Sun River sun. [volume] (Sun River, Mont.) 1884-1885, 1884-12-04
ICY FINGERS OF A GHOST.
Their Imprint Left Upon the Throat o,
. Russian Mariner.

The brig Frances, West India
trader of Mnchias, Me-, lay at the foot
OF Prime street wharf yesterday wait
ing for the arrival Of q crew to enable
her to put to sea. Captain HAL H.
Thomas, her commander, bluff,
hearty old sailor, who has, in his time,
navigated nearly every ocean of the
globe, told of the strange predica-
ment which has kept his vessel here
for several days. The Frances fin
ished taking her cargo on board on
Thursday last. She is Of $50 tons
register and is laden with hoops,
slaves and heading, consigned to a
sugar exporting house at Matanzas,
Cuba.
Captain Thomas said: "To begin,
none Of my old crew stayed by the
vessel when we arrived here, SO ship
ped new lot, five seamcn, and sent
on board last Thursday afternoon. II
never has been my plan to put crew
on board until was ready to tow out
to sea, but there was a new spankcr to
bend, a lot Of forerigg.ng to set up
and SO l listened to the advice of the
mate and told the shipping master 10
bring the crew down. That's where
made the mistake-to put crew on
board alongside Of the dock.
"Well, they turned to and cleared
things up pretty fair that afternoon.
got my new spanker bent and some
of the rigging tautened up, and as the
men worked pretty well I knocked 'em
off early, SO us to give 'em Il chance
to clean the fo'castle a bit and stow
away their chests. liked the appear
ance OF the men. There was big
Russian-Finn, two Danes and two
Liverpool cockneys. / told the stew
ard to feed 'em mp pretty well until
we dropped down the river.
"About s o'clock Thursday night I
looked into the fo'castle to call one CT
'em to take in the slack of the dock
line. They were smoking and spin
ming yarns, aud turned in soon after,
thinking that had good, quiet set
Of men. It must have been about
o'clock in the morning when I was
reused by noise and the scuflling of
feet on deck. I ran out and found tho
men throwing water on the big Rus
sin Finn. He leaned against the fore
castle house, pale as ghost. went
up and looked ut him. The man was
trembling like leaf"
"'What's all this?' says I.
"That ere fo'castle is 'aunted,' says
one of the Englishmen.
"By this time the Russian Finn was
able to talk. He rested on the hatch
combing and said:
"I sat up talking with my mates
here until after 8 o'clock. Then, as
they all turned in, l lowered the wick
in the swinging lamp a little, filled
my pipe and took turn on dock to
get my smoke out. Iexpect was on
deck nearly an hour, for when l went
to tho forecastle everything was quiet.
had taken of my duds and was just
going to turn in when l fclt cold
breeze blowing over me. l turned to
look at the hatch, thinking 1 had left
it open, but it was closed. Then l
looked up to the further end of the
fo'castle and saw that tho sliding
door leading into the cabin lockers
was wide open. I shut it, supposing
that one of my mates had been in
there and forgot to close it. turned
in and fell asleep very soon.
81 must have been sleeping about
an hour and n half, when / woke up
with my hair on end. l felt drops Of
sweat on my face. A chilly draught
still came from the direction of tho
chain lockers. l looked. The door
was wide open. As put my legs out
OF the bunk to go and close it | saw
an arm, a woman's l will swear,
stretched ont Of the gloom Of the
chain locker. 1t seemed to touch the
door, which closed without n squeak.
My hair stood up on my head like
bristles. / rubbed my eyes and jump
ed out of the bunk. | took down the
swinging lamp and trimmed it; then
/ examined the locker door. 1t was
fastened and the bolt was shot into
the socket.
81 lit my pipe and sat on a chest
thinking about the matter. l decided
that had been having dream, so |
turned inagain and soon dozed off. l
couldn't sleep sound. 1t seemed to
me TINT / could hear woman's
screams; then | heard laughter and
sobs alternately; then an awful shrek
aroused me- Everything was quiet
in the fo'castle, and a ships bell