Jasper Weekly Courier, Volume 56, Number 15, Jasper, Dubois County, 30 January 1914 — Page 3

ennr HAPPENINGS

I N

HANTOMS of the deep strange shape that come in the darkness on mis sions of terror and death these are among the visions that haunt the brain of ever f old sailor man. It Is wLen the few remaining sailing vessels comp into port from their long voyages that these

tale are usually forthcoming. Th bark Annie M. Reid of New York is the last essel to bring in a tale of mystery. "Wip were standing by the mizzen topsail halliards whn the shackle broke the yards crashed down," said the sailor who told vhe story "We rame up into the wind and hove to and it was at that moment that we saw the strange trader at least we thought it was a trader, probably to the Western islands, off which we were. We signaled for help, for we did not know how we were coming out of the squall. The strange steamshipa tramp we took her to be was not more than an eighth of a mile away, but she made no reply whatever and kept right on her course. If there had been anybody alive on the tramp he certainly would have seen us, as there was no fog to interfere. There are only two things to think of, either every soul on board was dead or we had seen oce of those phantom ships they tell about. It

couldn't have been a warning of death, however, for we came out of it all right." A ship that sails by in the moon'Jght and does not answer when spoken, nor show any light of sign of life on board, is an even stranger apparition of the deep than those many phantom vessels which have loomed upon the sight of sailor men from out the fog or darkness. The crew ol the Hengist, out of Liverpool, Captain Thearston of Liverpool in command, once saw such a specter. C'apt. J. C. Norton, who was first officer of the bark Hengist. when the phantom shin passed her by, tells the story of the weird vision: "It was in the Indian ocean that we saw her the strange ship that I have never forgo' ten," said Captain Norton. "We were out of Calcutta, bound for New York, and although th r.was a haze the moon shone and the haze was so light that we could

DC periectly well across the water. The haze was just enough to make a nice, pretty silver;- veil that made everything look sort of mysterious and interesting without closing us in at all There were no lights on the vessel and we couldn't see a soul on board We spoke to her, but she dfdnt answer. She passed right under our stem about a biscuit's toss away, and we thought she was going to foul us. She va3 so near that we cöuld feel the wind of her sails as she passed.

not a sign did she make to all signaling just sailed away into hazy moonlight. Next day we a terrible gale, one of the worst I remember while I was at sea.

j

i

but our the had that

and everybody thought the phantom ship had come to give warning. Way we should have been favored I don't know: but. of course, there is always reason why those ships are seen by one vessel and not by others. Some-

had run down a ship in a fog. The ship had gone down with all on board before anything could be done to save them, and this man had seen the last of her crew leaning over the side and cursing at him horribly, just before he was sucked into the water. " He promised to find me out and to do for me wherever I should go,' said the shuddering wretch, 'and he'll do it, too. I look for him every night and I know he'll get me before long.' "I warned him to keep quiet about his tears and not mention his story to Captain Stebbins nor to any of the crew, for as luck would have it, with such a captain, we had on board about as superstitious a lot as I have ever seen. Italians most of them, and so bound to tell their stories of apparitions that the captain had already caught one of them at it and had him flogged as an example to the others.

"My man didn't look any more contented as the days passed and I caught him more than once whispering with some of the Italians. I asked him what they were talking about and at first he mumbled that it was nothing, but at last he admitted that the sailors had several of them seen strange sights during the night watch.

They all decided that again and again they had seen a figure with wildly waving arms appear from the dark ness. The man was always cursing

horribly, but he was gone in a second 1 that night,

and they could not tell exactly what he said. "I tried to comfort Gould with the Idea that since tne man had not appeared to him there was no reason that he should regard the apparition as that of the man he had run down, but he would not let this ease his mind in the slightest. It was just the night after our conversation when he was on watch that the climax of the thing came.

on

simplj to give a friendly warning. There was one man on board who heüeved that our phantom ship came to warn us of the gale because her captain had been a friend of our own captain and when his ship went down with all on board he continued to haunt the sea. Naturally, as he felt friendly, he would show himself or his ship before a siorm. I can't say I believed all that myself. All that I know was that the phantom ship did eome just as I've described it." One of the most thrilling tales of the fateful appearance of phantom ships is told by a retired first mate, who in his youth said under Capt. John Stebbins on the steel tramp Marietta, bound from Madeira to Brazil. "Captain BU bbins was a bluff, direct, matter-of-fact person." said the mate, and he had little tolerance for what he declared was merely superstition, so the crew were not apt to speak over loud of their supernatural experiences That they had them, however, was sure enough, and as I

was a nit more approachable th?n most men in my position, they weiv very wont to tell their stories to me. "There was one fellow among them named Gould, whom I could not help watching because of the strained and almost hunted ,look on his face. I mad' friends with him on purpose to pet at the reason for his queer look and cum day when I caught him white and shuddering en the forward deek I got it out of him. lt seemed that a couple of year;; te.Vre n had been on the bridge of passenger vessel running between KlBgftOfl and New York when thev

I heard a terrific acraam fvm

times they mean harm for everybody i bridce. and so did evrvwv

hoard, and sometimes they come hoard T w th fw r, k,.

- " w mmm writ l S IU1C UU L the poor fellow, who was whiter than any human being I have ever seen, could not tell me what had happened before Captain Stebbins had run up on the bridge and was shaking him. declaring that he had a relapse of th fever, which we all knew he had suffered after coming off the voyage when he had run down a vessel. "The fellow had been too much startled, however, this time to be managed even by Captain Stebbins. " 'I did see him,' he declared, 'and he was cursing and waving his arms at me just as he did when he went down. The ship came up just like it did before out of the fog. There it was all of a sudden a great gray thing, and there was he waving his arms and screaming curses at rap. And then we kept right on, running straight through the ship.' "That was all of it, and so far as I know he never saw the apparition again and he had no more hard times than fall to the lot of most sailors. Hut here was the remarkable part of the thing. If he had been the onlv one to know that anything strange had happened, then you might think it just the figment of a brain over-

wii'iim wun lever. Hut It wasn

I CP' Tfhndnc'c

:inu crew runnms to hs do Tnct

the time when he saw the phantom ship and as our own vessel went through it. every man on board felt

c Tiuiiai sensation, it was

thing like

New York and Liverpool, that a specter appeared with such persistency that for a long time, until the vision vanished forever, no member of the crew ever consented to make a second voyage. The Nottebohm was one of the old Liverpool packet ships, which carried steerage passengers as well as freight. During one of her previous voyages the captain and several of her crew had had a terrific struggle, in the course of which the can-

tain had been so injured that he had died as a result of his wounds. No matter what the skeptical might say, crew after crew which shipped on tho Marianne Nottebohm after this tragedy left the vessel at the end of the voyage swearing that every night a spectral figure appeared from the pilot house and wandered over the vessel, seeking everywhere apparently for something or somebody. There was a terrific storm one night and the apparition was for once in a way pretty well forgotten In the more pressing perils of the moment The night was very black and no one

reit any too secure as they slipped on through the darkness. Suddenly they felt the ship come about so swiftly that they knew something strange must have happened. Tnusual as it was," said Capt. F. C. Norton, who tells the story, "we could not ston to find out about it

for every man was too

hot on his own part of the wor'i to pay much attention to any other's. "After everything was all over and we could take time to talk about it the next day the helmsman told us that a spectral figure he bad at first thought to be the captain had stood beside him, showing him how to lay

his course. It was not until the helmsman had handled a charm his daughter had given him that he discovered his visitor was a spirit. The power of the wraith was broken at

that and the helmsman nut about just in time to avoid an uncharted reef the spectre had evidently been guiding him onto. "Rut the Swede and his Italian mate must have seen something of the vision that night, also, for in the morning they looked like dying men and they could not be persuaded to ship again for ;he next voyage. Afterward we heard that they had been members of the crew which attacked the former captain of the Marianne. No doubt the murdered captain came back looking for some of his old assailants and when he found them sought to drive the vessel on the reef."

Cecil Rhodes's Eggs, Cecil Rhodes used to take a coop of hens on board to provide fresh eggs on his numerous voyages between England and South Africa. Bui. those were three weeks' journeys, and not a mere five-day crossing of the Atlantic. Hence another prominent South African personage was asked why he did not follow Rhodes's example" and provide himself with the luxury of newlaid eggs at sea. 4Oh. I don't bother to take a coop of fowls on board.- he replied, "hut I tip the hOS U T1 Wild 1 rkb m nfn DL.J

only his scream that hmnnht t . nens.

ti.-.u i kivi rviiooes s ef-c '

INDIANA

An Old Man Wearing Army Button Shines Shoes WASHINGTON. Have you seen him? And did you have to swallow a lump? ft Maybe you have missed him, so far. for he doesn't stay put. Mis business requires circulation. And, besides, you can't stay still in No Tiber

when you have no overcoat. You've just nat ally got to keep going. Yesterday he was down by the soldiers' monument an army button on his coat and a shoe brush in his hand waiting and waiting until Providence came by in the shape of a man with one of those loud, cheery voices that God gives to many men, but which only Dickens could describe. . "Why, bless my soul! Where did you get that old kit? Give me a shine. - He put a foot on the small shoe-shine box. Remember when the kiddies used to shine 'em up on the streets? Gee, its a long time back! And the other man creaked his joints into a crouch and proceeded to put on a polish. ,

To a woman who had happened along it did not seem probable that a customer wearing as good clothes as a tailor can make would really enjoy having his shoes smeared over with blacking that you can bet your life wasn't Day & Martin's, or that he wanted them scratched up with a cheap brush by a wavering hand. Still, you can't always rely on the sex supposings of a spinster soul whose only knowledge of man has been of the mail note the spelling, please mail correspondence variety. Anyhow, whatever his reason, the man put one foot and then the other on the box and told the other man about how he used to be a bootblack before the shoeshine kiddies vanished with the coming of the asphalt. Atid did it pay? And wouldn't it be better to get something more profitable and sheltered from the weather a watchman's place, for instance? Any man who had fought for a flag ought to be fit to guard a store. The woman had to leave them there, so that she can never know how the job turned out. but

If you don't come across an old man with a gone-by shoe box on his back, waiting around for a chance to shine 'em up, you may know that he's got a job as a watchman.

Congressman Finds His Boyhood's Wish Fulfilled

REPRESENTATIVE CLAUDE WEAVER of Oklahoma finds in his coming to congress the fulfillment of a wish expressed ever since he was nine years old. At that age he began his dairy with the statement that he was hours on his hands, decided to go out in the

suburbs and rehearse his oration. He selected a secluded spot on the road along which ran a long, high brick wall, with a gate at the end. Weaver did not know it, but this was the state lunatic asylum. Up and down the road he paced, talking most vehemently, gesticulating wildly to an imaginary determined to be one of the nation's representatives. And ever since then he has worked with this object in view. Weaver settled in Oklahoma when there were few white people living there. But in one of his trips In Texas, to deliver a political speech, he had an adventure which seemed at the time much more serious than it does now. He reached the town to which he was billed and, as he had a few

audience, shaking his head and pounding one hand upon the other, who passed shook their heads sadly.

Presently, as he neared the great iron gate, four uniformed men rushed out. grabbed him by the arms and legs and carried him, kicking and fighting, inside the grounds. Weaver, choking with rage, demanded an explanation of such an outrage. "Aw. g wan!" chortled one of the brawny guards, setting Weaver on his feet with a jerk. "What you handing us we knows you is one of them bugs outen ward C." "Lunatic!" yelled Weaver, who now saw into what spot he had landed. "Lunatic? Why, I am a politician and expect to go to congress!" "Well," drawled the guard, with a grin, "I don't know but what you've got to just the same kind of place now!"

Senator Went to Capitol Only Half Dressed y HEY are telling this story on John R. Thornton, senator from Louisiana: Thornton arose absent-mindedly, dressed himself fully, he thought, and went into the dining room of his hotel for breakfast. The head waiter

grinned at him a bit. but the senator, who was in a hurry, failed to notice it. He just caught a street car bound for the capitol and plumped himself between Postmaster General Burleson and Edward Keating, representative from Colorado. "See you're dressed for hot weather," commented the postmaster. Senator Thornton, attired in white linen, nodded his head complacently. "Yes," he said; "we of the south learn to do that." And he wondered why his hearers smiled in an embarrassed manner. When he reached the senate office building the elevator man said: "Good morning, senator. I see you're prepared

for the heat." This rather puzzled Senator Thornton, for he always wears linen In sum-

The explanation of it all came when his son Gordon, who is also his

saw him.

his office. "What

oyner. has held will fcM

People

(WHERE' YOUR

9

som-

Had Right to Select Place. "Hobby, my son." exclaimed the if mayed mother as she saw all her boy's b longiners stacked in n ,.r X

an earthquake and snmr. u-h t ... . .

thine like the shnelr that f-i. i T . . . 1 irieu an over

e , "l 's, loaie lO team vou that VOll should hn from runn nc a vfPi , ' . M,u ha

- - "' piace ior everytninr? "Yes

TT1 iari,,nm wot- said the boy cheerfulh tebohm. a freighter sailing between th place.-

ve a

mother."

"and this ig

GLOW WORMS ANESTHETiCS

I

before h begins to feast the glow worm administers an anesthetic writ, i Henri Pabn in the Century. He chloroforms his victim, rivaling In the process the wonders of !:ixer;i NffftTf, which render the patient int nsible before the surgeon operates in him. The usual game is a small nail, hardly the ize of a fhtiry .which In hot weather collects g Juaters on the stiff stubble and other

re-

long, dry stales by the roadside

maining there motionless, in profound

mvuKBUOB. throughout the scorching I mmmmt days tt is in some such restIng place as this that I have often

: en privileged to light

lamp ris lieh 1h

shaky fices Rut

banqueting on t

upon the

rves. He frequents the ed-es of the Irrigating ditches, with their cool soil, their varied vegetation, c favorite haunt of the mollusk. Here he treats the game on the ground and. under these conditions, it is easy for me to rear him at home and to follow the operator's performance down to the smallest detail.

had

support

ne prey

just paralysed on it b hi.s uruical arti-

ho is familiar with

Or You Miy Go Hungry. rm't trust the fellow nh

- "uu nam? ii borrow money for breakfast with the other pr I promise of taking you out t; dinner.

mer.

secretary,

"Say, father," he yelled as Senator Thornton entered

on earth did you do with your collar?" Thornton grabbed at his neck wildly. He had on neither collar nor tie. He hustled his son back on the hotel for the necessary articles of raiment and then sat down and wrote apologies to both the postmaster and Mr. Keating, telling them that he hadn't intentionally gone downtown in the street car with them half dressed; it was only an oversight. I intend to talk to that waiter in the hotel," he moaned, sadly. "Why didn't he tell me I was only half dressed

Representative Slemp Finds an Agent of Cupid REPRESENTATIVE BASCOM SLEMP of Virginia was until recently a bachelor. A few years ago, however, when he was "heart whole and fancy free," he was speaking to a large assembly at a political gathering. The audience was full of handsome women and pretty girls

who were, of course, much interested in the tariff when it is explained by a young bachelor who lived in official Washington. Slemp got along famously, carrying with him the sympathy of the crowd. Hut at last a fellow in a back seat rose to make a statement "1 like Slemp," he roared. "Slemp's all right. The only thing I have agin him is that he is not married. Now, I propose to this honorable gathering that we refuse to vote for him unless he promises to git married." Slemp was equal to the occasion. "I acknowledge my desolate state," he exclaimed, "yet it is not my fault, but that of the fair ones who will not have me. If thre is any one among the many lovely ladies in this audience who will

accept my heart and hand. I am only too w illing to be led to the altar " The man jumped to his feet agaiu excitedly. "No, you don't." he exclaimed. "You 11 have to go to foreign parts to git your brideall the girls around here have got too much sense to take you!"

YMJU CO TO

t4T

1 m

Shirley - Samuel Hariley committed suieide by shooting Himself

KeniallMlle. D. A. G. board of health secretary the office for 23 years. Springport An election

held here soon to determine the question of incorporating as a town. Nashville.- Brown county Imoerats will hold their primary to name a county ticket January 24. Evansv-He Mr. and Mrs Anthony Srhu have celebrated their golden weeding anniversary.

Bedford. A committee has been named to draft a constitution and bylaws for the lawren County Historical association. Bedford. Leroy Stevens has sued the Ohio & Western IJme company for $10.000. alleging injuries while In its employ. Terre Haute Oswald DeRossy a Porto Rican student at a xet.-rinary college, homesick, shot and killed himself in his room here. WaynetoMn Walter Harvey has suer the T. H.. L & E Traction company for $10.000. alleging injuries when run down by a car last summer Petersburg Hurley Cleman. twenty years old. who has disappeared from his home here, is said to have passed a number of worthless checks Nashville. James M. Moore, sixty eight years old, is in jail on compiaint of his wife, who says he attempted to shoot her. Cromwell. James Burwell, Jr.. baa filed suit for $1.00 for injuries sus

tamed when he was run down by an auto driven by Albert Addis. Evansville First District Progressives will hold their convention here January 20. Charles Finley Smith) will probably be re-elected chairman. Petersburg Pike county commissioners have elected Will Chew roal superintendent; Dr. E. Hell of Winslow, health board secretary, and S. W Dillin, attorney. Sullivan. Numerous robberies hav caused the employment of a night patrolman. Merchants have been ordered to maintain a light in the rear of their stores. Evansville. Friends of William Wilson, serving a penitentiary term for shooting William Walters of Paducah. Ky., will ask his pardon at the next meeting of the board. Covington The Fountain county commissioners have appointed former Commissioner James A. Copeland road superintendent the position paying five dollars a day. Terre Haute Sales of Red Cross seals in Vigo county aggregated $1.550, according to the report of Helen Renbridge, who had charge of the distribution. BlurTton. Wells county commissioners have chosen John E. Markley road superintendent and George Hoch

as county attorney to succeed Frank C. Dailey. appointed I'nited States district attornev.

Brazil. Lewis McNutt entertained

the Clay County Bar association at a banquet in honor of his father. Judg James A. McNutt, celebrating the lat ter's seventy-fifth birth anniversary, and fortieth year as a member of th bar. Goshen. Harvey Swoveland, forty-five years old, a well to-do farmer, for the second time defeated efforts of his wife to send him to Longcliffe asylum. He was given into the care of his brother and sister. Cp to date Swoveland has hr.d thre

guardians. Terre Haute William Locke, aged seventy, for a third of a century cashier of the local branch of the American Distilling company, married Miss Hay Conkling at the residence of his daughter. Mrs. Jane Johnson, in Connersv ille. The first Mrs. Locke was a sister of the bride, who is sixty-three. South Bend. Announcement was made of the founding of scholarships at the University of Notre Dame and at St. Mary's college in memory of the late Patrick O'Brien of this city. The foundation amounts to $15,000 and becomes available Immediately. The scholarships were awarded to Frank Muleahy and Emil Reidman of Rochester, N. V , seniors. Marion. Crist Miste, twenty-ser-en years old. was struck by a Pennsylvania train near Sweetzer, six miles west of here, receiving injuries to his hea l and spine which caused death shortly after he was brought to the city hospital here. He had been working for the railroad company and evidently had started to walK to this

city His pockets contained $128 and papers which disclosed his name and that he had a wife and two children in Macedonia. Evansville --Bertis E ("apel. twenty years old. of Shawneetown, 111., champion typist and former secretary to Governor Deneen of Illinois, was arraigned here in city court on a charge of passing fraudulent checks aggregating $43. Marion -Miss Freda Prail, nineteen years old, was found by a neighbor on the floor of her home unconscious and suffering from chloroform poisoning. It is thought the poison was taken with intent to commit suicide, but the physician says she will recover Shelbyville For hunting on the farms of William Pollard and Mrs. Agnes Sykes without permission, tines were assessed here against three men. as follows: Alvin Bush. $15; Cecil Borders. and William Kouth, $26. The men entered pleas of guilty.