The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-07-01

REN GREeo Twas WARREN GREGG ="
To attempt to portray the establishment
and startled amazament of officers and
crew, would be failure. Their actions
were beyond description.
One and all stot in blank astonishment,
staring unconsciously, perhaps, upon the
first mate, who, like the guilty wretch he
was, trembled from head to foot, q deathly
pallor 6ver-spreading his features, until
maddened to desperation by the the ter
rible accusation of the mysterious, unseen
accuser, his pcnt up guilt, which he could
hold no longer, burst forth into a wild,
frenzied cry
"Who dares to accuse me?'
| The quick eye of Haywood, if no other,
saw the guilt Gregg SO plainly showed;
and, prompted by self interest, he ex-
claimed:
81 do!"
"Liar !" hissed the trembling wretch,
and then, with horrible oath, he bounded
upon him, murder plainly written upon his
every look and action. But the sailors
quickly interposed, when he turned
upon them, and fierce struggle ensued.
"Secure him!" cried the skipper, as
soon as the crew had succeeded in over
powering him. "We will keep both
in irons, and wait further developments.
But though everything was done that
could be to ascertain the cause of those
strange cries from the sea, the day passed
without solving the mystery, and the su-
perstitious sailors all believed that the
dead had spoken. And their belief was
strengthened, when there was heard, at
different intervals the following night, the
same voice, only more sad and mourn
full, saying this time:
"Warren Gregg, murderer a mur-
derer murderer
The next morning Gregg called the
captain below, to whom he made full
confession of his crime, saying he had
killed Lewis mistaking him for young
Haywood; and then, upon his bended
knees, the guilty wretch begged for
mercy.
The only reply he received was to wait
until he reached port.
Gregg's confession, clearing Haywood of
all guilt, he was freed atonce; and partly to
atone for the injustice he had done him, the
captain gave him the berth of first officer.
One morning, a few days later, Gregg
was missing and as no trace Of him could
be found, it was supposed that he must
have got upon the deck during the night,
when, unseen and unheard, he had thrown
himself into the sea. That to escape the
punishment ofman he had gone to receive
the judgment of his Maker, with an
other crime upon his already blaekened
soul.
The voice from the sea was not heard
after the murderer's confession: and soon
the superstitious mariners ceased to speak
of it, having solved the mystery to their
satisfaction, by deciding that the dead had
already spoken in vindication of the char
acter of the innocent victim.
In the due course of time port was safely
made.
A year later Frank Haywood and Mabel
Stanford were united in wedlock, amid the
congratulations of all their friends.
But the strangest and best part of it all
was, that among the wedding guests was
Lewis Stanford, the BRIDES brother, who,
instead of having persisted on that night,
as was supposed, had, by the aid of a box
which had been thrown overheard among
some other things, managed to keep aaoat
till morning, when an outward bound ship
had picked him up; and after considerable
difficulty he had succeeded in getting h ome
in season to attend his sisters wedding.
Thus their cup of happiness was full to
overHowing, and in their great joy the
crimes and misdoings of the evil-minded
mate were forgiven and forgotten.
Years afterward flock of young Hey
woods would gather round their mother
and ask her to repeat to them the story Of
that fearful ordeal of life, when theil
father saved himself from an ignominious
death by his powers of ventriloquism
which, unknown to his accusers, he pos
sessed, and used with such satisfactory