The Elbert County tribune., 1900-04-12

20 Enm OF the MinstnG OreW-Enss-
rtss of the Disaster.
No deeper mystery OF the sea was
ever left for man to solve than the |
fate of the crew of the brig Marie Ce-
leste. which left Boston In the SOS.
bound for Mediterranean ports. The
story as told In an English publication
Is one of absorbing interest and opens
up a vast field of speculation. The
Marie Celeste set sail from Boston with
crew OF seventeen hands. the captain.
his wife and his little daughter, twenty
souls all told. Nothing, as far as we
Know, occurred on the voyage across
the Atlantic other than the routine life
OF a trading brig at sea. But one fine
day the brig came within hail OF the
Spanish coast. II was thought she was
heading for Gibraltar on her way to
enter the great inland sea. All her sails
we're set. The weather was fine, the
sea calm. and light wind bore the
vessel along Duly the Spanish author
tiles hailed the brig. without receiving
any answer to their signals. Then came
visit OF inspection by the coast guard.
and an astonishing state OF things re-
vealed itself. Not soul of the twenty
persons who set sail from Boston in the
brig was found on board. Every man
had disappeared from the captain TO
the boy. and the captains wife and
child also were as II they had never
been. The vessel was minutely and
carefully examined. There was an
inspection by the American consul;
there was a business-like noting OF all
details. and a report was duly prepared
for the authorities on the other side
of the sea.
Not a rope or stay not a sail was
injured or bolt missing Everything
from truck to keel was in its proper
place. The briggs boats were all on
board. slung on their davits or slowed
on deck. Below everything was in tho
same undlsturbed state. The watches
OF the captain and his wife hung on
nails In the cabin. In the mems quar-
ters. as In the cabin, there were the
remains of half-eaten dinners. cooked
apparently not long before the brig
drifted toward the Spanish coast. Be-
low and aloft all was silence-a ghast-
ly. significant silence. appalling by rea-
son of Its inexpllcable nature, and
causing the faces of the searchers to
palc before the mysterious possibilities
which offered as solutions of the grim
deadness of the ship. Since the day
when the Marie Celeste drifted on her
course to the European shores not
trara nf of ha Qnnlg
has been discovered. Needless to say.
strict Inquiries were made both in
America and in Europe concerning
captain and crew. Every sailors home
was notified Of the story. in case some
derelict seaman should have come to
a restful haven therein. The names
and natlonalities of the crew were
known. but not scrap of intelligence.
not wave-washed bottle with a mes
sage In 1t, not even a dead body, ever
came to light which could suggest
solution of this horrible mystery.
Suppose we set our wits a-going on
the problem of the Marie Celeste, what
explanations are possible or likely to
merit attention? Pirates and a whole
sale slaughter of the crew by ordinary
murder or by walking the plank? Nom
sense. Piracy was no more common
In the Atlantic in the SOS than II is
now, and pirates do not attack ship
merely for the sake OF numbering the
crew or without looting the vessel and
sinking her, and piratical attack
surely would have left traces of
struggle on the deck. The pirate idea
clearly will not hold water Mt all.
A storm which swept everybody
away? Equally untenable as a the
ory; for storms there were none at
the time the brig drifted eastward.
and storms leave traces of damage
such as were absent in a vessel with
all sails set and not rope or bolt
missing. Some calamity In the way
OF illness. you suggest. Well. where
were the bodies? And II. mayhap.
you maintain that the last survivor
pitched his dead friends Into the sea
and then drowned himself, you have
first to find that mysterious epidemic.
and to regard 1t as very unlikely that
any disease should attack whole
crew rapidly and instantly. so as to
cut them off in few hours' time.
Don't forget the ha1f-eaten dinners.
for that fact proves that within a short
distance of the land the crew were
practically at rest, undisturbed by any
omen of approaching calamity. and no
disease l know OF, save, perhaps. chol-
era of malignant type. can kill people
in few hours. Besides. you must
have infection. and whence did the
pestilent microbes come to the brig7
Sudden insanity on the part of one OF
the crew, leading to homicidal Staying
of the others? Well. IL you elect to
believe that theory. you may. / don't,
for the plain reason that seventeen
men could surely have overpowered
one. The insanity idea will not work
II does not explain the facts as true
theory should. and a true theory
should explain them and be contra