Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-09-25
TALES OF THE SEA.
WElaD YARNS or TIE sUpenNAT-
UaAL SPUN ey TIKI CAPTAIN.

iuchy mark IN ere Domerara Trade That
Was aaia % 10 uauntod-1hs Story Of an
rnne rsom salvador.
We were eating dinner ono night o.
che old cargo ship aud talking Of Uo
happenings nt sea md on shore that arc
called supernatural when tho captain
said;
Zone secs some things ct sen not ga
pornaturai which arc nc 20 makoa nory-
Gus man zee ghosta There was that case
IN one Of Green's liners So the colonies
whore q man wal sont down 20 clean
ont the chain locker. The locker had
SCENE. foul al the passage home, and
80 they hoisted out tho chain and sent
this fellow down with his brush and
soap and bucket. with q lamp. TO clean
il out Ill wager he saw ghosts for a
year after that, for when he'd got down
on his knees 20 begin sorubhinR he
found himself bending over the skull Of
= dead man.
ut was most likely a man that had
slowed away out IA the colony and had
been caught under tho cable when they
were running it down quickly, and 90
had the life crushed ont Of him.
"Howover, I did know Of q case that
seemed supernatural right enough. It
was in the Domerara trade, and I was
acquainted with tho first officer Of tho
bark where il all happened
''In tho first place, while she was out
there loaded and ready to sail, tho cap
tain had trouble with one Of tho soamen,
who drew out his knife and stabbed him
20 death then and there. Tho mate after
ward took her home, but on the way q
passenger took to niling in some mysteri-
Gus fashion aud up aud died very sud-
denly.
"Of course sho was a haunted ship
when she arrived home. and 70 the
owners had her name changed, and she
was reftted and painted up entirely
different from what she had been. Then
she sailed away with a new captain, but
on the way out no took to drink, and by
the time she reached Demerara he was
or his head and killed himself with q
revolver.
"Now she was haunted, sure enough,
II you could believe the mate. Mind
you, after she was redtted the mate said
never a word to the new captain about
what had happened IN her before, and
even when a new captain came out from
homo to take charge Of her, believing
that the last captain was naturally q
drunkard, instead Of one who had taken
to it after coming ON this ship, this first
officer neversaid aword, because he did
not believe in ghosts or even in q future
state.
However, the frat night the new
captain waS on board the trouble began.
The captain at about 8 O'Clock went to
his room and retired. An hour later he
was calling the mate and telling that
he had gone to sleep and then had been
awakened by a light in the o On
opening his eyes no saw a short, thick
set man. with side whiskerE, in the
armchair at the desk, leaning over, with
his elbows on the desk, holding his
head between his hands and saying:
oh, my poor headf Oh, my poor headP
THAT was enough for the mate. He
left the vessel that night with all hands.
This new captain knew nothing Of the
style or manner Of the one who had
killed himself, and yet the picture
ghost or what you may call it-in the
chair WAS the image in appearance and
dress of tho suicide and had complained
in precisely the words and voice Of the
dead man."
This brought out the story of an exile
from Salvador whom the narrator met
in Guatemala Having got into trouble
with the authorities, Senior Don Sebas-
tian Mojariota saved his life by fleeing
TO Amapala, Honduras, as many another
exile has done, and there taking a
steamer north to San Jose, Guatemala.
A friend Of his who was involved in
like manner was to have reached Amap-
ala by q different route in time for the
same steamer, and to prevent any possi-
BILE delays Mojarieta engaged ~statorooms
and secured passes from the Amapala
authorities for his friend and himself as
0 as he arrived. But the steamer day
came without his friend, and Mojarieta
was obliged to sail alone.
"At the usual hour, on tho first night
out, f" the story teller went on, mo
jarieta retired and went to sleep, but
had no sooner dozed OF than he awoke,
hearing his friends voice, as he says,
In the next stateroom, which he had
supposed to be empty. Leaving his berth,
he went out into tho passageway and
opened the door to the adjoining Soom,
and there, he says, no saw lying in the
berth the body Of his friend fully dressed,
but with three bullet holes IN the breast
Of his coat and one in the right cheek.
"At that Mojarieta tainted aud was
found ON the deck by the steward and
put to bed again. Thereafter IL was a
most miserable passage, for the vessel
touched at both Of the Salvador ports
and was about a week reaching San
Jose. Mojarieta was sure his friend had
been shot and exp .cted a force to come
OF from each Of the Salvador ports "a
demand him. Moreover, he was haunt.
cd continually by that picture Of hii
| dead friend.
"Once in Guatemala no obtained en-
ployment quickly and then began to 70
cover something Of his former spirits.
He asoribod his vision to his over
wrought imagination and was begin.
ming 70 hope that his friend would YET
appear when a letter was received from
a relative in Salvador II not only told
that the friend had been shot by the
government soldiers, but Described the
wounds Of the body after il was dead,
Mojariota declares that the description
accurately portrayed the vision he hac
Of his friend, and he believes that hi
friends spirit, being unable to rest 81
wholly throw of its desire to take pas
sage on the steamer, had come on boar,
and was occupying that berth Nov
York Sun.