The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1866-10-18
Press Gangs and Poison.

f'Press-Gangs and Poison
nwn ~j yIji:A1 STORY OF .:@ ".}' -:o
|sa:"GaDEATH' AND THE DOCTOR. ''''a
I Y&ia"N1 T.. 41AH --- - --.s.!sc t:s1f1F' 80 .
from Once a Week I'll i. a ':'t,t' .
This isn't altogethe1r. a story OF press
gangs as you'll find before I've done
and it made a good deal Of talk here, a
the time, as remember, though I wa'
only lad. But, you see, the coroner.
inquest set, all things, right, and after
that it was no use asking further ques
tions. 1t must now be nigh fifty years
fifty years., he repeated, half clos
ing his eyes; and pausing, as his mind
travelled over the space which had
brought SO many and great changes
even to that quiet little village-wher<
an old seafar ing man they called Cap
tain Meredith, lived, at lcast,, that is te
say, say" lodged-in the house Of widow
named penryhn. You might see the
spot from the brow Of the hill, for the
house itself has been pulled down long
since then. Well, he might have been
a Captain or: not. don't pretend to
say. It. is certain he had bit of mon
cy put by, and lived comfortably enough
Some say he had been in the smuggling
trade, and had made money in that way
However, it don't much matter; he
was we'll respected, and though he
had a daughter as was called Ell
len, and the prettiest lass in Caw-
sand, and for miles around. Well, now,
this old widow had son named Paul,
and strange article he was. I remem.
Der him-a little handy legged chap,
with red hair, and the people used to
call him t''Doctor."
"Was he, then, a surgeon ?'' I inter
ruptcd.
I'm going to tell you. He had been
'prenticed to a chemist in Davenport
4 1--WE used to call him Dock in those
days,) and after his time was out, he
had been stopping with his mother to
take care other, or perhaps he couldn't
find a situation readily for himself
The old widow had put something by
| suppose, and Paul had been at home
aboutsa year, when the captain came to
lodge there with h s daughter. This
Pauls room was at the top ofthe house,
where his light would be seen burning
at \ time when ali honest folks were in
bed and asleep. Sometimes he would
be out all night, and be met in the
morning returning with his arms tull of
weeds and plants which he used to take
up stairs into the "doctor's shop" as
they called it.
"Ah! a botanist," remarked.
"l don't know about that,'' replied
my friend, slightly puzzled "but peo-
pie said he made poison out of them.
Any way, once when Paul was passing
by the blacAsmith's, the dog ran out
and bit him, and the next day Paul
was seen tu give him; bit of bread
and the dog was dead within an hour.
The neiglbors blamed him for it,, and I
rccollect, when youngster, calling af.
ter him, There goes DR.. Nightshadeg
and his stopping and saying, it 1 had
to doctor you my lad, you wouldn't
shout SO loud Well, very shortly af:
ter Ellen and her father had been lodg-
ing at the widows house, it was clear
to see that Paul wished to court her
wherever she went, sure enough, Paul
wasn't far behind, and things went on
in this way for about six months, when
one night, the wind blowing 8 reat guns
and the sea sun running high, we saw
signals Of distress from some vessel on
the point. There was nollife boat in
the'place, and our small craft couldn't
have lived a minute in such weather
In the morning we saw no signs of the
vessel, and supposed she had gone down
and all on board lost; however, we
heard in the day, that one Of the poor
fellows had escaped, and though cut
and bruised, had contrived to crawl up
the point there, where he was found by
Capt. Meredith, who brought him home
to his own lodging and nursed him..
He was fine young fellow, an or
phan, as he said, by name William Ran
DALI and had been working his, way to
Liverpool in-hopcs Of obtaining employ
ment. The clergyman of the place
you may see the church on the right
as you: go toward Edgercumbe Ferry
heard Of this, and becoming good
deal interested in the young man, offer
ed him place as gardener, or general
servant, or something or other. Bill
was handy chap, and soon made
fr;eads with the people, and they per-
suaded him to stop here, instead Of 60
ing to Liverpool as he had intended to.
He didn't want much pressing, for any
one could see there was a girl in the
case, and that girl was Ellen Meredith,
and it didn't want more than two eyes
to see that she liked him. The folks
used to jcer Paul about his nose being
out of joint, and Tom Trevellian, the
blacksmith. as owed him grudge for
the dog, used to 4, say, "Well, doctor,
how's your nose by this time ?" But
they said the doctor ~ used to turn
white and rub his hands; twas way
he had, and he did the same when he
gave the dog the bread. p ~ !
Well, things prospered SO we'll with
young Randall, that he at last made up
his mind to, ask the Gaptaiaz for his con-
sent that he and <Ellen should be mar
ried, aud as the old fellow was a jolly,
easy going customer, and liked Bill very
much beside, it wasn't long before he
gave it. ; Just about this time, the folks
in the village were frightened at the
report that the press gang were out !;
that they had been as far as Plymouth,
four or five miles from the town there,
and pressed 5one or two men. The Caps
tain and Ellen wanted to put the we'd
ding off, but Bill wouldn't hear of it,
and, strange to, say, Paul sided with
him. Well, on the very day aforc the
wedding, a strange man as hadn't been
seen in the village afore, called at the