The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-23
PENALTY OF BEING FAT.
heavyweight Listens 60 a START
ling Tale OF the Sea.
From ID - Vol B..

Inc thin man was twaddling his thumbs:
the fat man was reading HstIessly. Soil
tude makes all the world kin The thin
man eoughed, attracted the others at
tentlon, and hesitatingly spoke.
Sir' l-er-hope you will pardon a
stranger addressing you. The fact is.
you are-er-rather feshy."
SIR
tissue"
What do you mean by that?" growled
me rat man, laying down his paper and
frowning deeply
oh. nothing. nothing" replied the thin
man pleasantly. Il meant no offense.
I'm not looking for gore so early. made
the observation partly because 1 was fat
once myself. l have a fellow feeling"
You have. eh?" grunted the fat man.
somewhat Modified.
Yes. Why, excess Of flesh almost cost
me my life"
Heart couldn't work." said the other.
becoming interested.
No"
Liver. lungs, kidneys?"
No; It was in another way. Got far
to rider"
To Eighth street"
Well. then, I'll tell you. 1t isn't a very
long story"
Go ahead"
Ten years ago." began the thin man,
1 had more bull meat on me than you
haVe-er-could imagine. / tipped the hay
scales a 3l3 pounds. OF course. l had
some difficulty In getting around. and in
hot weather 1 suffered. Ny doctor ad-
vised an ocean voyage-a sailing trip. He
said 1t might reduce my flesh.
So l went as the only passenger on a
sailing vessel which left New York for
Cape Town, Africa. They fed me on salt
horse and crackers. Neither that diet or
the sea air took away any of my flesh.
In fact. think l gained a pound or two.
We'll, about a month after we sailed
the provisions began TO run short There
had been some deuced bad management.
The discovery was not made until then.
Three days later a most terrific storm,
West India hurricane. simeon, tornado
and cyclone combined, came along. We
seemed lost a dozen times. Every spar
was blown away. The captain was
washed overheard in the middle of the
night.
For two days the storm lasted. BY
miracle It seemed, we were ahoat-in
fact, didn't leak a drop. But there was
no means of making sail; we could only
wait for a passing vessel to rescue us.
Worst Of all, some kegs of beef had been
washed into the ocean; the biscuit was
soaked; we had food for only sixty hours!
when that time elapsed starvation be-
gan The danger of the situation had
made me friendly with the crew. did
not suffer much from the lack Of food.
because 1 had good reserve fund of fat
to draw on for nourishment.
ION the fifth day noticed for the first
time that the crew seemed TO avoid me.
The next day, when | found them having
a whispered consultation, they started ~,
guilty, every man.
What's the matter, mates?" says /,
cheerfully You don't think I'm the Jonah
of this voyage, do you? Brace up, Wen all
be saved yet.
The men made no answer. / returned 10
the cabin, feeling uneasy. The day after
that, as l was leaning over the stern,
heard a footstep behind. turned and saw
the carpenter sneaking up on me with
big club in his hand. The rest of the crew
were watching little distance away, with
eagerness marked in their emacated coun-
tenances. 1 yelled and the carpenter let
fly.
1.-THE club missed me by hair and few
into the sea. l picked up a fnarlinspik@.
The carpenter retreated. Then went right
up to the crew.
:" Mates says, the carpenter has JUST
tried to murder me, and l want to know
the reason why. We're likely enough to be
all dead men soon and where's the gain
in killing any one | can't see.
There was long silence.
Thomas says l to the bosn, you
know what's the matter. Speak up
." Mister Murdoch. says the bo's'n, in
an embarrassed way, we might as well out
with the truth. You're a passenger and
paid money to sail on this ere bark ana
all that Howsoever, calculations have
changed. The cap'n is dead and we're
starvin'. You're a big, fat man-and-and
you'd oughter sacrifice yourself
:" What the devil do you mean?' cried,
shaking with apprehension
he hos n
you're nice and fat, Mister Murdoch. If
one man dies, sixteen can live
Monsters 1 shrieked. the horrible
truth forcing itself upon me. 'Cannl-
bals You would slay me and devour my
flesh"
"'wen,' says the cook, sulkily, edgios
toward me- somebody's got to be tixed
up. You're the latest and you don't
rightly belong on this sailing vessel, any
way
"The carpenter began to walk slowly
toward me holding another club concealed
behind his back. l saw it was useless to
argue with such men.
- The first villain 1 bawled. that comes
within three feet Of me, I'll kill with this
spike!'
THAT kept 'em off a bit. cautiously
backed toward the cabin, the hungry crew
following. 1 jumped into the cabin, shut
the door and barricaded it. There I was
safe. Inc next Jay L went out anu lne
crew didn't touch me. a week later, when
we were all in bad shape and two men had
gone crazy we were rescued"
How was it," asked the fat man. eager
". that the crew didn't attack you when
YOU left the cabin? You seem to have in
tentionally neglected that important
point"
"Oh. yes" replied the thin man, cheer
fully. as if he expected the question; Il
found in the cabin a bottle of Allsopp's
anti-fat, which reduced me to what l am
now within twelve hours. I'm agent for
it. Fifty cents-all drug stores-you'd bet
ter buy a bottle"'
"Fower-teenth street, shouted the
guard.
The thin man bolted for the door.
Either drunk or a blasted liar" NUT
tered the fat man, as he got out al the
next station below.
Purifying Water.