Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-01
Some Of Bob" Evans Stories.

Where now they are cursed.
| ----------------
| Some Of Bob" Evans Stories.
Gus ghost experience while cruising in
| The Mediterranean, wi.icn is well worth
recording. AZ about midnight, when over
4 hundred miles from land and while ey-
crything was perfectly quiet about the
deck the sound of a tolling bell was dis
tinctly heard 1t con.d be plainly heard
by the officer of the deck well as inc
| men, ana 1t continued for 3cI craI minutes;
| TO the crew IL sounded Ike a funeral bell.
and they decided that some one was go
ing to die. With much difficulty the men
were finally sent TO their hammochs and
ordered 10 keep silence. The next morn
/ ing the story was all over the ship. from
| the forccastlc to the officers me3ses-
| When night came again many had for
gotten the incident, but AZ about the same
| hour the ioiling of the ben was again
distinctly heard. and the whole crew
gathered on deck TO listen in suptrstitiCuS
| silence. The officers were mucn puzzled.
and many theories Were advanced to ac-
/ count for the strange and unusual noise
The third night found captain and all
hands, officers and men, on deck. deter
mined II possible TO lind a solution of
| the mystery. At the proper time the
sound OF the bell came clear ana dis
tinct tolling as ii for q funeral The cap
tain and several Of the officers then be-
gan a careful investigation. which soon
cleared the matter up. The galley of the
snip, WHtFe the COOKING was cone, was
under the topgallant lorecastIe. about
twenty feet from The ships bell. The
/ fires in the galley We're put out at nine
O'Clock, and II was found that Ut a GER
tain point in the process OF cooling the
contracting of tn. metal i'll the galley
( made II give out a cracking noise when
accorded with certain tones in the bell and
caused II 10 ring The very puZZiing
ghost story was solved and the men went
. to their hammocks. many of them sui
shaking their heads and predicting that
fl.aY. IA in .FafAN
The keeper of light on the western
shore OF Chesapeake bay was charged
with uifenses enough TO have hanged
dozen men. | notified all the witnesses
to he at the station on a certain day to
give testimony in the case. After a long
hearing the lawyer who represented the
side of the complainants admitted that
he had failed to show cause for removal;
hut the charge of drunkenness stlll had To
be heard. The witness 10 this charge
was a fisherman who had been playing
cards with the accused keeper, and upon
being sworn testified that he. the keeper
was undoubtedly drunk-very drunk: l
asked what the indications of drunken
ness were. w ELL sir. the accused was
playing seven up with me. and had only
Two 10 10 when 1 dealt him the Jack and
.cuce, and ne begged: now, You can con-
vince any man in Matthews county, Nlr-
ginia That man VINO would do that
wasn't DRUM; certainly he was drunk.
sir, and ought To be turned out. | sent
to the treasury department many cases
where the evidence wasn't even as in
eliminating as the above.
J "A party OF uS-younSSters. of course
figured out a scheme by which we could
beat the Chinese gambling game known
as fan-tan.' our system was carefully
gone over. and the more We examined
it the more certain it appeared that We
! had only 10 play long enough III order 70
! amass great wealth. Finally. we made
our plans to go Ia the Portuguese city OF
Macao. some fifty miles away, and clean
out the gambling shops there Hrst, as
! they were rCput,d to he more wealthy
| than the Chinese uens in iiong-kong. AMI
wealth was what we were attcr. Some OF
3 our snipmates heard of our scheme. and.
= being convinced OF the soundncSS of our
SN stem, iutruSted us with various sums
! TO he invested for their lntcIeSt-tne
! foundation of their fortunes. as IL were
Four of us finally set out on tins impor-
/ taut excursion, reached Macao safely. ana
! having secured comfortable rooms at one
OF the best hotels, began our breaking
process on one Of the large gambling
| houses For Il time We did we'll. ana ~
| really looked as if we were going to get
| the best of the game, but tilc btil4.vF
Eventually struck the weak point IN the
| system. and we went home at y. Nj.
| with lust money enough To pay our no
! tel bill and our fare back to Hong * onS.
We did not hear the last OF that cApedi-
| ton for many long cay.
| probably the most notable race We
pulled was that in Hong-kong on the
French cmpcror'S birthday. The French
admiral was determined to take the
championship away from us. l WIS ttfl-
WINGED that we could beat them, and adj
, vised all our people 10 bet that way.
which they did: and as the betting was
ut long odds on the French boat. many
| of us did not have to troublc the pay
| master for months. Six boats were en-
| tcred-two French, Two English, ana Two
] smpricaE-and the distance to toe pulled
/ was six mics, three miles away ana Il
! turn. | was lucky enough to draw INC
position next the starting boat, when IN
i surcd my getting of PROMPTLY at the
word Next To me was the french barge.
on which So much money had been bet.
She certainly did look very lit ana dam
ccroils but six miles is long way. ana
i knew that | had wind and muscle In
my boat The day before the race every
man in the Della ware drew all the money
that was due m. and bet 1t. OF course.
Deck buckets of silver dollars were taken
on Hoard the French flagship, sized W
against theirs. and placed under guard.
Everybody was betting, and all, eXccpi
our crew, were backing the French boat
to win.
AT the turning buoy we were thirty sec,
ond, ah..;la and ON the pull in We gained
enc minute. Crossing the finish line.
tossed oars for II second as the gun
flashed, and then pulled to the ship nj
Tho Same racing speed. AS | shot along
side. the tackles were hooked and the
boat run up to the davits, crew ana an
All hands tumbied out on deck. ana wien
the French barge crossed the line our
hoat was quietly hanging at the davis,
as if nothing had happened.