The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-11

once, however, there arose curious stories
about the Timothy LeghOrn. Various
passengers complained that they were
unable to sleep in their berJhs because of
woman who came to them whenever
they tried to sleep on board the boat with
a rope about her throat, and cried: Muir
der. murderu'
1t was thought strange that these per-
sons, who are not acquainted with Mrs
Van Hessel, invariably described the
phantom woman as OF her appearance.
And this was not all the crew of the
Timothy also began to drop of, and it
was found difficult TO engage others in
their places, for they all declared that
there We're groans and signs about the
boat that were inexplicable from q
natural standpoint One man vowed that
he had seen Mrs. Van Hessel come out of
the captains cabin, and that she disap
perred over the side of the vessel, and
that when he ran to see if she was in re-
ality drowning there was no break in the
water ana no ripple to show where any
body had gone down.
Another declared that gentleman
Frank came on board one evening late
and entered his old quarters, but that
when the man followed to see if it were
indeed Frank he found the place empty,
and though he looked carefully there was
no one nor SIGN of anyone resembling the
missing deckhand on the vessel. These
stories were added to almost every trip
the Timothy made and, people grew to
look askance at her and her captain.
Finally the owners of the bOat-Van
Hessel had only a small interest in her
got wind of the affair and called a meet
ing, when it was decided to make the cap
tain an offer for his share in the vessel
and buy him out, when it would be easy
to put somebody in his place, and it was
hO1 aH fb1 when THE GNnA iNn c t0,sia
would die out. 1t was found that Van
Hessel was willing enough TO sell out and
was accordingly bought on and left the
country, as was supposed.
Another captain was appointed and the
Timothy, painted afresh and refurnished
as TO the passengers quarters, was
started. as it were, anew in life But at
The end of her first trip under these al
tered circumstances the captain sought
the owners and rendered his resi- gnation.
Inquiry as to the reason for this at first
failed TO draw anything from him, for,
as he acknowledged, he was afraid of be-
ing laughed at but he finally told that
his cabin was haunted by a woman whom
ne had found IN his bunk night after
night with a rope tied so tightly about
her throat that it was swollen and purple.
VAN HEssEL's LAST ACT.
This had become so uncomfortable that
ne udu DSeu lOfCCu 20 desert ms caDln,
and go down and share the sleeping quar-
ters Of the crew. 1t then came to light
that the men also had their complaint
They, too, had been bothered by the
groans of a man who seemed to cry out all
night long in the hold of the vessel The
boat had been unloaded even to find this
/ man, but nothing, not any trace of a man
had been found among the bales and
boxes, and yet the day after she was
loaded up for her return trip this groaning
was to be heard even louder than before.
/ A lady who had come back with the
/ Timothy had been made very i'll by see
/ ing, late one evening, a woman clad in
I the common clothes of the river women
standing beside her. She had turned to
/ look at this stranger, never having no
1 ticed her aboard before, and though the
liEht was insufficient to see her face en-
tirely, she Gould make out that she was a
stranger and seemed to be suffering but
even as she looGed the woman sprang
overheard, or was pushed, for the action
did not seem, according to the lady's ac-
count, to be voluntary, but when the
passenger screamed out and brought help