The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-02-26

FyyhAt sort OF q place ~ ountosi Nt'p-
.,,,y asked. partly because really
.,n,sd to know u. partly also because
~, cabin OF the steamer was atuffy
M nj cockroachy ana the sea rather
,o,uh and l had Just been served with
Ilberal pla,eful OF hot plum-puddlng
st,h cream sauce. which In the tropics
n. dl,h that requires reflection.
"s,ntos!" said the lcng-llmbed Yam
-, captain, with a humorous side
lance q, my untouched plate, which
.sn,yea he quite understood the situa-,
,s0" "santos, sir, Is hell upon earth
wbtn yellow Jack Is aboard. and not
,,uch better when no isn't" n. n
"IIow so?" asked !, motioning FUR
dusty 10 the steward TO remove my
,i,is. and shifting my chair a little so
=. n get the benefit OF the trade wind
,s,ouch the open port, ! was on board
ii,tIe tramp steamer, making the trip
9,sn, Barbados 10 St. Lucia, at which
AFTER island had a few hours inspec-
IAN duty to fulli. which would hive
sniautd a walt OF q fortnight had I
ronc by tho regular mail. Z. H 21 q
"WelI. sir, It's this way. Z. First and
,o,rmost, Ms n big port and hundreds
~ ships nut into It. II is n hot, dirty,
Damn. unhealthy place, with 1000 In
t,bI,an,s. And the fools have only,
buIIt two wharves 20 load and unload
NJ. YOU must take your turn. Eight
rnnnths I have known bark TO lie at
anchor IN the harbor. waiting her
chance aslat %.
Nv face must have expressed incredu-
nv, for my nautical friend here stop
ned his story to remark. ~ guess You
dont believe me. stranger. Steward,
bring the officer another help OF pud-
ding"
rlIcitIg, and. indeed, ! found afterwards
;bat the information he had given me
was perfectly correct I also declined
me pudding. and begged him to con-
tInue, which he did after smiling a
grim smile. 3 4.
Il was there in 1891; We put In on our
way to New York. thought there
would be good chance of picking up a
few passengers while the fever was on,
and so did: but We paid dear for II.
You see, they had cholera there that
YEAR as well as yellow Jack, and the
harbor was full OF ships that couldn't
get away, because they had no officers
left TO navigate them and no crews to
man them. Seventy-nine captains and
elk or seven hundred sailors had died
when got there. and calculate many
naval action wouldn't have cost as
much. I'm not easily frightened my.
self but can tell you thought It was
time 10 80 when went ashore one
eyenlng after dark, and the first thing
! did was TO trip over a body lying
across the street, and fell with my face
right In the waistcoat OF another gentle
man who had Just died where he lay OF
yellow jack. The one tripped over had
died OF cholera. as 1 could see when my
mate brought up the lantern!"
stared at him In amaZement, but the
man was quite serious; he, did not seem
10 think that he was narrating any
thing at all unusual. From what I have
since heard OF Santos, ! do not suppose
he was.
"Well, sir, my first mate was with me,
and lie said he felt sick, and went and
got come rum 10 keep his, courage up. It
is a bad thing to drink rum In Santos.
Next morning he and six OF our pas
sengers were dead. l wanted to bury
them decently on shore or. In the har-
tor; but the fools that call themselves
the government wouldn't allow it-as II
one dead body more or less mattered
then: so I made the engineer get up
fteam, and we sewed the .corpses up In
sailcloth. with plenty OF scrap iron, and
dashed them out over the gunwales,
re passed In the fishing-boats howled
that We were n hdeath-shlp."
Il should think you were!"y said !.
I'VE were afterwards. When we got q
mile or so from land, I read few
prayers, the best i could think OF, and
then man went round and cut the
laslings, and We laid our course for
New York: bu. you bet we had a time
Of Il before we got there. We took the
Fever with US. and we had no doctor
on board; and It would not have mat
tered much II We had had. The crew
went mad one after the other. It began
With the tiremen: they dropped down
dead with shovels IN their hands. Then
one man with the fever on him jumped
overheard 10 get out OF his misery. AZ
Ter that they oil did. put some OF them
IN Irons when they tried 1t, but they
Just died raging mad In few hours, SO
gave It up. We only landed one man
at New York, out OF all the passengers
We took on board at Santos, and but
Tor fine weather We would never have
reached port at all, We were so short
handed. Once We got out OF the trop-
les We lost no more. though" He
thoushtfully expectoratei into spi:-
loon at his feet, and found II advis-
aole to so on deck, whittier he soon
followed me.
Carlisle Bay. with It's shipping. and
Inc low hills Of Barbados were fast dis
appearing bcalnd US as the little tramp
Wita the strong traGe-wInd behind her,
plunged ahead through the sparkling
waves, blue tourma-lIne color In their
ueplhs, Shading OF TO the green o; an
dquamarine where their tops grew thin
anu transparent. Our bows were point
Cd straight towards the setting sun, and
.. black cloud OF smoke poured from
'ae tunnel, showing that the engineer
was hring up. He Ind dined with US,
ana wondered what he felt Ike In the
ensine-room, ana how temperature OF
one hundred degrees or SO would agree
with that cream sauce.
we VIII be or Castrles about four
O'clock tomorrow morning." said the
captain. Il an not going to stop there.
iae haroor-mastee viii take you ashore
N MS boat but you will not find It easy
10 pass away the time till daylight.
iour folks are all up on the Morne For
,gnee' and you can't get up there In
C ce uarR. There Is a sort OF hotel In
E''st;les where you might be able to
AnoSS somebody up. but doubt Il"
On, never mind.' said l: II can
,Gugh II; 1t will not be like Santos,
anyhow"
iol're right there, sir. I've seen GU
,..ls things happen In these waters,
n ,So, dare say, now, you have been on