Daily Republican., 1883-05-15
skkIHG A GHOST on sHIPDOARD


The Startling Experience Of q
Young Engllshman on . Cunard
Steamer.
Two young Englishmen sailed togeth-
or on board Cunard steamer from Liv-
erpOOl for New York short time ago.
They had never met before, but they
happened to come together in the first
evening on board, and finding that they
had good deal in common, soon be-
came something more than mere &C
quaintances. They were both Univer-
sity men one had been at Oxford and
the other at Cambridge. They were
both fond of sport, and each was cross
ing for his first time; that was quite
enough to recommend them to one an
other, and before they had been two
days at sea they had become fast
friends. 1t was rough passage, and
they were seldom able to get on deck !;
SO they spent most Of the time playing
ecarte In corner Of the saloon.
The saloon of an Atlantic steamer,
however, is never very airy place, and
one day the atmosphere got 80 bad down
there that these two young fellows
agreed that anything was better than
sitting there so they pocketed their
cards, made mental memorandum of
the score and whose deal it was, and
then adjourned to one Of their cabins,
and sitting, one on the lower bunk and
the other on the couch, they went on
with their game. 1t was between the
deals, and the one who was sitting on
the bunk (whom we will call Mr.. A. }
was shuffling the cards, when both be-
came aware that third person was
standing at the cabin door looking at
them.
"Good God, Jack !' exclaimed Mr..
b., jumping up from the couch, how
on earth did you get here %
The figure ut the door said nothing,
but quietly turned round and walked
away again. The boat was rolling bad
ly, and when B. had done tumbling
over the pOrtmanteau and had made
his way to the door some few seconds
had elapsed. A. was naturally some
what astOnished at the mysterious in |
terruption and the way his friend had |
treated it, so he threw the cards on the
bled out after him. When he got into
the passage he saw b. standing some
ten yards of, looking up and down in a
kind of way, and nobody
else in sight. A steward came alone
from the saloon just then, and on being
questioned, he said he had met nobody
but the cat that way, and as the " fire.
hatch" was battened down, and the two
men had been playing in the last cabin
bur one, it was not likely that the
strange visitor had gone the other way.
"Who was it?" asked A., as the
other came slowly back to him after
questioning the steward. II have not
seen him on board before"
"He was my brother, and he is not
On board" was the startling answer.
:" left him in Liverpool and know
he can't have come away"
Nonsense, my dear fellow ; 1t must
have been some one Of the passengers.
| certainly don't believe it was your
brother. He was as utterly unlike you
as one man can be unlike another:-he
was tall and you are short, he was fair
and you are dark, he was stout and you
are slim, and your faces are completely
lifferent."
eyes, know. 81 call him my brother
but he is really my half-brother. His
name is G., and we are totally unlike
Zach other. But that man was my
nalf-brother, Jack c., as sure as l am
here or-his ghost"
Well, there was no more ecarte that
afternoon none of the officers or passen-
gers had seen any body answering to the
description of the supposed c., and he
never appeared again until they reached
New York.
When they landed. B. found cable
Message telling him that his half
brother was dead.
Now, 80 far, this incident was not
litferent from score Of others which
iave been reported and published at va
ious times and, beyond the fact that
he apparition was seen clearly by two
PERSONS, it supplies no further evidence
# the existence or appearance OF ghosts
n doubles" than has been adduced
,ver and over again. But there was
equel to this which lends ghastly cir
to the whole affair, and
makes it very hard TO laugh the matter
If as mere optical illusion. IL
A. lost sight of B. entirely few days
.fter arriving in America. While the
ormer went West at once, the latter
tayed In New York three or four days
nd then re-crossed to England. Two
ears had passed before A. went back
gain, and he had pretty well given up
over the mystery, when one
ay as he was walking along Piccadil.
y he saw the man who had appeared 8
n the state room that day coming to
meet him.
Pardon me, SIR he began, "is not
our name G. ?'' '
eyes" was the answer, "my name {
, c., but must confess you have the {
dvantage over me. :
81 dare say. only saw you once be-
)re, and that was on board the steam.
hip Papua in mid Atlantic. I.
"GOod heavens Then your name is
l., and you were with my half-brother,
harli3 b., when he saw Jack. No,
nor uau MT I-thaf was nv brother