The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1867-10-18
MARX LOTIONS LEGACY

| SoPe<kAh ASOooAAic oc q otSaby PO"
erful built man, and had been a ship
master more than twenty years.
r"WeH, boys" he commenced, "my
story has but little of the thrill in it,
but it has curious sort of winding
up as you shall hear" i.s'} -
{" Some ten years ago / had COM
mand of the same ship which / now
ewn.@l cleared at London for Cal
cutta- About half of my crew were
furnished by shipping agent, and
they were certainly good looking
men.
E" IIhad no reason to complain OF
them on the score of seamanship, for
they were good seamen and under
stood their profession. For q week
all went on well and I had begun to
fiatter myself that we should have no
trouble on the voyage, when one OF
the men began to exhibit traits of
character which / did not fancy
much. .H #
"His name was Mark Lotion. He
was a stout, broad -chested fellow,
strong as an OK, and with a set of
limbs which looked as though they
were made of twisted ropes. His
first betrayal of evil was among the
men, where he seemed inclined to
provoke quarreling and fighting. l
called him aft and bade him let me
see no no more of this mischief. He
made me no reply, and went forward
with sullen, dogged look.
"Matters passed on for a week Ion
ger, and at the end OF that time, as l
came on deck one morning, found
disturbance going on upon the fore
castle. I hurried forward and found
that Lotion had been busy, as usual.
/ inquired what had caused the dis
turbance, but received no answer, so
/ turned to a foretopman. named An
derSon, and ordered him to explain
to me what had happened.
"Why, SIR" said he, casting a
fearful look towards the evil man.
- Lotion came up q while ago and
found Bill sitting on his ditty bag,
and he showed him off. Bill told him
not to do that again, and at that LOT;
ton up and hits him a kick, and was
going to pitch into him, when me and
Tom Interfered. Lotion swore at
he'd murder us if We didn't let go OF
him; but we swore 'at he shouldn't
harm Bill, for Bill was only q boy
compared with him. That's where
we was, sir, when you came"
"I It's lie !" said Lotion, with his
fists doubled up.
Be careful" said !, looking him
SHARPLY in the eye.
suppose he hated to have the men
see him cowed, so he thought he'd
show me little of his spirit. AT
any rate, he turned full upon me, and
said-looking savage, too, when ne
spoke: 81 - 49, e. ~
Don't think I'm afraid of you"
That startled me.
"Look out" said 1, "1r you II md
yourself in rather rough hands"
At that he shook nIs fist in my face.
1 was not a very weak man then. !
was taller than Lotion, and my INST
was heavy. With a movement so
quick chat he couidn'tavoid it, gave
him blow upon the side Of the head,
Just below the ear, that felled him to
the deck as though he'd been struck
with cannon ball.
At first / thought he was dead, but
he soon began to move, and ere long
he got upon his feet. The first word
that escaped him was an oath direct
ed toward me. / struck him again
in the same place, but heavier than
before, and he fell again like lead.
Lotion" said to him, and ! spoke
rather more kindly than / would have
believed it possible for me to have
spoken, "there is no need of my say
ing much, for you are sensibleenough
to know what order and subordina-
tion must be on board ship. IL
gives me more pain to punish you
than it can possibly give you to re
ceive it. want you to understand
this. Now, why can't you behave
yourself as you should? you know
what your duty is, and you know how
much happier you will be il you
make yourself agreeable
spoke In this way foR some time,
and when I went aft again I left him
with his head down. made no
threat OF any kind, but / talked as
though I didn't believe he'd act 80
any more.
After this I fairly thought that Lof-
ton would behave himself. He was
sober and regular at his duty, but he
had little to say to the rest OF tne
crew. He was sullen most OF the
time, and I don't think he spoke q
dozen words q day that he Wss not
Obliged to speak. .s.4so a~es est y
His peculiaritiss attracted my AZ
tention and once tried to get at the
secret Of his strange behavior. One
lnt~kk L. L. tAA -kAAl II