Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-19
A FEMALE JACK TAR.
The Romantic Career of .ssafry Ann
BIckersr Of NcIfnrd.

Bfckers- OF Nedford.
From the Boston Globe.
Sairy Ann Biclxers IS me hun name. ef
You want that"
sairy Ann lives in Medford. and she has
history
She doesn't tel il to everybody. out she
made an exception yesterday in favor Of
the Globe woman "sence." as Sarah ex-
pressed It, you've took all the trouble ter
come out ter see me"
Sarah lives in a tiny house pe-ched up on
shelving bank on one side OF Fountain
street. and she has been in the washing
business" now for years.
but Sarah was moi always a washer-Wo-
man. She has been good deal OF a tray
eier IN her Gay. having seen something u
me west in TINS country and some Of The
solthern states, as wei as South Ameri-a.
che mas been an Cuba, and she has been
round Cape Horn. she has been IN he
last indies and lot more smaller places
mat "a. can Just remember she says. for
was pretty young at the time, ana ssrt
loisel ane4I naHaes.
Don't you wish 70 tell the Globe readers
All about AZ she was asked. and now You
came TO go so TAR a.ld how IN happens tlat
You wear mems shirts ana hats and Keep
your halr clipped IL you were a msn,
anu now you came by these tattoo symbols
on your hands and arms. and where You
learned TO use tobacco-in short all about
your odd experiences
AFTER some persuasion she told The fsl-
MY father was an Injun, an he lived
out ter Concord here IN Massachusetts,.
HIS name was William Davis, AN our
tongue; can't remember what IL was in
inJun language.
she waz white woman, who come over
ter this country from England My, b1t
she was powerful ugly to us children.
ell, my father and mother moved down
10 New Brunswick, 20 st. Johns. n hvf-l
there for n spell in Injun Town. Bill and
l wuz born there, or goin' down. 1 don't
know which.
Then after a time we moved again over
10 Nova Scotia, between Sand Point and
Pilot Cove. Father by this time owaed a
little fishing vessel, n me and brother
Bill use ter help him all the time iishin'
BY N by We got SO we could set the nets
n ketch the nsh alone, n father use ter
go on coasttng roun' m sell them.
Then he went of ter the East Indies, n
there he caught the yellow fever n come
home n died with IL.
Well, Bin n me, we put him In tie
wheelbarrow n carried him down back w
the barn n buried him.
we had a harder time than ever after
that First, mother cleared out. N new
er seen er heard tell of her agin. We heat
lived for a time with an aunt, n she 'bused
US awful
Finally one day Bin says TO me: 'Sairy..
he says. What, Billy. dear SEE l. 4 WIS
awful fond o Bill n he wuz o. me. too.
SEE e. "a been down ter the wharf N
got chance fer you n me ter 40 On a
voyage. win you do'tT
WIN L. SEE l. L will Wei. he sea
N
boy. cause they wouldn't have no girls On
ooard, n l got the place fer me and ne
All right BILL I sez TN do anything
you say. That night he dressed me Up m
some NV his things. and cut my hair on
an we Skinned down outside an got away.
HE'D told the captain that we'd have 10
run away in order TO get of so the captain
his name was Patterson-hid Us until We
were under way.
BIN went as a sailor, and I went in the
galley 70 cook j don't know, 10 tell yoa
the Lords truth. how old 1 wuz but 1 sup
pose We must a been about nfteen years
Wed shipped on a vessel that took one
cargo from one place and one from another.
thlhg else. We wuz year and nine
Cape Horn.
Bin wuz a pious chap. but learned 70
drink and swear and smoke.
NOn our way home from that trip, when
we wnz only three miles of the coast %
Halifax. Bin fell from a yard arm ana
broke blood vessel, and that wuz the end
o. him.
That wuz an awful blow fer me. can
tell You. Poor Bin, we'd always been to-
gether, MT / couldn't get along without
some one a hndin' out that / WIZ q girl
II IL hadn't been fer him.
here to Boston.
Il was cuttin' up some o. my monkey
shines one night. dom fancy dances thaf
I'D learned while 1 wuz at sea an Mr.
Brown came In Brown kept a dance hall
on North street, along by Black Seas; Low
it's Blackstone street.
He offered me 81 a night ter go Town ter
his place and dance, an went an dances
there every night for four years
Then everybody knew ] wuz a girl. fer
uset ter dance in boomers.
Next for eight years. 1 worked out in
South Nauck. on a farm.
Next i went out TO Chicago with Law
yer Pixies family.
Then. for four years. ] lived with Mrs.
Peabody, In Wellington. and then con-
In
ia business and 1 go inter that an here
1 am.
For twenty-four years I've been living
here in Medford. YOU see I'm an old
citizen OF the place. Yes. I'm married. an
years old. but she's pretty wild I guess
She's over in Boston som'eres.
m dom well enough meself. I've got
husband. James Bickers. but he don't
but 1 amt goin' ter complain, I hev all
can do, and sometimes, when he's SICK. he
comes round. and do the best I can fer
him.
"Berryin' an fishin' is my delight"
apropos OF which statement OF Sarah's Il
may be added THAI the townspeople and
( those who live around Spot pond say there
Is no man anywhere round who can han
Ole oars as skillfully as she can.
Sarah owns the little house that she lives
her life. and has heaps Of friends" so she
certainly seems pretty well of now despite
the hard time she has had getting 20 her
present state OF comparative comfort.
Didn't the tattooing hurt you. Sarah
20. yes. your hand swells ups highs
that" measuring a couple OF inches. but
the pain don't last more'n a day or So"
Sarah doesn't know how old she Is. but
beaten and her manner is more that Of a
man than a woman Nevertheless she has