Litchfield enquirer., 1870-06-23
MY WIPES PRAYER.BOOK.

ten years as merchant, when. as l sat one morning quietly reading the paper in my counting house, the following advertise ment met my eye: tOne thousand dollars reward will be paid to any person who can give precise information as to how the late James Smithson met his death on board the William Curtis. on the night of the 23d of August, 1854 Address Jacob Sharper, Esq, 246 Fulton street. New York ~ |.1d You will wonder why this should make me turn pale and sick, but it did, and for |this reason. knew the late James.Smith- son. was his fellow passenger on board the William Curtis, and was one of the persons who last saw him alive. We were coming from England-I to make my for tune, he to return to his native land; and had felt for h1m an iustinctive repug- nance that took little pains to conceal. He was big, burly, bullying Yankee, who had made 8 fortune, and was now spend ing it, and boosting of it after the manner of the worst specimens of his tribe. He disliked me as cordially as I detested him; and being the only two cabin passengers, we necessarily rubbed against one another to an extent almost unbearable.
 l remember one day after dinner we were sitting in sulky silence over our grog, when sndden lurch of the vessel sent the scalding fluid out of my glass all over his dress. se .us.--a.
 Curse you, he exclaimed. you awk- ward fool-what are you doing? Can't you hit out like a man, if you want. to vent your spleen, and not throw boiling water over me like dangerous idiot?'
 I was going to explain, but was silent a little after this attack; and then merely said There was no intention to insult or vent spleen; the occurrence was purely accidental.
 Hang accidental I've found accidents happen very conveniently sometimes; and you shall pay for this as soon as ever we are out of this accursed tub If ycu are a man-which I doubt-you shall give me a meeting for this, promise you; and I'll try whether you can handle the knife as well as you can throw glasses, you coward ly Britisher.'
 If you use such language to me, I'll
 Throw another-won't you? you plucky bantam ..
 was maddened beyond all endurance, and l rushed at him and struck him full in the face as he stood up. e5t.
 He fell, and as he rose up, drew out his revolver and shot at me- stopped down, and the ball shattered the swing compass in the sky-light; in moment, he fired again. and this time grazed me on the shoulder. l ran at him; and the steward and the captain having by this time arri. ved, the pistol was taken from him.
 Curse you-you shall remember this. I'll put pea into you yet, my chicken,
 explained the circumstances: and the captain at once said that unless we would give our words not to attempt renewal of the dispute in any way, he would put us both in our cabins under lock and key.
 After some little demur, we agreed to this.
 If you want to fight, gentlemen, I've no objection in life-very happy to see you-but not on board my ship. I'll take you on shore in the first boat, and under take to bury either or both of you decent ly, if you fail; but you don't fight on my ship if know it.
 l went to my state-room and turned in, and determined that would never again speak to such brute. In the morning, I saw the captain at breakfast, and he eau toned me in friendly way against Smith son. as
 Mind what you are about; don't give him chance. He'd think no more of dropping you overheard, or putting 8 knife into you, than do of cutting this bread. Don't go too near the rail, and see that there's bit of rope over the side, if you go forward; and if you do find your self mile away over the quarter some fine night. don't say didn't warn you. Clear away, steward
 MT. Smithson hasn't sat down yet, sir. ,
 Never mind; he's sulking, perhaps. Clear away
 I went on deck, and came down at din- ner-time. We were all seated-that is, the chief officer, the captain and myself-when we missed Smithson
 Gall MT. Smithson, steward. We mustn't spoil our dinner with his sulks.'
 The steward open his door, and came back. He's not there. sir
 Not there! Where the devil is he, then? Has anybody seen him this morn- |ilg?'
 Inquiry was made, and no one knew anything about him. The, men at the wheel had seen him go forward at about eight bells, but no one had set eyes on him since. @
 'Where the devil can he be?' said the captain. He must be in the ship; unless you took my hint the wrong way, and put him out of the way, youngster.'
 I can assure you I never left my room until breakfast-time this morning, cap- tain.'
 In further search, we failed to discover any traces of the missing man except one. A large brass belaying-pin was discovered damned between the iron that supported the starboard forechains and the vessels side. It must have been thrown overheard, and by one of those mysterious chances that sometimes occur, lodged itself there. IL could not have been put there, for the man who saw it could not reach it without the assistance of two others It was brought on deck, taken to the cabin, and examined. Nothing was found on it.; it was as clean as if it had never left the rack. Where did it come from? It was soon found to be one of the spare pins round the foremast rail. The two things looked like foul play. I could not deny it. The steward remembered that MT. Smithson drank good deal after left the cabin the night before; and the man at the wheel thought he seemed little un- steady, but he lost sight of him as he went forward
 The entries were made in the log; and life went on its old course, except that I was regarded with suspicion and mis- trust that made me envy the victim of su- icide who calmly slept in the sea beneath me.