The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-10-30
A STRANGE VOYAGE.
A Lara-ic's Campaign Against
Certain Ocean Monsters.
Ihe Result of the Trip 81 Devil Fish. -
Stinca-ees and ASST sharks. All
Dead-The Strangers Last
Horrible Experience.

.'Ona # the stran-es: voTa-es lever
made. said Captain CroXo1, OF New
Orleans, was in the summer Of l>5>,
had : taree-masted schooner named
thc Southern Belle, and was in the
coasting trade. L was about Mavl.
and | had -aa into New Orleans with
: consigned cargo. when & stranger
cane a5oar3 one day. looked the craft
AL over and finally Introduced him
self a. Joseph Harper. . native If the
State. H said he IVES aman d wealth
and leisure. ana va thinking Of char
ter.ng : schooner ior four or five
months. H was q quiet. m~i!d->posen
man. w-,.-cinca.ed, and Z perfect gen
tlem2n, but there vas something just
= tit 9recr IN Ais actions. He looked
al YOU in atlr;iYe way, J. If he thought
You m~iStrls.ed him. and he had A habit
q giving q sudden star. and looking
all about him. Is guilty men are sup
posed 10 DO.
'.Hha, ~9r. Of 4 charter do you sup
p04 he wanted to make2 You'll
hartl7 believe me when | tell YOU that
he took q .eat in my cabin and gravely
informed me- that he believed il his
duty 70 20 forth against sharks. sin
gar. and davi, fsh. H wanted Z
s:aaoa craft, and he proposed to 20
along and help make wsr Oh the rep
tiles mentioned. He didn't act like a
crank, and | could moi laugh At him.
and be didn't appear to be insane 80
tha. / could cut the matter short He
oferei to fit the schooner u. for = >ix
months rrui>e and pay me- 70 much
per month in cash, and be talked bust.
ness i4>, a. straight g. any man YOU
ever heard. pu! him of for q DAY or
i've, bn. he came again. Then Imade
sonf Inquiries about him. and I found
thai. Ua1,c he was : stranger 10 all, he
had rtaty Of funds and was conSid-
cred all ri-h: in his head, A | was
TIL ,g'a owner Of the schooner. and
a H. offer Wa: 6 far better
thing Than | could hope Tor in
another direction. I began to
think rGo-c tavo-ably Of i. The
result va. tbs. he pa, several
thousand dollar, to my creii. in the
bank. bound me in . LEGAL way t.
crut.s whore he directed. and then
wau, ahead to #. M the schooner.
From the hour u signing the papers
he I,sl aboard. Not only that. but he
shaved eileen. mt on a sailors suit,
aud completely disguised his identity.
NJ mate. whose name was Burrows,
tHoczat strangely Ct this, and insisted
taat the man was l iuHatic; but after 4
ii: W concluded that he was q crank
who was al right, eNccp: upon the one
subject. ani no further ac:;on Of his
surprise! ~.
tsrH@n;gr- cane aboard to fix Un
quarter, ior MIN. and when that JOB
W., finished : runway was made to
draw M captured sharks upon. and q
small steam engine was put aboard for
hoistiu- purposes. He hired an engi-
nccr Q. fifty dollars Z month and board
10 take charge Of the latter, and We
TOOK aboard ten tons Of coal to run it.
IL rrovisioued the schooner. and he
bought the very hes. Of every thing.
TIE store. for the crew were better
than tlo-a supplied for any coasters
cabin, and the cabin stores were equal
to those Of shy passenger steamer. H
bal hal. : hundred shark and other