Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 277, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1912 — BROKE SHIP RECORD [ARTICLE]

BROKE SHIP RECORD

Captain of Liner Censured for Setting New Time. Commander of Steamer Illinois Tells How He Arrived Day Ahead of Schedule, and Is Shanghaied to Land Job. New York.—lt Is perfectly possible to “shanghai” a seaman and make him work on the land, although the possibilities appear never to have occurred to writers of sea stories. Anyway, it not only could happen, but it did happen, and Capt. Harry Harrlman, postmaster, and most prominent business man in Massapequa, Long Island, is the man to whom it happened. Captain Harriman followed the sea for over 40 years, rising from apprentice to the position of captain of one of the Red Star Line steamers. One day he came to Massapequa to visit his brother-in-law, who was employed by a real estate company here. While on his visit he got into conversation owner of the little store and postofflee, hear the railroad station. The storekeeper and postmaster expressed himself as being dissatisfied with the place, and yearned for the coming of some one who would purchase the store. In a spirit of fun the captain offered him an absurdly low price for the store —and the offer was accepted. Not willing to back out of his bargain, the captain closed the deal then and there and decided to install his wife as storekeeper and postmistress. He found that Massapequa’s rapid gyowth provided more work than his wife could attend to, so, with a leave of absence from the steamboat lina he is still at his little Massapequa store, selling postage stamps and potatoes, and occasionally hustling a bag of mail upon a train. ( The captain is going back to his first love, the sea, but he say»> when he brings to mind some of his amusing experiences as postmaster, he decides that work as postmaster In a Long Island village is almost as exciting as anyone could wish for. But, for all that, when Captain Harriman tells how he came to take up his work in Massapequa, he solemnlj insists that he was shanghaied into the job of being postmaster. Captain Harriman, whose last command was on the Illinois, the Red Star Line steamer which plies between Philadelphia and Antwerp, was a personal friend of Captain Smith of the ill-fated Titanic. On the day the Titanic sank, Captain Harriman and Captain Rogers, late of the steamship Frelssman, were planning a vacation in Maine on which Captain Smith was expected to accompany them. The Illinois, anyone can see, is the ship of ships in the eyes of the post-master-captain.

"That’s the ship that beat the f*hila-delphia-Antwerp record,” he said, with a grin and a chuckle, “but the company never seemed to approve of the way we beat it. It was the eightyfourth trip of the boat, and the weather was glorious —you wouldn’t find more favorable conditions for a trip in a lifetime. When I took my observations the second or third day, I found that we were about 16 hours ahead of the schedule. I called up the engineer ‘and he said that no extra amount of coal had been burned, and we decided if we didn’t have to use any extra coal, to boat the record —if we could.

“Anyway, we were due In Philadelphia on Monday and we steamed In on Sunday, 24 hours ahead of schedule. I had a thousand emigrants on board and no arrangements had been made to receive them before Monday —oh, we threw things into a merry mess. As I came into the- dock, I called out to Captain Fuller, our marine superintendent: “Where shall I go with this boat?”

“ ‘You can go to hades with her,’ he yelled back. ‘What business have you got in here today?’ "When I reported at the offices of the comjpany, they called me down for hringlnp the boat in so far ahead of time, but I showed them my orders to ‘proceed with all possible dispatch.’ although they didn’t seem to want orders carried out so literally.’’

TWINS REGISTER AT POLLS Have No Trouble In Proving They Are Old Enough to Vote —Are 93 Years of Age. New York.—“ William Muncy, 93 years old, born In Babylon, and have lived hereabouts all my life.” This was the substance of answers given by a voter at Babylon, L. I. As he stepped aside, another man, his duplicate In form and features, stood before the registry board. He said his name was James Muncy, and gave the same information regarding himself. The two men are the Muncy twins, said to be the' oldest twins,in the world. They walked from their farms at West Babylon to register, and afterward walked back, a distance of four miles. The remarkable pair were the center of attraction at the registering place.' They appeared to be in rugged health and mentally alert. When handed the blanks for enrollment they smiled at each other and placed a cross beneath the fountain emblem of the Prohibition party. Then, with a cheery good afternoon to the assemblage, they walked briskly atiray. For seventy years the twins have registered and voted together, seldom missing a year. Both have been farmers all their lives.