Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-11-15


tives, to kidnap them or to introduce the
vices OF drink and gaming was king Of
that glorious little spot for nearly six
months, and II my sense had been equal to
my luck I'd be king there still"
So spoke tall. gaunt man who is known
to nearly every resident Of upper New
York city as Jack O'Brien. He is old now
and not rich, but he has enough Of this
earths dross to keep the wolf from the
door. and he Is wealthy in fund of expe-
rience and adventure such as falls to the
lot Of few men. His father was North
Of Ireland, Protestant. He and his six
brothers were born in New York city. All
father and sons-belonged to the volun-
teer fire department.
Along in the late fifties Jack became
sai!orman and a rover. After an absence
Of ten years he returned and found that
his father and brothers had gone to the
war as Union soldiers, and That five of the
latter had died, face to the front, on the
field of battle. Comparatively speaking,
Jack was wealthy in those days Of his
| early return, and he made things pleasant
for his surviving relatives He bought a
| small schooner--for the love OF the sea was
strong in his veins--and took them sailing
up and down the Atlantic coast.
Then, as time passed on, the weather
beaten Old adventurer from the south
Pacific struck his colors to the little god
Cupid. In other words, he met and mar
ried handsome, sensible woman, who is
still his wife. After that, naturally, l.
desired home on shore--not far from the
ocean, but still rock anchored and stable.
So he settled down in New York, sold his
| ship and, like the honest mariner he is,
fell prey to land sharks.
| A few thousands he had given to his
bride, and that they now have, but the re-
mainder Of his modest fortune he "let out, I"
as he terms it. to the still well Remembered
| firm of Grant e. Ward. OF course he
never got penny's return, but when the
crash came he faced the inevitable as
bravely as he had faced many q typhoon--
borrowed from my girl" as he phrases it
| made few judicious investments, and
now, as tho autumn of life comes on, il
able to calmly view the world from the
porch of his little suburban cottage and
| recall the events of his stormy and world
wide career.
| Because he has leisure after labor I
CHANGED to hear the strange story of how
Jack O'Brien became king and how he
lost his job.
1T was just after my little shindy with
the Alabama, when got out legal papers
and held that big Confederate cruiser for
three days in an Australian port until all
the Yankee vessels got away" remarked
the old gentleman, that l cleared from
Sydney for q copra cruise down among the
islands Samoa way.
II owned and commanded as taut a lit
tie craft as ever plowed south Pacific
waters, and had splendid crew of six
men. The second day out it came on to
blow. Then a fog shut everything from
sight, the steering apparatus got out of
order and it seemed AS though all the ele-
ments and deities were against us. We
couldn't keep our course. We could only
guess where we were, and all of us, myself
included, got panic stricken.
But we fought on as best we could until
late one dark night we heard the roar of
breakers. The current was carrying the
ship inshore like a helpless log, and the
only thing to do was for every man to
make his own struggle for life. The YES
sci struck, and from the way she ripped
| apart knew we were on a coral reef. A
second later all of us were in the water.
How got ashore l can't say but when
the sun came up found myself lying on
the beach, half naked, sore, bruised and
dazed. | staggered to my feet and got my
first conscious thought on seeing two OF
my men lying not far away and apparent.