San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-08-04

SENATOR GEORGE c. PERKINS.
ventures, too, and when in the mood he
can entertain his fellow senators with
,romances of the sea that equal the tales
tof Marryat.
| One story of the romantic side of a
lsailor's life is told by the California
tsenator, story which shows that truth is
Indeed stranger than fiction. He shipped
with brig loaded with lumber from St
John, N. B., bound for Dublin. Among
1.-THE crew we've three boys younger than
himself. Tl brig Lizzie Thompson had
never been sea, and she was found to be
zinnseaWo1 after few days out. The
crew, il50 ing the boys, consisted of
but Is hands. The boys got sick and
did not want aIgo any farther after the
brig began to leak The men did not
like the looks of things and mutinied
They refused to work the pumps and
insisted that the vessel should be put
back, and the captain was finally COM
PEELED to yield. That he was wild about
being forced to do something against
his will by the mutiny of the crew
those who know the nature of the aver
age sea captain of 40 years ago will
easily imagine.
| They came back to st. John and an
chored, awaiting the action of the au-
thorities. The three boys were disguised
with the whole sailing business and
had had enough of the sea. Perkins
iagreed to get them off and away. He
chose a time when the tide was coming
in and the current was very strong.
The tide rises % feet at st. John, high
er than at any other port in the world.
He got the three boys in a boat and was
about to let go when one of them re-
fused to go unless his chest was carried
along as we'll This was impossible, and
the boy clambered out, leaving Perkins
and the other two in the boat. A long
line was attached to the painter of the
boat, and they slipped away from the
ship as if they were merely having a
little frolic on the tide. But the rope
soon parted, as Perkins knew it would,
and the boat sped away ON the tide like
an arrow The boys We're taken to a
place of safety, and ON the ebb tide Per
kins returned. OF course it was an acct
dent, and he was not large enough to
bring back two boys nearly as large as
himself. The fact that he returned was
evidence of his good faith, and neither
he nor any member of the crew was
punished for mutiny. The ship was re-
paired and made an uneventful voyage
The boys he helped to get away shipped
ON brig to Providence, and he lost
sight of them
Last year a big fellow walked into
Mr.. Perkins Office in Oakland and
asked him if his name was George Glenn
ents. He said Eyes" for that was the
name he went by in his seafaring days.
well, y responded the big fellow, 81
am one of those boys you helped get
away from the Lizzie Thompson in St.
John harbor." He soon proved his
truthfuiness by mentioning incidents
which none but he could know. He had
had quite a varied experience, having
been through the entire war, and after
it was over settled in San Jose, Cal He
did not know that the prominent ship
owner and merchant, George g. Perkins,
was once his shipmate, and it was only
after Mr.. Perkins was elected to the
senate, when some of his early history
was published as well as the fact that
he was in his younger days known as
George Clements, that it occurred to him
that his boyhood frieAd and the senator
were the same person. Both had seen
much of life since they parted on the St
Johns tide.
Once when Mr.. Perkins was making
Z SRsech in the has-ip favor Of the