Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-12-10
SQUAN CREEK FOLKS.
JEP JONES' YARN ABOUT THE BROTH
ERLY LOVE CLUB.

hardly two men were on speaking terms
with each other, and no one Of the wimin
folks would lend her washboard or flat
irons to another to save her life Bill
sorter fggered that if he could git about 30
of the men together once a week, with
plenty of hard cider, pipes and redhot
stove, they'd git over bein SO Internally
jealous and low down. He expected to
interduce checkers and fox and geese and
like enough do leetle debatin, but the
thing sorter run itself with the fust meet
in Phiietus Bascomb was one of the
crowd, and bein an old liar and allus en-
joyin lies from others he started off with a
yarn:
Thar hain't nuthin mean about me-
though do say it myself Fur the last
two years I've had book called the Life
Of Captain Kidd In that book he tells
how he sailed into Squan bay and throwed
chest OF gold overheard hain't looked
fur that chest cause ! didn't want to be
mean, and hahn t said anything about it
cause didn t want to git you all worked
up Today, howsumnever, | was down
the bay trollin fur blue fish when my hook
cotched on somethin which do declar was
that chest of gold You kin allus purity
nigh tell by the feelin what you've got,
and I'm dead sure it was the chest.
wasn't goin to say anything about it, but
bein as we are to be a band of brothers
from this time ON I'm willin to share the
secret Ii anybody brings up the chest,
it's share and share alike.
That's the speech Philetus Bascomb
made, and though all Of us knowed he was
the biggest liar from Barnegat to Jersey
City he said them words so seriously that
we could almost see that chest of gold lyin
on the bottom of the bay 1t was proposed
that committee be appointed to go out
next day and look fur that gold, and the
moshun was duly carried but as soon as
the neetin broke up no less'n five of us
started off down the bay on hunt We
couldn't help but run across each other
and know what was goin on but every
one had a whoppin lie all ready at his
tongues end We put in the hull night
scrapin the bottom of the bay and lyin to
each other; but nuthin was found A doz-
en- boats was out next day and tho next
and jest when all was ready to pitch into
Bascomb fur lyin we had another meetin
of the Brotherly Love club, and Solomon
White got up and said:
"Bein this are Brotherly Love club
and bein as we are all brothers, want to
say that when l was tongin fur oysters
tother day on tho Two Mile bed hit that
chest Of gold and heard the iron handles
rattle, was so weak in the knees fur five
minits that had to sit down, and then Il
squali cum up and driv me clear across the
bay That chest is right thar, sure 'nuff,
and don t want only my sheer of the con-
tents. Sum men would sneak out and fish
it up and say nuthin, but ain t that sort.
I'm in fur brotherly love, even If we don't
make cent .
That's the speech that Sol White made
He was sich an awful liar that nobody
could believe a word he said, but next day
the hull gang of us was out on that oyster
bed scrapin around fur that chest He
was thar with the rest, the old varmint,
and as we scraped away he sung Rock of
Ages and declared that the finger of
Providence would pint out the treasure.
The finger didn t do it, howsumever We
fooled around fur almost week, and then
cum another meetin of the club We'd got
purity nigh disgusted about the chest, but
our enthusiasm was aroused az in when
-Goliah Prescott got up with paper in his
hand and says:
Brethren Of the Brotherly Love club
thar hahn mean ha'r in my head. l
could hev scooped in that chest of gold and
gone down to Barnegat to live in style,
but honor wouldn't let me do it. l was
up to the Marine hospital in New York
t'other day, and thar met dyin sailor
He was sailor as once beat my father out
OF $40, and when he heard my name he
wanted to do the squar thing to git even
He knowed all about this chest of gold, as
his grandfather helped to heave it over
board. and he writ down the bearins of
the spot Them bearin's | now hand to
the president of the club, and it won't
take committee over half an hour TO-
morrer to fish up the chest.
That was the speech Of Goliah Prescott
the old villain, and, though nobody in
Squan Greek would lend him chaw of
terbacker or throw stones at his dog, his
talk about that dyin sailor sortef made us
believe in him The bearin's put the chest
a cable length northeast of the red buoy,
and next day we had l2 boats out Oh the
search. We worked hard all day, from
sunrise to sunset but all we fshed up was
bits of logs and old cans. When we got
through, we was all mad and tuckered
out, and no more huntin would have bin
done but fur what Sardinapulus Jordan
said at the next meetin OF the club. He
was q deacon in the church and not &C.
counted much Of liar Nobody hadn't
said nuthin bout the chest of gold when
he gifts llp and begins:
Let brotherly love and harmony ever
prevail l haint no reptile. Ii l was,
could now be countin them goldpieces in
that pirate chest When was down to
Atlantic City tother day went to a for
tune teller, and she located the chest so
powerful clus that it won't take us ten
minits to heave it up. could 60 out thar
tonight and git 1t and sneak out of Squan
Greek and 90 to Yurup, but that is not
Sardinapulus ,Jordan's way Of doin things
He's gone into this thing fur brotherly
love, and brotherly love it shall be to the
end. Well go out in the mornin and git
the gold and divide it. /"
We all kinder took stock in the story
and it wasn't skassly daylight before we
was sailin down the bay Things turned
out jest as before, and next night old Bill
Shattuck called special meetin Of the
Brotherly Love club and said thar was
liars in the club who orter be bounced
That started the row, and purity soon ey-
erybody was tumblin around on the floor.
We upset the stove, broke the cheers,
knocked out the winders, and all got hurt
more or less The row had Jest ended when
Stephen Platt cum along He was livin
over on the marsh, and he wasn't no liar.
What he had to say was that durin the
AFTERNOON two strange men had bin prowl-
in around the bay, and jest afore dark they
had flshcd up an iron chest clus to the bell
buoy and then made off down the coast.
He seen that chest with his own eyes, and
he heard the rattle Of goldpieces, and he
had cum over to tell us that 1t was no use
lookin any more You see We had all bin