The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-10-22
"SHANTY" MORGAN.
And How He Got His Name.

The following, which is clipped from
the Detroit Evening News Of the 18th
inst, will be interesting to the mary
friends Of ''Shanty'' in this vicinity:
A good many people in Detroit know
Capt. ''Shanty Morgan, who last season
Ward, jr., between Escanaba and
Traverse City. In fact, all the seafarin9
men on the lakes know him, for the cap
tain is now 56 years of age-a rough and
tough old rooster, and has sailed 40
this fall and knows every bearing, shoal,
inland and point III the great chain of
lakes. Still there are few who knew the
incident by which the nickname Of
''Shanty'' was fastened to him. The
captain is man Of varied idiosyncracies.
At one time III early life he got into
rather dissipated habits, but was saved
from drunkard's fate by a curious in
cident. He was sitting, ia a card-room
Of a ManibOWoc grocery, in booty con-
di5ion, and taking an occasional squint
into the bar-room through the openings
Of the rough board partition between
the two apartments. A stranger coming
into the 16l-r-1oon attracted his attention
and he heard the following conversation ::
Stranger Have you got any good
liquor %
Barkeeper- politely Yes, sir.
nger-What = got?
Barkeeper-Well, we have some tansy
bitters, and cherry bounce, and peach
brandy, and clear whisky.
Stranger-I guess III take some clear
whiskey.
The stranger poured forth q respecta-
bic horn, and put himself outside OF it.
Suddenly his features became fearfully
contorted, he coughed and gagged, and
finally gasped out in a half strangled
whisper: s'lIy Gcd Tn poisoned. All
ugh, hoo? You don't call that Internal
essence Of hell good liquor, do you ?'' and
under the most Jnfiattering auspices.
The barkeeper replied in an offended
tone:
''You needn't drink it if you don't
want to. ''Shanty'' Morgan'll take all
[ got"
Capt Morgan sweze Off, and never
tasted drop for years afterward.
But how did he get the prefix Of
'sShanty?" 70 be sure. we had forgot
ten that This was the way: Thirty
years ago he commanded the good
schooner Martha Jane, which piled be-
tween Detroit ana any point on the
lakes which would afford a cargo. Ship
owners didn't look SO sharp after their
captains in those days; there was no
marine reporters like Capt. Hall or
Charley Norton to hoist their big teies-
| copes and read the names Of vessels as
they passed the cities and villages on
| the shore; and there was no telegraph
or associated press to trace their prog
ress past canal, lighthouse and inland
| port. His vessel was light and time did
not press, so he went ashore o short dis
tance below what is now the village Of
Algonac on the ST Clair river, to have q
little spree. The captain and crew Of
the Martha Jane didn't have far to go,
as the nearest saloon was little frame
shanty, close to the edge Of the water,
| and resonant with the sounds Of a violin,
which blind musician was industriOusly
scraping. The new comers danced and
drank as sailors only can drink and dance,
and it was not long before a free fight
enlivened the proceedings. The crew
of the Martha Jane got the worst of it,
but they withdrew in good order. The
sails were spread, and as the vessel
moved up the stream, Capt. Morgan
called out, ''l'll knock hills bells out Of
you for this, which was responded to
with howl of defiance
The Captain kept his word.
Some weeks later the good ship Mar
tha Jane neared the scene of the fracas
! on her return trip. A looker-on from
the shore would have stared to see the
way the schooner was handled. On the
port tack the vessel went sin stays, and
forged up against the shanty. The bow
spirit went crashing through the side,
and the vessel turning down stream,
more than half of the house was thrown
into the river, and with the other half
comprising part of the kitchen and the
whole of the buttery-hanging on to the
bos-sprit, the good ship Martha Jane
resumed her voyage to Detroit.
| That is the way the captain knocked
h-ll's bells out of them, and that is the
way he acquired the title of ''Shanty
Morgan"