The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-09-09

| turned out. He could see it and thel
made the only reference to hi.
renowned father that heard dror
from his lips during the sixteen hours
| was with him.
Father had remarkable sight il
one eye said Captain Beecher. "Ht
| could stand at our house in Brooklvr
and, by closing one eye, could reaC
the time on Trinity tower in New
| York"
Henry Ward Beccher was a great
lover of precious stones, and wher
| Captain Beecher said that he haC
| gathered, at Agate Beach, below Port
| Crescent, ninety agates at one time
| for his wife, | tried to draw him into
a conversation regarding the great
preacher. He did not rise to the fly
and | could not, being his guest
aboard, insist
At Port Angeles, after visiting Port
Crescent, left Captain Beecher, and
at some other time | may unfold al
interesting tale about my experiences
with him and his gentlemanly crew.
His tug, like all others, bobbed about
| when the sea was rough, like a match
on mill pond when the wind blows
up strong. | fell a victim to sea
sickness, of course, and Beecher gently
put me to bed.
At Port Angeles | bargained with
another tugmaster, Captain Bucklin,
to 90 out to Flattery early in the
morning. During the night, however,
the government weather observer at
Tatoosh island, at the mouth of the
straits, reported the steamer Portland
from, Minhonlc A loClyn
TO be more accurate, this man Hobbs,
his name is Hobbs, did not mislead
several million people next morning.
He did not say the steamer was the
Portland. He did say he guessed
it was. He simply made a bad guess.
1t proved to be the collier Villa
mette, returning from Skaguay and
Dyea, after having taken up $50
wOuld-be klondikers and a large
amount of freight for Dawson City.
She is in the coal carrying trade be
tween Tacoma and San Francisco
and made a special trip to Skaguay
and Dyea because there was big
money in the venture. The captain
decided to come down the 'Outside"
passage from the north, that is, he
came out into the Pacific Ocean at
Sitka, and avoided the inside" run
among the small islands, which is
the usual course for steamers going
to Juneau, Dyea and Skaguay. No
steamer but the Portland was expect
ed at that time, and as the willamette
came down from the north and cut in
around Vancouver island, the faithful
Hobbs-faithfu to his friends-gave
it out, as his judgment, that it was
the lOng-iOOked for Portland.
Inside of the hour after Hobbs gave
the word at TatoOsh island, the step
ping of point of the United States,
the news and telegraph editors of the
country had been deceived into be-
lieving the treasure steamer from the
klOndike was coming into Puget
Sound. One news gathering syndi-
cate wired that the Portland was
entering the Sound with miners and
gold aboard. The "syndicate' want
ed the newspaper office decks cleared
for its stuff for which it receives
ten dollars Il column in most instan-
cee.
As this is the first inside news yet
given out by Hobbs and how he
startled the world with his bad
lltSS. d lev lJttl lIt tl.til llItlN ne per
missible. Hobbs was simply trying
to be polite III keeping watch for the
Portland. His duties end for the day
with a nautical report on the vessels
entering and departing. His guess
sent dozens of newspaper men scurry-
ing helter skelter City Editor Thos.
Garret, of the San Francisco EGdH2i-
Rer, had half his local" staff cached
at Townsend aud, having inside
facilities for getting the news, he had
his men on board the tug Wanderer
i'll few minutes. The boys were
called out OF bed. from the dinner
table, or wherever found and ordered
aboard. They were as orderly as the
would permit, but soon
the town was onto the Hobbs re-
port and out dashed the great tug
Sea Lion, costing 500 n day, that
being the price paid for the Wanderer.
Both went painting up the straits and
We're quickly followed by the tug
Nigiiant, which had been chartered
by the Associated Press. They
HspOke0 the willamette and disap-
pOintment became as thick as fog. In
the meantime every detail was looked
to by Garrett lieutenants with view
to 'scooping the world" Special
men were scattered along the shores
of the Sound, and the one little tiny
government wire to Tatoosh was to
lie loaded with Examiner brain
waves
1t was daylight, however, before
the average correspondent knew that
Hobbs had guessed badly, or that his
bad guess had been twisted out of
shape by some of the newspaper men
who were famishing for ''storyn
| simply held my base at Port
Angeles until became satisfied that
the Portland had not arrived. | dis
missed the idea of going to sea with
Captain Bucklin in the tug Boysen,
although | was quite sure he would
meet st. Michael's schooner for
which | was keeping vigil. My guess
discounted Hobbs, as Bucklin did
come in the next night with the Fred
f. Sanders, thirty days out from st.
MichaeIs. In the meantime, how
ever, the scoop that followed was in
the incubator. | went up to Town
send on steamer and started back
on the tug Nigilant the same night.
Il. l.. Powell, manager of the Associa-
ted Press in the Pacific north west
was in charge, and the very atlnos-
phere seemed pregnant with the idea
that the ECGmiHer-JOlLThUI comb
nation WOuld ScOOD pVprVbOdV The