The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-12

From The s.. Louis republic.


Thomas Meegan, an inmate of the City
Hospital, has never been in the navy or
any country, doesn't know an Eccles-
load Calling from Springfield rifle. and
vet he knows what it is to have a shell
from one of the rifled guns of the White
Squadron explode near him, and knows
as well how it feels TO be under fire. i.
Meegan formerly lived near Beverly
Willows, a little town near Newburyport
Mass. He was fisherman then. and dur
ing the summer earned his living by troll
ing for bluefish and catching rock cod
In winter he kept a store, where he sold
things, from fish hooks to moving ma
chimes.
Several months before the worlds fair
in Chicago man wandered into Beverly
Willows with his pockets empty, but with
his head full of schemes 10 get rich. He
was one of the plausible sort of fellows
continually read about, and, like the stage
villain, he soon won Meegan with his
smooth and oily tongue To diverge from
the story in hand, his plan was to start
a restaurant within the fair grounds
where food would be sold for almost Moth
ing, in fact, below cost. His profits? They
were to come from advertisers. The plates
were to bear the, legend, Made by the
Brekme China Company" the salt was
10 be in cellars setting forth the fact
that this salt was the Rookie brand"
the silverware was to be engraved in large
letters, Made by Hodger Cothers," and
all articles were intended to advertise the
makers. The profit from this advertising
was TO pay the loss on the food, and the
great amounts to be collected from these
advertisers were to make Meegan and the
other fellow rich in Two mon,As. Meegan
sold his place and went into the scheme.
That's the reason he is now at the City
Hospital as result of exposure But 10
tell his experience:
When Meegan was fishing for rock cod
he lay in close to the shore, never getting
more than half a mile away Perch fish
ing took him further, and when bluefsh
was the game he sometimes went nearly
out of sight of land On the afternoon
when he was shelled he had ventured out
some fifteen miles from the coast. He
tells the story himself:
TT was about O'Clock in the afternoon
and we-that is, me and my partner
We're doing pretty well. We had about
ten lines over the stern and, sailing close
hauled, We're making good time In fact
we had all we could do TO get the fish over
the side and get the lines back in the wa
ter again before another line took us away.
Along an hour before, we had seen the
warshlps sailing around us in a circle ana
sow a ih6 dnclOT something winch looked
like raft painted white about a mile from
u.s. We thought nothing of it, and when
our course took us near il we steered closer
TO get look at it and see what the thing
was.
We got within fifty yards of it. sup
pose and were bearing down for it when
we heard a strange sound in the air. II
was like siren whistle, and from a little
shrek, like a toy engine, 1t grew until il
naat kNff
thousand times louder and more shrili. /
think that the sound came to us all at
once, for / know l was just looking up
when there was sound as If lightning
had struck the boat, a low rumble and
then everything was blood-red and my
eyes seemed full of fire
When l came to-and it was only a sec.
ond later-dho sea was boiling like the
tide torrents which sweep through Shirley
Gut, and all about us were dead fish ana
strings Of deep sea grass. For perhaps a
quarter of mile the sea was churned into
a foam, and the waves were jumping rs
If they had been whipped into fury Dy
a tempest.
"A moment later there was another
screech like the one we had heard before
but it went nearly quarter of a mile 70
the south of us. When we saw the ex-
plosion we knew the battleships were
having target practice, and we stood about
and got out of range as quickly as we
could.
'Of course, we found out afterward that
the white squadron had anchored the raft
and then sailed off in straight line for
twelve miles and fired back, just for the
purpose of testing their range finder of
course, the shell which came nearest 20
us was many yards away, but IL gave me
the greatest respect possible for modern
guns. don't mind going out when the
sea Is running high and death seems al
most certain; 1 don't mind running the
lifeboat out on the sand and showing It
into the surf If there's a human life TO
save; think 1 could stand up before the
enemy and take my medicine as well as
the next map, but when IL comes 10 get
ting within the range of one OF those
guns whose shells shatter and burst and
tear excuse me. III do my fighting on
Ia "a u IAN r.lnnr.