The evening times., 1900-01-16
BARRED BY SUPERSTITION
Some Things Which Sailors Will
Not Have Aboard Ship.
a Coffin Agents Bright Idea, and
Why Ii Was Not Adopted by the
Navy Department Two White
Mules Cause a Crew to Leave a
TranspOrt-SOme Peculiar Fancies.

The superstition of sailors was instru-
mental in preventing large sale OF cof-
fms a few days ago to the Navy Depart
| ment. The agent of a firm exhibited at
the department fine model of a metallic
casket and spent some time in explaining
its virtues TO one Of Secretary Longs as
sistant secretaries.
The agents plan was to sell the Navy
Department several hundred Of the caskets
for use on board vessels. One or two cof-
fins, he explained, could be carried on
each vessel, so that in case OF a death at
sea the body could be placed in the casket
to be sent TO the friends of the deceased
when land is reached. The plan struck the
Secretary as rather clever, and the agent
was sure he would get a big order. He
was sent TO Surgeon General Van Reypen,
TO whom he also explained his plan for
placing coffins on all the vessels of the
navy When he finished his explanation
General Van Reypen told him he was sorry
he could not recommend his plan TO the
Secretary of the Navy, for if the collins
be no sailors on them for a sailor will
never travel on ship where there is
coffin or dead body if he can help it, and
every i'll that befalls ship when a coffin
or dead body is on board is credited to the
coffin or the body as the case may be-.
The peculiar part of the superstition is
that sailors do not seem to mind the car
rying of a number of bodies of soldiers or
sailors at one time, but single body or
coffin on board a vessel almost causes mu-
tiny among them
A recent incident of this superstition
was called TO the attention of the Navy
Department when Passed Assistant Sur
geon White died at San Francisco. His
friends asked Secretary Long if the body
could be brought home on the Hartford,
which was to sail from San Francisco. The
Secretary gave his consent and telegraph
ed Lieutenant Commander Hawley, of the
Hartford, to bring Surgeon Whites body
on his vessel He got an answer from
Commander Hawley which said that the
Hartford is training ship and had on
board 200 or 300 landsmen that were be-
ing trained for seamen, and if he took the
body of Surgeon White aboard, the lands
men. melted by the superstitious sailors,
would likely make trouble. The remains
were shipped by rail and there was no
trouble on the Hartford.
An officer of the Quartermaster Generals
Department recently told OF the trip he
made On the transport Sherman last Febru-
ary, when she carried the Third Infantry
TO Manila, via the SueZ Canal. He said:
I'VE had on board ten collins for Ma
Mia, and as soon as the sailors found it
out they Immediately prophesied death to
some one on board, and predicted all kinds
of trouble for the ship. Just before we
reached Port Said the bandmaster of the
Third Infantry became Ill. and the sailors
said he could never get WELL and he didn't.
THE body was placed in one of the cof-
fms, but it was decided to bury the body
at sea. The ship was stopped, and the
coffin was dumped from a plank ard
plunged into the ocean Strange TO say, il
did not sink, but 1oated en- top of the
white-c capped waves, and appeared to fol-
low the ship. For several hours the grew
some black object could be seen riding the
waves like thing of life. The sailors were
panic stricken, and good many of the SOL
diers caught the fever Of superstition and
stood watching the coffin as it bobbed along
in the wake of the vessel.
The sailors swore We would be ship
wrecked il the coffin followed us, and just
to satisfy them the speed of the vessel was
increased. and We soon lost sight of it, We
had a safe voyage 10 Manila, but that did
not convince the sailors, for before / left
the ship asked one of them if he still be-
lieved coffins on board ship were bad
omens He replied that he did, and that
be would never travel on another ship that
carried one
Another officer of the Quartermaster'
said he had an unusual expe-
rience with the superstition of sailors when
he was at Tampa, Fla, shipping stock to
Cuba. One of the army wagon trains con-
sisted of forty white mules and white lead
horse.
I'VE had cargo of animals for Ha-
vana," said the officer, land among the
load was this team of white mules. One
of the shipowners told us there would be
trouble among the sailors on the vessel
which had to carry the mules, but We put
them on board, anyway. AS soon as the
crew saw those white mules they said
either they or the mules had TO leave the
vessel. The mules had to go to Cuba, so
the sailors quit. We got another crew
without their knowing that we had the
white mules aboard, and reached Havana
In good shape, but the crew was indignant
when they found they had been aboard
with white mules. They told me IL I ever
| had any white horses or mules to ship l
had better not let the sailors know they
were on board, and in the future took
their advice"