The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-05-01


over him and he felt two ice-cold hands
on his neck. 1t was as If a strong man
had put his thumbs together on the back
of the neck and clutched the throat with
his fingers. Captain Halpin starteu up
and shook his .assailant off and turned to
strike him. His idea was that the crew
had mutinied and one of the men had
! stolen in to seize him. No person was
there, but as If in answer to the captain
oath of establishment there was the same
low, cynical laughter heard by the others.
His stateroom door was standing open,
and had been for two hours but the
laughter died away IN thai direction and
the door closed. The captain came on
deck and called me and whispered that
man had passed into his stateroom.
Together we entered and made search,
and of course found nothing. No man
could have been more upset. His expert
ence had been even more trying than the
Others and all his arguments had been
torn to shreds. Something had gripped
him, though no marks were left to prove
1t. Some one or something had laughed,
| though the captain was all alone in his
cabin.
L promised Captain Halpin not to say
word, even to my brother officers, and
he certainly did not mention the matter
but somehow the particulars of the Incl
| dent leaked out in day of two, and dur
ing the remainder of the voyage, though
| the ghost did not appear again, 1t was the
hardest kind of work to maintain disci-
| pline. When we reached Sydney at last
| every man of the crew cut and run, and
| such queer stories were put in circula-
| ton that the Memo had hard work to
| ship a crew for the return voyage. A
broken leg sent me to the hospital and
| she sailed without me, but 1 kept myself
| posted as to the ghost. Midway between
Australia and the Cape the first mate
had his throat clutched by cold and I'M
| seen hands as he lay in his bunk one
evening, and two nights later the same
| thing happened to a man in the deck
| house. While discipline was upset and
| things in a bad state the trouble would
| have passed away If the ghost had not
| played his pranks on the man at the
| wheel few nights subsequently. Every
| man forward then declared his determi-
| nation to quit the ship, and they had pro-
| visioned two boats and were about to
| lower them when a man-Of-War hove in
| sight. A signal of distress brought her
/ along, and you can judge how the minds
| of the men were affected when 1 say that
| they preferred going aboard of the man
| of-war in irons to returning to duty.
Enough men were spared to work the
| ship home, and though the ghost
| remained quiet there was an
| uncanny feeling with all. For
| four weeks after loading for In
/ tlleI IllG 4NGlilO COulu 4lOL snip d man
! The ghost business had got into the news
! papers, and the stories were circulated
/ III the tavcrns, and though men would
| have taken their chances in a lealky ship
| they fought clear of spooks. A crew was
| at last secured by paying extra wages.
! but after the Memo" had been out II
| days the ghost laid its cold hands on one
| of the men and the entire crew. led by
| the third mate, abandoned the ship at
| sea. The captain and the two mates stood
| by her and eventually got her into a port,
| but her reputation was blasted forever.
| The case was laid before all sorts of men,
and scOffers and believers alike visited
| the ship in search of a clue Plenty of
| deductions and conclusions were arrived
| at, but they satisfied only a certain few.
| After many months the Memo loaded
! at Liverpool for a South American port,
| and her crew was composed entirely of
| Germans fresh from a China voyage.
| Not one had ever heard of her troubles
but they were fated to find out for them
| selves. A week after sailing the ghost
| appeared as lively as ever, and again the
| crew put off and left her in charge of her
| officers. She was a doomed ship and her
| owner did the wisest thing possible by
selling her at the best price he could get
| AS coal barge she was never troubled
again by the ghost, though why it
shouldn't have continued aboard no one
can tell. You can form your own theories
and draw your own conclusions of the
whole affair. l bothered with it for sew
eral years, hoping to get at some saticfac-
tory calculation, but 1t remains a mystery
still. If there had been no ghost the ship
would not have been twice abandoned
and finally sold for fifth of her cost,
and that such was the case there are a
hundred newspaper articles to prove In
deed, the hulk is in commission today,
ana IS always pointed out as the ghost
ship"