Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-02-28

on the horizon like a messenger o1
hope; but no sooner had she been
sighted than, with the swiftness Oh
lightning, the mysterious companion
craft turned half around and darted
away to southeast, with the t.OkIa-
homa" following as helplessly as
though she were in tow.
In that moment the awful truth
was revealed. The steel vessel was
nothing more nor less than a float
ing loadstone, which, by some mys-
ferrous power, was dragging the great
ocean monster hither and thither as
easily as a magnet draws a toy ship
from n side to the other of a mimic
pond.
Who was she, and what was her mo-
tive? Almost before those on board
had asked the question. the answer
flashed upon them. The 10000, 900 of
gold! Beyond a doubt it was their
capture which she was planning to
accomplish, either by Turing the "tOk-
lahoma" from the regular path of
ocean travel, and looting her and her
passengers at leisure, or by compell-
ing her to run aground upon some
remote rock or ShOal.
With this revelation a new horror
unveiled itself. Equipped as they
were only with the supplies for a
short trip across the Atlantic. the
overwrought minds of many saw star
walton looming up before them. That
night not a soul sought his berth.
From time to time consultations
were held between the chief officers
and many colored rockets spat and
blazed their signals of distress in
~cessantly across the sky.
At length, soon after dawn of the
sixth day, orders were given to bank
fires and hoist sail, in the hope that
the oklahoma" as a sailing vessel
might free herself from the awful. in
fiuence that chained her.
But the effort was vain. Wind and
sail proved as useless as wheel and
compass against the fatal power of
that mysterious craft which drew the
oklahoma after her as irresistably
as though the two vessels were united
by an unseen hawser.
The steamer had now become a
scene of ind~escribable horror. Neal
time, bedtime-all the customary
routine was disorganized; and daily
prayer-meetings were conducted
among the more emotional of the pas
sengers.
Finally, the officers of the big liner
united in one last desperate effort to
offset the magnetic influence of the
mysterious pirate. The fires were re-
vived in the ~engine-room, the steam
pressure in all the boilers was run up
to the blowing-of point; then sudden
ly h reversing mechanism was ap-
piled, and a shudder ran through the
great floating city as the twin screws
began to backwater.
For d few minutes there ensued 9
gigantic tug-of-war such as the be-
holders had never before witnessed.
The water astern was dashed into a
lather of foam, and for a brief moment
the triumph of steam over magnetism
seemed assured.
Only for a moment. however. for
the cheer that had assembled from the
anxious scores on the deck of the
oklahoma when she slowly began
to back had scarcely died away. when,
with a mighty crash, a vital section
of the OyertaXed engines gave way,
followed by a hoarse yell of conster-
nation from the excited engineers and
stokers-and both screws were help
less and still.
With this failure, hope was well
nigh extinguished: and the "Okla-
homa," with her precious freight and
her GAS human souls, abandoned all
effort to escape. With not a
sail of any kind in sight, she passive
ly rolled and plunged southwark after
her strange and terrible pilot, from
which, to add to the horror of the sit
%uation, no human sign had yet been
The supply of rockets was |
now exhausted, and food was doIed
out in minute portions, as to mem
bers of a shipwrecked crew, in order
to husband supplies.
When the exhausted passengers had
reached the verge of distraction, a
CLEAN of hope appeared on the
horizon in the shape of a solitary
steamer, bearing down from the
A glance through the tele-
proved her TO be a fast and for
nidable British cruiser, evidently en-
from South America to England.
AT this news a mighty shudder, half
Of hope, half of fear, seized the crowd
assembled upon the deck. Would the
cruiser come to their assist
lnce, and, if so, would she, too, he
.ome a victim of the magnetic craft?
a moment their fate hung in the
then from 500 throats rang
nut a hoarse cry of joy as the mystic
-ious craft swerved. turned sharply,
shot away over the surface of the
atlantic due north.
The spell was broken. The big
iner with her 600 human souls and
{, 1000. 900 in gold was freed from the
lower that had for so long held her
But crippled as she was by
he accident to her machinery, she
unable to proceed unaided, and
vas taken in tow by the British
teamer, the "Midlothian,'' and a day
alter was brought safely into pert
t Fayal.
The passenger thought to be Sen
Ieman Jim" Langwood proved to be
he duke of Medfordshire, now IN his
trip with his young mil
onaire American bride
Hardly had the excitement caused
v this startling intelligence sub
Ided, when it was once more aroused j
Y a police telegram announcing the
in the act of robbing a jew i
Ier's shop, of ~Gentleman jim" Lang