Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-15

diamonds dpring the middle watch.
"'Could not oiie of your companions
have done it as reil?' / asked, ignoring
the suggestion about the sailors, for l
felt assured that none of the seamen
was concerned in the robbery. =
sailor would not have been SO partic-
ular about Sitting pocket, but would
have taken trousers and all. and, after
helping himself to what was in the
pockets, wonld have thrown the gar
ments overheard
Simon, however, was positive that
his travelling companions had nothing
to do w tn the theft, and. returning to
the sailor question again, he insisted
| that every member of the crew be
searched. This | refused to do, and
subsequently the matter was dropped.
But was not at all surprised to find a
few days later that his companions had
been inlustriously circulating the
story of the robbery of their friend,
and had so worked on the sympathies
of the other passengers that good
round sum was subscribed to help
make good the loss.
THE ship reach ed her port without
any new developments. In accordance
with the theory / had formed. l sent
for the boarding officer Immediately
upon arrival, and asked that four of
ficers be detailed to thoroughly scare II
the four worthless who occupied the one
stateroom."
And We're the diamonds found in
their possession?' asked the reporter.
Not trace of them. Before the
examination was concluded l suddenly
remembered having seen one of the
quartette in conversation with a young
girl who was among the Storage pas
sengers. l was convinced all along
that the four We're a gang OF SNUG
giers, and that they had calculated to
mislead the customs officers by the
yarn Of stolen jawelry. l fastened to
an officer and told him my suspicion
concerning the girl. but it was too late.
as she had already landed and disap-
peared. The whole plot was subse
quently unraveled, when it was found
that the gang had, by aid OF the girl
confederate, struggled in an immense
quantity of diamonds"
but they did it in a very bungling
fashion, and succeeded by w hat would
be called a fiule. did they not?' inquired
the young man with the note book.
Not at all. What you designate as
their bungling was the result OF shrewd
calculation. They purposely gave to
their story an appearance of improba-
bility in order to draw suspicion to
themselves SO that the one who really
had the diamonds would have a chance
to escape"
but how about the man Who
''Oh, the duplex passenger? Well, l
am coming to him. Let me see: 1t
was in the sixties, believe. One of
the confederate cruisers was then cut
ting pretty wide swath for herself
out upon the ocean. and sailing ships
that dew the American dag gave
strange steamers plenty of room to
swing around in. All. it was exciting
times then, my boy.
much of it consisted IN the i'm
pronptu races between steamships and
sailing vessels. Many are the ones /
have witnessed and taken part in.
There was something to test the sailor.
Talk about seamanShip. Let me tell
you some of the people who go to sea
nowadays and call themselves sailors
don't know a iaclstay from a dolphin
y
least half a dozen steamships ii this
very port to-day that have not 4 man
forward of their smobestaclls who can
but began to tell You of those uneX-
pected ocean races"
An uncOncerncd and impartial
listener might have said that he
started to tell of something far diff
ferent. but the ancient and somewhat
garrulous mariner was already outside
of Cape Hatteras and going south
a-humming before the young man who
was engaged il making hieroglyphics
in his notebook could interposc re-
minder of the original topic.
I'VE We're bound to the Brazils," con-
tinued the old man of the sea. carry
ing general cargo and few passen-
gers. Our ship had full steam and
auxiliary sail power. and there was
something about her appearance that
suggested a man-of-war. AS | said be-
fore, strange steamships We're not de-
sirable acquaintance in those days,
and we We're not at all surprised to see
every sailing ship take to her heels the
moment we were sighted from the
masthead.
Early one morning, when we'll off
the Windward islands, the lookout re-
ported full-rigged ship little off the
port bow and standing on the same
course as we were. The voyage had
begun to grow a little monotonous, and
we concluded to try our heels with the
stranger, just for amusement. As soon
as it was dawn we saw from the way
she was piling on canvas that she
thought our appearance too suspicious
to warrant close acquaintance. We
were willing to humur the joke, and the
came pouring out of the tunnels con-
firmed her belief that she had fallen in
with one of the dreaded confederate
cruisers.
''She was clipper-built, however. and
n very fast sailor. and for several hours
we found it as much as we could do to
hold our own with the winged racer. |
The wind was blowing in heavy gusts
from the northeast, but the plucky
skipper held on to his studding sails. |
the frequent squalls threat |
ened to carry all his spars over the side. |
Toward evening the wind grew |
lighter and suddenly died away to a |
breathless calm. Then came the tri |
umph of steam. We were rapidly near |
ing the towering pyramid of canvas.
idly against the masts, when |
suddenly the southern horizon grew |
livid from wind-whipped foam, and the |
next moment the big clipper was envel- |
oped in what is known to Seamen as a ]