The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-08-23

thrown open to visitors one Sunday
morning, and all that day Tom Claf1in
carried sightseers from the Santa Fe
pier to the Monterey. Good seaman
that he was, he was fascinated with
he dazzling spotlessness of the mon
itor and every night while she lay In
port Tom came aboard to revel in the
ship talk and yarns of officers and men.
He soon knew all the officers by name
and had formed a close friendship with
a seaman named Hansen, who was hail
fellow with every man in the crew
Hansen was killed the night before
the Monterey sailed for Frisco. He had
gone ashore with a guard to arrest
half breed Mexican stoker who had
overstaid his leave. The guard sep
arated to scour the town for the de-
serter, and Hansen, alone, had the
misfortune to corner him in a chinese
dive at the lower end of town. A knife
in the dark as he was dragging his
prisoner through an alleyway, a panic
of chattering Cinnamon, who quenched
their lamps and bolted their doors, and
poor Hansen was left dying in the
mire. 1t is but four miles to the Mex
loan border from San Diego, and thith-
er it was supposed the murderer had
fed.
The mayor of San Diego offered $500
reward for the capture of Hansen's
slayer, the little police force was
thrown into a fever of activity. the
Monterey delayed her sailing for three
days, and then the crime began to be
forgotten. Tom sailed out to the fish
ing grounds every morning with whom
ever he could pick up.
1t was nearly a month after the mon
itor had gone when a lone fisherman
sitting at the end of the jetties that
reach from the crescent end of Coro-
nado island hailed him. Young Clafiin
stood in for the landing and invited the
stranger aboard. He wanted something
to eat, and the boy, with sudden fut-
ter in his heart, opened his pail and
babe the stranger make himself COM
Portable. They fished all that day with
rare luck, and at shutdown the Little
Mother was deep with her cargo of
BARRACUDA. Once under the lee of Point
Iona on the homeward trip the breeze
died out, and the boat went drifting
with the tide. The southern reaches of
the entrance to San Diego harbor are
covered with sand bars and shadows
that extend two miles along the inner
side of the Coronado.
- rr,1,i1 fh0
Mother was drifting above these bars,
and when darkness fell she went hard
aground. A dense fog came with the
night. The channel buoys disappeared.
The distant lights of the city were
blurred and quenched in the thick
haze, and by the time food tide came
again it was impossible to steer the
boat with certainty or safety.
"We'd better anchor till the fog
lifts" said Tom, wondering what his
mother would think if he staid out all
night
His comrade sullenly agreed, and so
they dropped anchor and lay rocking
In the calm cloud of mist for hours.
The stranger fell asleep in the bottom
of the boat, but Tom, big eyed now, his
heart beating with wild excitement, sat
in the bow watching. 1t must have
been near midnight when he crept
down into the hull and unshipped the
little pump. The tide was going out
again, and as he dropped the disman-
tied apparatus into the sea he heard
the water gurgling into the hold. The
stranger was vet sleeping when Tom
slipped over the rail, breast high in the
water, and headed for shore
1t was in the morning when he
reached the police station in San Die
go. He was bareheaded and wet, his
bedraggled shirt and trousers were
clustered with burns and thorns, his
feet were bleeding. and he could hard
ly speak the words:
Captain, I've got the Mexican that
killed Hansen"
1t was daylight when they surround
ed the scuttled lugger. The Mexican
was awake, clinging to the half sub
merged mainmast. The rickety boat,
loaded with fish and bumped by the
now running seas, was going to pieces
plank by plank. Tom didn't waste a
thought over the. captured murderer
after he saw the police lay hands on
him, but he shed a weak, unwilling
tear over the wreck of the Little
Mother.
"Why did you wreck your boat,
Tom" asked his mother that day
while the story of her boys heroism
made him the talk of the town.
"Well, nanny" he said, Il was
afraid the Mexican'd get away to sea
| wanted him, you know, but what
wanted most was that 5000 reward.
can buy new boat for half the mon
ey."-Chicago Record Herald.