San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-26
FIsHERMEN'S TALE.
Found Whisky and Saw Ghosts Near
the Idaho Wreck.


the Idaho Wreck.
From the Buffalo Express.
Johnny Nord's place at the corner of
Michigan and Ohio street is famous
rendezvous for lake sailors. One of the
reasons for this is that Johnny used to
follow the lakes himself and he knows
every reef and light and anchorage
from here to Duluth, and he has a
warm spot in the corner of his heart
yet for the man who makes living on
the deep. Every night in the year a
group of fresh water sailors may be
| found gathered in NOrd's back room
| with its sawdust covered floor and old
| ships light. Mates, stewards, deck
hands and sooty-faced stokers find it
| a pleasant congenial retreat after
hard, tempestous voyages and many
a thrilling story of wreck and hair
breadth escape are told around the old
| iron stove Some of them are true,
too, and very likely quite few of
them are fiction, but all of them are
intensely interesting.
| w utu llt 10 III lilt IbOOu Iol ANOAh
can tell stories by the hour. He knows
the history of all the old lake craft.
Many of the queer ships of his day
have gone to the bottom and now serve
as freight barges, but Nord remembers
all about them.
"A couple of Erie fishermen were in
here Friday night" said Nord last
evening. They had had a pretty
tough night of it up the lake according
to what they told me and guess it was
true, too"
why it WASH blowing Friday night,
| was itr' enquired n man back of the
| stove.
NO" said Nord. ''it wasn't blowing,
| 1t was something worse than gale,
| Those fellows don't care much for a
blow unless it's mighty bad one
These fellows were scared out of thell
boots and they swore that they would
keep away from Long Point hereafter
| "You see, it was this way" continued
| Nord, leaning against a big, wooden
pillar, with his feet wide apart and his
hands in his pockets as if he was brac
ing himself for tussle with a stiff
sou'wester. Those fishermen, you
know, keep their eyes open for wreck
age or anything worth picking up, be
cause fishing isn't so profitable as some
other trades. And whenever there IL
wreck along here any place pou'rt
pretty certain in counting on a lot Of
fishing boats showing up in the vicin
ity. And generally they don't waste
any time either. OF course, it's al
right. If a fisherman picks anything
up out of the lakes it's his.
well, everybody knew, at least ev
cry lake sailor and fisherman knew
when the Idaho went down in that biz
gale ON Long Point lot Of money al
well as good, honest souls, went to TIT
bottom with her. Anyway il it WASH
exactly money, ii was just as good, 10
there is n lot of her cargo that won
be hurt by the water. Even II sh
didn't have any cargo there would D.
lot of stuff floating around wort
!, picking up. These Erie fishermen
have been on the lookout ever since tn
, Idaho foundered. Some of them nav
been hanging around the wreck goo
deal They knew that she was boun
to bread up, and the her cargo,
some of il. would come to the surface
And | guess their time wasn't waste
either.
"These two men who were in her
Friday night were a part of the GREY
LOT a fishing boat that had been out I
the wreck. And they looked prett
tough. too. as tough as * they ma
: been i'm a wreck themselves. The
: told ticklish story. 1t made n
|, shiyer az the time, but l never did D.
: l;eye ii, spirits and such things, and
= / didn't let il bother me very long.
well. il seems from what they tol
= me that they were sailing along nei
the point, Long Point, you Know WI