea with her captain-husband. Their first trip was made in 1850, when her husbqnd was, in command of the Boston ship Nonantum. On July 27 Mrs. Bates left Baltimore on the Nonantum for San Francisco The ship’s cargo was a thousand tons of coal and a huge quantity of provisions listed for Panama. When the Nonantum reached the latitude of the Rio de la Plata flames broke out in the Hold and for twelve whole days Mrs. Bates, her husband and the rest of the crew stuck to the burning hulk and, by fighting desperately with the fire, finally managed to bring the vessel to the Falkland islands before the flames ate through its sides. ’ A mile fyom shore the fire conquered the fighters and the Nonantum began to fall apart as all bands got clear in the small boats. After weeks ot waiting, the party on the barren island were picked up by

the Dundee ship Humayoon, bound from Scotland to Valparaiso. The cargo of the Humaycon was also - coal and, when the vessel reached Cape Horn, the “Bates hoodoo”—as sailors always called it —got in its work again and the ship went up in flames. Mrs. Bates and the others on the ship were compelled to take to the small boats. The Liverpool ship Symmetry, bound to Acapulco, rescued them. / It was learned that the Symmetry was laden with coal, as the other two ships had been, and Mrs. Bates and the sailors gathered on deck and offered up prayer that the “Bates hoodoo” would pass them by this time. —— During the first three hours that Mrs. Bates was aboard nothing happened. But the crew of the Symmetry were so positive in their superstition that a fire would surely break out If she remained on the vessel, that Mrs. Bates and her husband were persuaded to transfer themselves to the Fanchon, that passed the-Symmetry on its course to San Francisco. The Fanchon, Mrs. Bates. learned to her hop ror, was also laden with coal. On Christmas night, several days later, when the Fanchon, was twelve hundred miles from land, the usual hoodoo-fire came about as sure as fate. Halt of the crew was quickly ordered to go below and fight the flames and Mrs. Bates, donning sailor’s clothes, gave the men her assistance, remaining below on watch for two days after the fire had been extinguished. Five days later the Fanchon struck the rocks of the Galapagos Islands and Mrs. Bates was one of those who was hurled overboard by the shock of collision. Three hours after she reached the shore —her life having been saved by the merest chance —the flames burst out on the Fanchon once more and one hour later the vessel was a black ruin. After living for weeks as Crusoes on the island, the shipwrecked colony was rescued by a passing bark. Mrs. Bates was then transferred to the steamship Republic, carrying four hundred passengers. Five days out, the old hoodoo again asserted itself. Another fierce flight with fire was in order, but this time with little damage. In short, fire followed Mrs. Bates ns a shadow, not only for years on sea, but on land as well. Shortly after her arrival in San Francisco that city suffered one its greatest conflagrations. Six months later the hotel in which Mrs. Bates -was stopping in Marysville was destroyed by fire and Mrs. Bates narrowly escaped death. The records even show that In 1890, in Plymouth, Mass., the house In which she was living burned and Mrs. Bates was nearly killed. Mrs. Bates, “the fire woman of the sea,” is regarded by American sailors ,as the most extraordinary escaper from death that they have ever encountered. Four Strange Tales of the Sea. The sailors and records reveal hundreds of similar unknown sea tales of fact that vie with the fiction book--1 shelves. # For instance, there is the story of a pitched battle that occurred in 1858 aboard one of the convict sailing ships bound for England to Australia, a battle that lasted two whole days. There is the story of the captain of the bark L. A. Van Romondt, bound for Cuba from Nova Scotia. The captain had just married a young girl in Nova Scotia and thought the voyage to China would be his honeymoon trip, Before that honeymoon trip was ended, twenty-six days later, wrecks and transfers Isad placed .the bride successively on vessels carrying the Dutch, Cuban, Norwegian, American, Mexican and Italian flags. Then there is the story of the stranding ofthe^TL-S^L-Wateree T .-Captain L. G. Billings, U. S. N., on August 8, 1868, by a Chilian earthquake; of the frightful battle with the huge guns thifipf broke loosi in the storm preceding the stranding and crashed back and forth across the decks; of the subsequent fight on the part of the officers to bring the panicky crew to discipline; and of final carrying of the ship by the earthquake two miles inland and the depositing of the vessel at the base of a coast range of the Andes. ‘ ; As the sailors say, “All truth may not be stranger than fiction, but you can bet your marlin spike sea troth is!” j ; 7 What would you say?

TO MAKE MOUSSES CANDY

Recipe That Comes Direct From Louisiana, the Home of This Delicious Confection. Louisiana Is rightly the home of molasses candy, for it was right hero (where sugar was first raised in the United States, and molasses, sweet and health giving, was first given to the world) that molasses candy, or “candle tire,” as the Creoles call it, had its birth. “Candie tire” parties, or molasses candy pullings, were among the pleasurable incidents of life among the early belles and beaux. Take one quart of molasses, one tablespoonful butter, one pound granulated sugar, two tablespoonfuls vinegar, onehalf teaspoonful soda and the juice of one lemon. Boil the molasses and sugar until it becomes thick when dropped Into water. Add the vinegar, lemon and butter. Boil until -it hardens when dropped Into water, stir in a small half teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda, and pour fnto buttered tins, and as soon as it begins to cool, sufficiently, pull until white. Moisten the handß, while pulling, with ice water or butter. The sticks may be single, twisted, braided or flattened, according to taste.

MAKING FRUIT FILLED CAKE

New Recipe With Full Instructions That Make Success Within Reach of Amateur. For the layers, cream one-half pound of butter and one pound of sugar, add six well-beaten eggs, one pound and one ounce of flour, one-half pint of milk and two even teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Beat vigorously and bake in round jelly cake pans. For the filling boil one pound of sugar with water enough to dissolve it until It threads. Pour slowly into the whites of four eggs, which have been beaten to a stiff froth, beating steadily all the time. When all the syrup has been consumed add one-quarter pound of shredded citron, one-quarter pound chopped figs, one-half pound of raisins, seeded and cut fine, and one pound of blanched and chopped almonds, stirring the fruit into the icing gradually. When all has been thoroughly blended, spread between, the layers and on the top and sides of the cake. As this is rich hake It should he cut into small slices and served with fruit punch.

FOLDING TABLE MOST HANDY

Is Great Convenience in Bmall Apartment When Space Must Be Economized. For the small apartment where every Inch of space must be econolzed, there Is no piece of furniture to equal the folding table which When closed may be placed almost flatly against a wall. When opened this table shows a flat surface covered with baize or morocco, on which a tea tray may be set or a four-handed game of cards he played. Through its center this top is invisibly binged and has two flat lids, one of which, when raised, discloses a shallow box containing an entire sewing equipment The other side Is fitted with a complete writing desk set in addition to a blotter pad next to which are sunken grooves for pens and pencils and at the two upper comers wells for ini and paste.

Poke Weed Salad.

Just as soon as the common poke weed begins to project its stout stem above the ground and open its leaves, it is in condition for an ideal spring salad. Only the tenderest tips of the weed should be used and these should be cleansed and cooked like any other green. Drain and pack the cooked vegetable into individual cups, and when it Is cold, turn out the molded forms and serve with French dressing or mayonnaise on lettuce leaves. Pokq weed is also delicious used like spinach. Its flavor, reminds some persons of asparagus.

Tomatoes and Cheese.

Delicious are rounds of croutons—bread fried to a golden brown in butter, spread thickly with anchovy paste sprinkled with finely chopped pimentos. Another spread is a very thick stew of tomatoes, almost the consistency of a paste, sprinkle with grated cheese of the ordinary American variety. The tomatoes should be highly seasoned and quite rich with butter. If hot chocolate is liked at tea time the flavor Is improved by adding a drop of vanilla or a dash of brandy.

Mexican Spaghetti.

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a granite saucepan. When hot add four ounces of spaghetti, broken small, half an onion chopped fine, a teacupful of canned tomatoes, half a teaspoonful of salt and a little cayenne pepper. Stir till slightly browned and then add a. large cupful of hot water and simmer till the water i» absorbed and the spaghetti tender.

Boiled Salad Dressing.

Cream three level tablespoons of butter with a level teaspoon of mustard, a saltspoon each of salt and paprika, add the yolks of two eggs beaten and pour on one-half cup of vinegar. Set in a doable boiler and cook until thickened. Cool and add one cap of beaten whipped cream.

Faded Shades.

When green shades hare become faded, they can be renewed by rubbing them with a sag squeezed oat of liu* seed 08. '/ ' . ’''

CARIBOU MIGRATION IN NEW FOUNDLANO

ONCE more I found myself in Newfoundland watching from my blind for the elusive caribou. The day before yeßter--—-——nay; while paddling up the river, I saw several small lots of caribou; and this morning, while cooking my solitary breakfast, a herd of fifteen swam across the river and landed on the bank directly opposite my camp; so it looks as though thd migration, for which I have long waited, has really begun, writes A. Radclyffe Dugmore in Country Life. Yesterday I repaired the blinds, which I have used each year, and built a couple of new ones on very promising leads, so I feel that I am ready for my friends wheiTHltey come. My blind, or gaze, as the Newfoundlanders call it, Is a simple affair compose*! of * about a dozen small fir trees stuck securely into the bog, arranged in a circle, open at the southern end. On the north side facing the leads the branches are cut atfay, leaving an opening through which the camera protrudes. The selection of a desirable site for the blind is of the greatest importance; it should control as many leads as possible, the prevailing direction of the wind must be considered, the sun must be from the back, the background should compose well, and there should be no obstructions in the foreground. Inside the blind everything should be arranged so that no dry twigs will rub against one’s clothing, for the slightest noise may cause the loss of a picture. A numhev of well-worn leads or paths pass on each side of the blind I have made, some only a few feet away, others two or three hundred feet. All the conditions are such that If the caribou come I should be almost certain to get pictures. The day wears on’, but not a caribou comes, I have been doing some sketching, but the cold wind makes the work very trying. The afternoon is particularly dark and unpleasant, and as it is nearly four o’clock I will head for camp without having used a single plate. On my way down the river two small herds crossed far ahead of me. In a New* Blind. Another day. Since eight o’clock this morning I have been in the same blind, but without accomplishing anything. In the. distance I have heard the splashing of animals crossing the river; why it is none comes along these fine leads is difficult to understand. Before returning to my camp I shall examine the banks find out what leads are being used. Yesterday’s search showed that the caribou are using 1 the leads below my camp, quite a number having crossed the river during the past few days; so this morning finds me in a new blind on the south side of the river. Unfortunately, the wind is blowing so hard that it is impossible to i hear any animals entering the water. , Therefore it is all the more necessary that I keep my eyes opened. For two hours I have been waiting and my hands and feet are becoming numb, so I must get up and start the blood circulating; but wait! there is a caribou. It proved to be only a doe and her fawn, a beautiful pair, almost entirely clothed in their winter coat of silvery white. They came along at a quick walk heading directly toward me, closer and closer until within forty feet or so. Owing to the lack of light It was impossible to make a picture of them walking, so that, as soon as everything was ready I gave a sudden shout. They stopped immediately, and as they looked about with a surprised expression the shatter clloked with a noise that revealed my position and off the pair went at full gallop. This little excitement helped to warm me up; but the cold is getting more and more intense and the sky becomes still more heavily obscured with cold, lead-colored clouds. Bad weather is coming, without doubt. If only It would, snow there would be no lack of caribou. Even While I am writing occasional snowflakes fly past, stinging hay faae. Further writing is impossible todajr. At intervals daring the nigh, flurries of hard snow blew against my tent, yet all together there was scarcely enough to whiten the ground. Good Chance With Camera. ‘ The day broke dull and gray, but before nine o’clock the sun came out. Now if the caribou would only come. The light is ggpd and there is little wind, so that any animals crossing the xieer ean be easily heard. Suddenly the stillness of the morning was broken py repeated sounds of splashing

CARIBOU ON MIGRATION

in the river. Caribou had crossed and landed close to where my canoe was hidden. Fortunately, they kept clear of imy trail. It was only a small herd, but they came within range and I made two exposures. Scarcely had I reloaded the camera than another and larger herd came Into view; What a superb sight they presented as they walked with fjuick steps along the lead which would give me the best chance with the camera. So quiet was the morning that the curious clicking of their feet sounded unusually clear. Here was the chance for which I had been waiting six long yearß, the combination that I knew was bound to come some time —good light and a large enough herd Off absolutely unsuspicious caribou. It was really worth waiting for, and my heart beat so hard with excitement that it seemed as though the approaching an- . imals must hear it. With almost fe- { verish haste each part of the camera was carefully examined to see that the shutter was set correctly, the proper diaphragm in place, the slide drawn and so forth. All of thlß occupled but a second or two. However, the animals were almost in range by the time I had made shre that everything was in readiness. If only a stag had been leading; but that seldom happens. In fact, only three times have I seen It First came a doe and her fawn, then three young stags and another doe, followed by a fair stag; but the largest one was, of course, the last*of the line. That is the rule, and that is why it is so very difficult to photograph them. On they came, and I watched them closely as they grew larger and larger on the ground-glasß of the camera; but at the moment when they almost covered the entire plate I pressed the shutter release, the picture was made, and the herd had gone before another plate could be put into position.

VOODOO DOCTOR AT WORK

Chanting of Magic Words Supposed to Reveal the Cause of - When the doctor arrived the girl was brought out of the hut and laid on the ground in front of him. Then he asked for a white chicken. After considerable search one was found and brought to him. They are hot common herb. He killed it and caught the blood in a gourd. All the mem* bers of the family were seated on the ground in a eircle. The gourd cup was passed from one to another, and each one drank some of the blood. It is very important that no member of the family be missing. If any one becomes a Christian that breaks the circle and "‘greatly interferes with the “fetish.” Next, the doctor rummaged in his medicine basket and selected such things as might have some effect on the “spirits” which were plaguing the girl. Bits of filthy cloth, scraps of the skins of animals, shells, pieces of bone and horn, pebbles and sticks were spread out on the grouhd. Finally, some goat horns were found in the collection. These were laid in a line ready for use. The girl had complained of pains in her arms. The cause of these must be found and removed, then she would get well. So the “divining" began. Magic words were chanted and mumbled over and over again by the doctor, while he swayed back and forth and made mystic motions with his head and hands. All the time he was intently watched by the circle of relatives on the ground and the lookers-on from the village, who stood around them. At last it was revealed to the diviner that the cause of the pains was “caterpillars crawling under the skin of the arms” of the girl. With a knife he then made cuts in her arms, and over each one planed one of the goal homß and drew blood into it. By this “cupping” process considerable blood was drawn, and the girl was made much weaker. She was now taken back into the hut, the doctor packed up his medicine basket with great deliberation and impressiveness, took his pay and departed. But the girt did not Improve.—The Christian Herald. ‘ :

“At least, Miss Kitty, whom you talk so much about, is consistent." “Then if she is, when she wears the willow for the rich young man she's after, she ought to wear a yussy wifc low, for she's such a cat."

A Mean Conclusion.