Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-11-09
THE PLAGUE AT SEA.
The Tragedy Ofa Ships Crew Stricken
With Yellow Fever.


In the gray light of July morning
We made sail dead ahead, close upon
the outskirts of retreating night. In
twenty minutes we heard the report OF
firearms from her deck and saw that
her flag was at half-mast in token OF
distress. A murmur of excited sym
pathy ran through the great throng on
the deck of the -ic. There was an
other, of disappointment, when the
purser told us it was a Spanish brig
1t was as if We had wasted our compass
sion-an impulse natural to the Saxon
breast, born of the fierce blood of those
who peered through the stormy passes
of the Alps into the Elysian fields OF
Latin foes.
The steady throbbing of the screws
slackened and ceased az we closed upon
the quarter OF the helpless brig. In a
light western air, she lay with topsails
backed and her jibs and spanker idly
swaying to and fro. Four men were
upon her deck, and as We approached,
lowered boat astern, hauled it slowly
alongside, and entering it left the ship.
She was apparently deserted. They
rowed painfully toward our steamer, and
We gathered on the port side, where the
rope ladder had been hung, to catch
the first glimpse of their faces. This
We could not do; the four wore side
sombreros and bent to their oars feebly
but persistently, never looking up. Our
captain hailed them impatiently-they
only waved their hands between the
dippings OF the oars. They were now
alongside, and the bow oarsman clutched
the ladder and began to climb to the
deck. Two others followed him, all
three hanging like spiders on the narrow
way, resting at every round. The most
intense excitement was visible in every
face that watched them from the les
deck. Our captain hailed them from
the bridge, and as before each man
waved hand il mechanical way.
Then the captain came to the ladder
awaiting their coming. The fourth man
sat still in the boat, but those who
noticed saw him bending forward as he
sat until the broad brim of his hat
touched the gunwale, and the black
locks of his hair showed from behind.
He seemed helpless or asleep, but at
tracted little attention as the others
climbed closer to the deck.
At last the uppermost had his hand
upon the steamers rail; a few more
steps and he would be on deck. A
hundred hands were ready to aid him
in what seemed task beyond his power.
But the captain thrust them all away,
and reaching forward lifted his hat from
his head. A general exclamation of
horror broke from our eager group.
There, not two feet from the rail, looked
upward the visage of Death-a yellow,
shriveled face, and eyes that burned
with the weak and cruel fire Of wasting
life. Long and matted hair and mus
tache sweeping down made the picture
beyond fault. 1t was the look of the
baser man, after the divine and human
elements of his nature die away in
hunger, thirst or bodily distress; leav-
ing in his useless frame ths,feptile only,
from whose depths the strict Darwinians
claim ascent. An impulse of terrible
dread seized all who looked upon the
sallow face, askant in all the fear of
sudden death.
The captain motioned back the man.
He trembled like leaf and spoke for
the first time:
ave are dying, senor."
"Of what?"
"We dohot know"
But the captain knew, and We shrunk
as if from fame at the words:
"They are dying of yellow fever"
If we had doubted this, the next
moment would have proved his judg-
ment right. The man remaining in the
boat rose suddenly from his seat with q
quick, sharp cry, S'Santo Dios!" and
fell upon his back dead.
The captain ordered the others back,
promising aid on board the brig. They
swore they never would return, and
began climbing with the haste of des-
peration Never will forget the strug-
gle that ensued. The leading Spaniard,
clinging with both hands to the rail,
held back by the broad hands of the
captain, seemed the active personifica-
ton of the plague, doing battle with the
lives of all on board. He was like one
mad; be cursed and snapped his teeth,
filling the air with bitter oaths, drawing
his feet under him 10 the highest round
he could reach, and throwing all his
strength into fatal effort. He made
it, and was thrust down again by the
same strong hands. But his feet had
been drawn so close to his body go that
hey slipped from beneath him-and for
a single instant he hung above the
others. Then he fell, striking the next
man and the third, and carrying them
with him into the sea. They sunk like
plummets; in a moment more there
were but three broad hats floating upon
the place of their descent.
The captain consulted with his first
officer, a well-thrown pig of iron crushed
through the bottom of the boat, and the
bellrang out, "full speed ahead"
When the sun came up the Spanish
brig stood for an instant against the
disk and disappeared in the dazzling
radiance OF it's later rays.
"How is it you can tell such whop-
pers?" asked caller addressing the
editor of the fish story department.
"Well, you see," replied the editor,
"Our wife's name is Anna"
"What has that to DO with it?"
"a great deal. When We are writing
fish stories we usually have Anna nigh
us to help u.s."
The caller was carried to the hos
pital.
The mother of twenty eight children
is living in Brownsville, Ga. She if
still in the prime of life and vigorous
Her husband, the only one she has evel
had, is also alive. Twenty-three of the