The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-13

plum. The Pacific Coast company then
chartered or subsidized nearly every boat
on the coast, SO that the new contractors
would have no vessel to put on the route.
TIL Seattle company finally succeeded in
buying a steamer, the Yaquina. She was
lying at Portland, Ore, loaded with lime,
and the agreement was that she was to de-
liver her cargo in Seattle and then sail for
Alaska. But the very night after her pur-
chase she took fire and was completely dc.
resort, went to Rev. j. T. Ludlow and Of
fered him a large sum of money if he would
cut the Evangel in two, put in a piece
tw ,nty feet long and put her on tho Alaska
route instead of using her as a gospel ship.
Mr.. Ludlow accepted the offer and re-
lions he had received from the churches.
The changes in the Evangel were readily
made. but just before she was ready the Pa
cific Coast Steamship company offered Lud-
low $24,O0 if he would keep her off the
route. This he refused and she started for
Alaska with the mail, but on her very first
trip the crown sheet of her boiler burned
out when she was only a little way north of
Victoria. There was a suspicion that the
engineer had been bribed to cripple the ves-
sci, but however that may be. she had to re-
turn to Seattle for repairs. Th new con-
tractors gave up and the mail contract re-
verified to the Pacific Coast Steamship COM
pany.
By the time the Evangel had been put
into condition again she had cost Ludlow
so much money that he found it necessary
to put her to work carrying freight and pas
sengers on the sound in order to save him.
self from financial ruin, for it was impossi-
scheme for a Gospel ship. Capt. TAFT, Lud-
lows s%on-in-law, was placed in command of
her, and Rev. Mr.. Karnes, a broken down
minister, was one OF the deck hands,. In
choosing his crew Mr.. Ludlow insisted that
profane and wicked sailors should not BIZ
employed, and 80 every one on board was a
model of piety. In spite of such favorable
conditions for navigation the Evanqel was
not a financial success. AS originally de-
signed she was a neat little craft with am ole
machinery, but when heightened she was
too large for her power. and a praying
crew could not counterfeit the effect of her
weak engines.
After a few months Mr.. Karnes became
tired of his career as q steamboat rousta-
bout, and 80 he settled on a ranch and in
time became quite we'll to do. Business for
the Evangel was dull and after she
had been a drag on Mr.. Ludlow for two or
three years, she was chartered to Herbert
+. Beecher, of Port Townsend, son of the
lats Rev. Henry Ward Bseeher. 1t will be
remembered that President Cleveland ap-
pointed young MIR. Beecher collector of Gus
toms in this Puget sound district, and that
Mr.. Beecher's administration of the Office
gave rise to ouch serious scandal and
charges that he connived at smuggling tina
the senate refused to confirm the appoint
naent, which was made during a recess.
Whatever may have been the exact truth re-
Rarding Beecher's administration of the
custom house, it is certain that while he had
the Eyangel she had the reputation of be-
ing the most notorious smugglef on the
sound. Wherever she went the customs
officers and the revenue cutter regarded
her as q suspect. Beecher had her about
a year. but he could not have been suc-
c%essful, for he never paid tho charter
money, though suit was brought to recover
the amount.
Ludlow, who was financially ruined, was
at last forced to sell the ship, and she did
actually make a series of cruises to the
sawmllls and logging camps, somewhat as
had been at first intended. But instead
of carrying her cabins full of preachers
and tracts, she had a crew OF abandoned
women and gamblers. Tho Evangsl would
tie up at a camp until the loggers had spent
their last cent, and then she would stea m
on a little further and renew her missionary
work.
Thu gospel ship finally fell into the hands
Of Capt. VIM Mann and a Mr.. Morgan, of
Port Townsend, and at the time of the
boiler explosion, a day or two ago, she was
covering a regular freight and passenger
route between Port Townsend and Beiliisg-
ham bay. Whom the accident occurred she
was lying at the Whutcom wharf.
Ludlow. who is now in Japan doing mis-
sionary work, is n very eccentric man. He
hates tobacco, and when he lived here he
would throw open every window and door in
his office if q man entered smoking. His
younger son he naMsd Pilgrim Stranger Lud-