The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-13
IT'S THE SAME OLD STORY
SOME VERY QUEER SCENES IN NO.
3 ON THE PORT SIDE.

| From the NetD YORK sun.
WASHINGTON, June ct was not on ac-
count of the ghost that the United States
steamship Monongahela was recently over
hauled and reconstructed as to her berth
deck, but the officers who are newly as
signed to her as wondering whether or not
the phantom of old Surgeon Keiser will
continue to bother the ship, now that his
former haunting quarters have been broken
up by the carpenters.
Unlike the ordinary spook narrative. the
story of old Keiser's ghost deals with facts
Everyone knows the Monongahela, to the
command of which Commander James
Haban Sands, U. s. N, has recently been
appointed Not an officer who has sailed
upon her within the last thirteen years is
una cQuainted, at least by hearsay, with the
phantom. To some or them tine acquaint-
| ance is not altogether one of hearsay, as is
| attested by the fact that the third room on
the port side of the ward room has been left
vacant now for three voyages.
That was the room occupied thirteen
years ago by old Surgeon Kelser He had
/ it because, in the usual order of precedence
room No. belonged to the chief engineer
and room No. to the paymaster, room
No. being relegated to the marine officer
while the officers in the line had their cabins
on the starboard side of what is pict-
uresquely called on board ship the ward
room country" 1t is necessary to locate
room No. 3 accurately, for the reason that
it was the scene OF a very remarkable cpl
sode
Old Surgeon Keiser was a character well
known in the navy for years. His droll
vagaries, not infrequently verging upon
improperly ofttimes kept the wardroom
| mess in q roar when other wise dullness
would have become chronic. The brightest
mess on the happiest of ships lapses into
stupidity after a while. Each man has ex-
hausted for the benefit of the rest his stock
of yarns and information; the fellows have
split up into little cliques of two or three,
according to mutual congeniality, and
the the bare attempt at joke is
nipped in the bud by general and
derisive howl. Who that has ever sailed on
naval vessel has found it otherwise And
yet, old Keiser was always a sunbeam. 1t
was a matter of remote speculation as to
when, If ever, he had been entirely sober
When Intercepted on the point, he would
say that he could not himself remember.
But he was always cheerfulness and amia-
bllity itself in his cups, and, if there is any
truth in the phrase, "In vino veritas," the
surgeon of the Monongahela on that voy-
age thirteen years ago was gentleman.
Unfortunately alcohol is poison. Act
ing specifically as a heart stimulant, it
engenders an artificial cheerfulness or other
Imoods according to the constitution of the
individual. Incidentally IL destroys the
coating of the stomach, occasions a morbid
condition of the liver and kidneys, and, in
advanced cases, even oats away the cover
ing of the nerves that ramify through the
brain. 1t is very likely that some of these
troubles destroyed old Keiser. At all events
When the time came his medical knowledge
told him that he was going to die. His last
| words were:
"Dear boys, you see in me a man who
never did any good in this world. You
have liked me, and love you for 1t. I've
often heard you say the wardroom mess
wouldn't be a mess at all without old
Keiser 50 I'll tell you what I'll do, boys
| I'll be around as usual, just as always-in my
room, No. on the port side, and in the sick
bay-so that you can't say. old fellows, that
| ever left the ship"
There was a good many of the, veteran
seaman who wiped their eyes with their
sleeves when old Keser was dropped over
board in hammock, with the stars and
stripes wrapped around him, and two or
three Of the youngsters in the mess regu~
larly blubbered outright. For you must
| remember that Keiser was downright loved
on board. though nobody realized how
much he was loved until the old boy had
been swung off the side with forty-pound
shot at his heels. And no one believes that
if he came back, as he promised to do, he
had any intention to annoy any one. That
was not like old Keiser at all.
All the same, he did come back and haunt
the ship, as he said he would. OF the Off
GERS who have SUCCESSFULLY been quartered
since his demise in the third room on the
port side of the Monongahela's wardroom
every one has sought an early opportunity
to relinquish the berth, although as rule
they have declined to admit that they were
induced to move by any supernatural man
festations. They found themselves un-
comfortable, it may be. from causes
altogether natural. There was the story
to begin with, which, discussed in the
mess, might we'll excite their imaginations,
and there are always strange and unac-
countable noises on board ship at sea that
are calculated to supply ghostly thoughts
. to a wakeful man. Even In the yarns cur
rent among the crew, old Keiser's spook
figured conspicuously, and several of the
men, consigned at various times to the sick
bay, forward on the orlop deck, swore that
they had seen the phantom of the former
surgeon, with his familiar one eye and red
beard, pottering about among the medicines
during the mid watch. But, of course, the
untrustworthiness of sailors stories is
proverbial There was one blue
I jacket who gave some trouble on this &C.
| count He was not very seriously ill; but
he told the doctor one morning that his
, time had come. Old DIR. Keiser's ghost, he
j said, had sat down beside his bed that night,
and felt his pulse with clammy fingers.
, Therefore, he knew he was going to die
And in fact, though there was nothing very
, bad the matter with him, the fellow did
nearly go, through sheer conviction that his
case was hopeless.
That little event occurred about three
months before Saunders Joined the ship.
Saunders was a good looking young fellow,
about 80, with red cheeks and blonde whis-
= l1ers, and he was down in the navy list as
! passed assistant surgeon. Though six years
; have gone by since then-the Monongaheia
I has been laid up in ordinary for the last
; three or four-no one who was in the mess
. will have forgotten his irrepressible good
q spirits and the intense vanity which he ap.
peared to indulge as to the whiskers afore-
said. He had no supersttions whatever, he
declared, and it was with entire satisfaction
that he established himself, with his goods
and chattels, in room on the port side.
The goods and chattels included, among
= other things, an extensive collection Of arti-
: Giles for the hair, notwithstanding the fact
= that Saunders was very nearly bald headed.
= Saunders room was fitted up pretty much
as is customary with wardroom officers
quarters ordinarily. 1t was about seven
. feet square, the berth occupying nearly the
half of it that joined the side of the vessel
e-ll -