Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1891-08-01


with the reputation of the Barnegat folk
Of half century ago; but that is hardly
to be wondered at. 1t is quite as much
as live man can do nowadays, even by
giving a good deal of attention to it, to
protect his good name, so what ''show
can the necessarily silent dead be ex.
pected to have? The fact is that the
"wreckers of Barnegat" were not by any
means so black as they have been paint
ed. That modest claim in their behalf
scarcely seems sufficient, for the same
thing is proverbially said of the devil, 50
we may in strict justice go farther and
affirm that among them were not few
very excellent men and women who
never lighted false beacon fires or swung
a ships lantern from "a cows horns.
Unhappily there were then many
wrecks on that dangerous coast, for
warning lights were not SO numerous as
they now are, and the loss of life in
those disasters was great, since there was
no such well organized AMI admirably
equipped life saving corps as we at pres
eut have. When the wrecks occurred
the dwellers on Barnegat beach assumed
that all rights of hotsam and jetsan
were theirs, and perhaps piously viewed
the casting ashore Of a rich cargo as a
special providence in their behalf. But
the cruel treachery Of luriug u vessel t.
destruction by means of false lights was
an infrequent crime-whGteYer sensa-
tional legend makers may say to the con-
trary-and there were numbers of brave
strong men there who many Il time
horoically risked their lives to save ship
wrecked persons from the terrible waves
that in stormy weather thunGered upon
those sanls.
David King and his stalwart sons,
Donald and Andrew, We're among the
foremost Of those who habita&.ly So dis
tinguished themselves. No one was
more daring and indefatigable in captrr-
ing valuables from wreck than were
the Kings, but they would at any mo.
ment abandon the most tempting piece
of salvage to save a drowning sailor,
and that could not be truthfully said OF
all their neighbors. There was those
who averred that this eccentricity
brought the family good luck, and this
imagining had not little good effect in
encouraging others to emulate their hu-
name example, so that in time it came
to be noted that wrecks were much less
fatal in their neighborhood than upon
other parts of the beach.
Janet King, the only daughter Of Da-
vii, had almost as much strength and
dexterity with the oars Gs had either of
her brothers, and WAS quite their equal
in courage, which is equivalent to
saying that in all the qualifications
demanded for existence on BarneSat
in those days she had no superiors in
the community. And consensus of the
opinions of the young men in the viciu-
ily would have unqualidedly sustained
the affirmation that in point of good
looks she he'd no equals. OF course other
young women saw defects in her style of
beauty. They affirmed that her eyes
were tCo big and black, her wayy raven
black hair altogether too long and heavy,
the voluptuous roundings of her finely
developed form quite 100 pronounced.
But that was to be expected. The girls
of Barnegat were not radically different
from other girls. Janet was not simply
pretty" OF ''good looking" but actually
beautiful to degree that awed the
young fellows about her, caused them ia
feel awkward in her presence and made
them shy of attempting advances to her,
however wistfully they looked upon her
from a respectful distance.
But one day there came big, blue
eyed, flaxen haired young hunter from
the distant city of New York vino was
not so easily abashed, but rather inspired
by beauty, and who very promptly made
his admiration for her quite apparent.
Selden Rangely was, he said, his
name. He had been duck shooting up
about the mouth of Forked river until
success became monotonous, and leaving
his boat in the bay he had wandered
along the coast aimlessly until ne reach
ed the hamlet where the Kings were
leading citizens and found shelter III
their house. There WAS in his mind q
half formed purpose Of strolling On a.
far us Mays landing, or perhaps even