The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-08
-e-a3r-e----------
DID JACK HOODOO THE TEXASs
Mysterious Pap That Came Aboard
the UnIucl<y Ship.

cot of the battleship Texas? That is the
question:; and those who are learned in
magic and spells are invited to concentrate
| their esoteric intelligences on it. Anyhow,
| he was the ships dog, and now he has dis
| appeared and gone as mysteriously as he
came. 1t will be remembered that in one
of the versions of the story of Faust the
| devil materializes from a big black dog
which had followed DR. Faustus home.
| The sailors of the Texas, however are
not superstitious, and don't believe in
| Faust or hoodoos, and they think the
world of Jack. He precipitated himself
upon the decks of the battleship one day
when she was lying at the navy yard
| about two months ago. No one knew
| where he came from or how he got where
| he was.
He was big, good-natured Newfound-
| land and at once became the pet of the
crew. They named him Texas Jack and
made a collar for him, upon which was
| sewed one of the ships ribbons bearing
| the legend ~. S. S. Texas" The erratic
| career of the Texas did not disturb Jack.
He liked the ship and the ships company
| liked him. so he waxed exceedingly fat
and lazy. The other day when Jack was
called to partake of some slight refresh
| ment he did not answer. He had vanished
| gone as mysteriously as he came. No
| one had seen him leave the ship, and in
! quiry about the yard failed to reveal any
|
| refuse to believe that Jack materiallzed
and then dematerialzed in an uncanny
manner, but incline to the now prosaic pc
| lief that he was stolen by some other
ship.
Between the sailors of the Texas and the
sailors on the various other ships at the
| yard there is more or less GOODNESS exist
| ing at present. Sometimes, on shore, this
| GOODNESS is transformed into sudden and
! violent heat. Everybody on the Texas,
| from Capt. Glass down to the Jack-o'-the-
| Dust swears by the ship. and you had
! better get your life heavily insured be-
| fore you begin to speak about hoo
| dooed ship" in the presence of Texas
! sailor. The sailors on the other ships are
! inclined to guy the unfortunate vessel;
! hence the strained relations between the
crew of the Texas and the crews of the
! other ships.
In the Wallabout, just ahead of the bat
tleship Maine, the Essex is fitting out.
She is a training ship for apprentice boys.
A curious thing happened when the Es-
| sex was on her last trip across the At
| lantic. The sea was smooth, the wind
| light and the Essex was steaming slowly
| along, scarcely ripping the broad expanse
of sun-lit water, except where her screw
! churned a white wake of foam that
| spread out fan-shaped over the intense
| blue. All around the ship the water was
alive with fish that leaped and darted and
swan about searching for the scraps
| which the cooks threw overheard, The
| captain thought it would be a good day
! for pistol target practice, so a target was
| moved astern, and the men and boys
| plugged away at it. After target practice
| a lot of the crew went to fishing and soon
| caught enough to supply the messes, for
ward and aft. When the cooks went to
! clean these fishes they found in the in
| sides of every one of them one or more
! of the bullets which had been fired that
| day.
Now don't say that be Slowed for a
| yarn The officers and men who were
on the Essex at the time are ready to make
their affidavits to it, and the ship herself
| is at the Brooklyn hayward to testify to
the fact When the bullets struck the
water they became spent and dropped
downward The fish darted and caught
! them, thinking they were little fish or
contributions from their friends and final
once swallowed a bullet it was too late
to rectify its mistake. So the captain
got part of his ammunition back.
The Essex is nearly ready to take on
her draft Of boys from the training sta
ton at Newport and go to sea- The boys
who recently tried to desert in a body from
| the training station were all waiting for
| the Essex to be ready and gave as their
excuse that they were tired of waiting
and wanted to see the world. There is
nothing a naval apprentice so longs for
| as to get ordered to a seagoing ship bound
| for foreign station. One cruise on the
home station when he has the seen the
wonders of the West Indies and then he
is restless for Europe, China and Japan.
Like Kiplng's soldier their thoughts sing:
For to admire and to see,
All for to roam this word so wide,
1t never done no good to me.
Yet l can't stop it If / tried
| T., contract m 'taSa ara tho old ol1
sailors one sometimes runs across in the
navy yard whose voyages and battles are
all over and who fritter around at some
| little job that has been given them, full of
| Importance and strict and implacable with
| Youngsters who come fooling around their
baiiwick. They can tell you stories of the
| bombardment of Vera Cruz, of the Para
| quay expedition or of Wilkes adventures
| in eternal ice, of the Antarctic seas, and
are filled with supreme contempt for new
tangled notions and modern navies.
Aaron Goldsmith, who. with his wife
and three children, was burned to death
in New York last Sunday had his life
| insured for $4,000 in his wife's favor and
the disposition Of this money depends on
| the decision whether he or his wife died
! first Practically they died at the same
time, but for the purpose of settling a
| question like this the law will take notice
| of a fraction of a minute, and the COM
| mon law Is well settled that where hus-
| hand and wife perish by drowning, the
| latter being the weaker, must be pre-
| sumed TO have died first. In case of death
! Inv fire the law is not so well settled, and
! n legal dispute is foreshadowed In this
| case. which may easily cost the entire
! sum involved. 1t WILL however, probably
| establish precedent for future cases of
! the kind, unless there rs something in the
| insurance laws of the state Of New York
| that may have a bearing on the question.