Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1895 — MYSTERIES OF THE HEMP. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MYSTERIES OF THE HEMP.

NlArvelons Tale* from the Jeraey Coast, Aebury Park special to N7-Y. Herald, Mar. 1&

LL the summer resorts Jersey coast are in their win ter garb, Jand the social aspect of the place has completely changed. The rivai'

hackrnhn. who a few months ago, hated one another worse than poison, now interchange weather prophecies and swap lies around the stove in the village store. It is the time of year when marvelous tales of shipwreck and death are presented highly seasoned to the auditors, who listen with mouths agape. And should a listener doubt the-veracity ofThc-stor-y tcllcr^hewill be informed that“trutii is stranger nor fiction,an' no one but a durned fool would doubt the story o’ one who seed these air things hisself.” One of the stories which never fail to interest the dwellers by the sea is that several years ago q,n unknown brig sank within a stone's throw ol the shore almost at the rear of the cottage of the late General Grant,at Elberon, and from the bodies that were subsequently cast ashore no clew could be obtained that would lead to the identity of the vessel. - A ship’s bell was heard ringing a short distance from the wreck one stormy night not long afterward. The life saving men thought a vessel would come on the beach and waited in vain for it to drive into the breakers. Although they waited all night, up wreck appeared. Often after that the mysterious bell was heard ringing at night in storms, and almost always there would be a vessel wrecked before dawn. The superstitious fishermen regarded the strange ringing of the bell with dread and fear, and at last they ascribed the sound to spirits who desire to indicate that another craft would -soon be dashed into fragments on the New Jersey coast. The “spirit bell,” as it was called, was heard one night about fifteen years ago, and the dawn revealed the masts of a small schooner rising above the sea, about two miles from shore. For a week afterward the sea cast up bodies until six had been thrown upon the shore. Practical persons tried to solve the mystery of the “spirit bell,” but never succeeded. But this mysterious bell no more alarms the residents of the shore on stormy nights. It has not been heard for ten years. Here is one of the greatest mysteries of the coast. A trim and pretty brigantine flying a black flag appeared one mild day in October fifty years ago a few miles from shore. Her handsome model and rakish look attracted attention, and when a black flag was perceived at thetnain topmast all agreed That the stranger was a pirate, . While the spectators on shore were talking and endeavoring to explain the pirate’s presence so close to New York, and while all eves were fixed on her, the bow of the trim little craft suddenly plunged beneath the waves, and a minute afterward the entire hull disappeared from sight. The men on shore were thunderstruck. They could not account for the sudden sinking of the vessel on a mild October day, when the sea was almost as smooth as a mill pond. Then it suddenly occurred to somebody that not a soul had been seen on her decks save the man at the wheel.

A boatload of men put off and searched for some trace of the brigantine that had so suddenly disappeared. Nothing could be seen of her. Not even the tip of the topmast peeped above the surface. The boat proceeded shorcwtwjf, and the men waited the washing ashore of the inevitable stuff from a wreck, among which would probably bo found some clew to the identity of the lost vessel. But day after day and storm after storm came and went, but no traces of the lost craft. Not a chest, not a corpse, not a spar, was cast up bv the sea, and today the mystery of the pirate brig remains as great as ever. An early pedestrian along thq beach just above the old Black Point, not many years ago, discerned a hu. man hand sticking up through the foam of a land wash. He dashed into the water, caught hold of the hand and brought to light the nude body of a young and beautiful woman. The green seaweed had in some wav been twined like a wreath around a shapely head, from which fell a wealth of golden tresses. How had the woman gotten into the sea? There had been no storm, no shipwrecks in weeks. Of course the coroner was notified. That wise individual decided an inquest unnecessary, and after a doctor had said that the woman was drowned the body was buried on the shore a short distance from where it had been found. It has never been learned who she was.