Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-01
STORIES FROM sQUAN BEACH.
A Ghost that Chews TobaocO-A Man
who has Saved 1 800 Lives.

hundred yards to a couple of miles wide,
extending for 90 miles down between
the Atlantic ocean and Barnegat bay.
/ From the earliest history OF the country
/ "desolate Squan - has been known as a
shore fraught with terrible danger to nav
] igatOrs. 70 the horrors Of shipwreck
/ we're added the terrOrs OF the Barnegat
wreckers, who, it is said, held rs lawful
prey every vessel and its contents which
/ The yicisstudes OF weather threw into
I their hands, and many were the stories
/ told OF false lights, Of crews murdered
and wealth dishonesty acquired upon
I these dreary sands. The man who keeps
/ the hotel on Squan beach is William r.
! Chadwick. The hotel is peculiar and the
/ landlord is peculiar.
/ Rilly Chadwick Is fisherman, hunter
aud sailor, aud equally at home in either
capacity. A baId-lined, warm-hearted
man, with lofty contempt for conven-
tiONallty, he dispeDseB genial hospltall-
/ Nv aud regards himsslfas the peer Ofevery
man he meets. To show that Mr.. Chadwick
/ is not without some prQqOcatiOn for his
self-esteem, it may be mentioned that he
4 is the Captain Of the Onlted states life
saving station on the beach, and during
] the past ten years has saved and helped
| to save 800 human lives.
IL is at Chadwick's and from the land
/ lord that you get tue ghost story IN us
/ purity. Mr.. Chadwick 10 not at all gar
rulOus upon the subject Of ghosts, but,
when he finds himself IN cOngenial com
/ pany ana in narrative mood, he gener-
/ ally pretsces his recital ia this way:
NOW, | want you 70 know | amt In
/ the habit OF talkin' for the sake Of hearin'
/ myself talk, and what Pm going to tell
( YOU is the sQuare-toed truth, because |
! saw IL myself and If any man says Pm
/ liar. Ill lust knock MIN down."
Then he brings a huge fist down on the
I table with emphasis, after which he will
tell Of the ghost that begged cnew OF
tobacco
1T was a pitch dark night several
years ago that vessel Deached herself
out yonder, and showed a distress light
and fred a gun. My man Lyon and |
went off TO her in my boat, and when /
got aboard the Captain asked me TO walk
down into his cabin and LOOK over his log
to see If | could find out where he made
] the mistakes that made him scrape
gravel. While the Captain and were at
WORK over the log who should come down
into the cabin but old Jack Herbert from
over on the mainland, the other side Of
the bay, aud says he TO me:
"'Bill, gimme chaw OF tobacco
~ Just glanced up and handed him my
plug of navy, from which he bit of a big
chew and handed ii back. Then he went
out and we went on with our work
Pretty soon we found the mistake, and
then all at once 1t occurred to me TO ask
myself, How in thunder did Jack Her
bert get hereN | knew that no boat could
/ live TO come over from the mainland in
such a sea, and that there had been no
boat on the beach but my own, and no
men but Lyon and myself We ran up
and looked around, but there was no one
| to be seen but the sailors md my man
/ Lyon. We searched all over the ship, but
there was no sign OF Jack Herbert or any
one else. Well, we went away home, and
! the next day there came man over from
the mainland, and the first thing he said
TO me was:
"'Jsck Herbert died last night
" That's lie says l, 'fOr j saw him
last night and gave him chew of tobacco,
after midnight
q" Then the devil must have let him out
/ long enough to come after 1t, for | tell
| you he died last night before midnight,
and was with him when he went OUT
"Now, will anybody pretend TO tell me
/ that that wasn't Jack Herbert's ghOstW
As no one cared to dispute DIR. Chad
/ wick's proposition, he continued:
4 zone day, before there were any settle
ments here, and when my shanty was the
/ only house on the beach, | went out to
| take quiet walk along the shore.
walked till got tired and then sat down
| on a chunk Of wreck to rest. | had only
/ been sitting a minute or 80 when | looked
up, and there, coming down the beach
/ toward me, was the handsOmest pair of
| horses, carriage and harness j ever saw,
/ and the carriage was filled with ladies,
4 and a gentleman with buckskin gloves on
( WAS driving.
"'NOw, who in thunder can these peO-
pie beY thought 10 myself, and how in
sin did they get hereI' for l knew that
/ there couldn't be any such rig as that
within 100 miles OF Squan. AS they came
/ close up to me, didn't want to seem TO
be staring the strangers out OF counte-
nance, so just dropped my head, and
went on whiting the chip was at work
on. Then it struck me that although the
carriage and pair was almost on top of me,
| didn't hear them make any noise.
looked up quick, and darn me, IL there
was sign of "A boss or carriage or any,
thing else to be seen anywhere. Now,
what do you think Of that?
sit may have been an optical Illusion, D
mildly suggests the listener.
"Optioall Do you mean to lnsinu
ate-Y'
''No, sir. Not at ans not at all, They
must have disappeared"
That's it. They clipped up quicker'r
wink"
Then Mr.. Chadwick tells how he go
badly scared once without any good rea
| son.
"One night, when IL was Just ligh
enough not to be blind dark, but wher
you couldn't see anything distinctly,
took a walk up the beach toward yon ole
fishing sbanty because | thought ! hearC
cry OF distress. Everything was awful
still and lonely, aud, in spite Of myself,
felt kind Of skittish aud shaky. | haG
gone more than halt way q the shanty
when right before me | saw some Ions
white thing lying in the sand ] though
at first that 10 was stranded shark
and kept walking up toward it, wher
all at once II began 70 rise up, and 80 die
my hair. | wanted 10 ruin, but somehow
! couldn't make up my mind 10 do IL, bu
kept walking On slowly while the thinl
kept rising up and up and up until Ii
stood right before me, and its head seemed
10 reach TO the sky. My hat was at leas
half a foot above my head, and my hear
was rolling around In my mouth. but
managed 10 blurt out:
Whose Internal ghost are youp
"Then the ghost says, with Sleep
cape:
why, Bill, don't you know mep
"'No,' says 1, Pm bowed il do
"Oh, Bill! And you've sat mp with m,
many night. Why, I'm sal Saunders
from over on the mainland, aud I've beer