Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-10-01

each others company giving accounts
OF what each of us had done in the
| past % years.
When Charley left the army in 1865,
he went to Philadelphia; he wanted to
be sailor, and shipped there on a
vessel bound for New York; here he
shipped again for Boston, and next
went to New Bedford, and there
shipped on a whaler bound for the
Pacific. After leaving New Bedford
they only met one whale north of the
/ equator and took him. Charley began
| to tell me how he was taken "You
can omit that part of it, | told him,
"since Wells & Co. dissolved l have
taken whales myself / know how to
dc it now
! He said that from the time they left
/ home the first mate seemed to have
taken a dislike to him, and never
missed chance to run him; and the
mate had struck him, and he had
promptly knocked the mate down, then
had been put in irons for it. Charley
was very good natured, but was quick
| tempered, and quite handy with his
! fists. The boys at home had given him
the nickname of "Bruiser Wells"
was one of the few boys who never
, had had fight with him, though / was
as quick tempered as he was, and
about as quick to fight as he. lie
fists if he attempted to knock down a
whale ships mate. can think of
several mates on the ship that | put
my time in whom he would not knock
| down; but then he would not have TO
try it, those mates were gentlemen.
Charley appealed to the captain, but
got no satisfaction from him, and WAS
still in irons when the ship touched at
Tristan. Here the captain told him
| that he had better leave the ship; Il
am not going to put you ashore here
| unless you say so, but there is bad
ard l must stand by my mate, so
think you had better leave us here. ii
you and that mate quarrel again he
may shoot YOU
Charley was more than willing to
| leave, in fact, had he not been in irons
! Eow he would have deserted, he said,
and he told the captain that if he paid
! him off he would go. 1t would depend
on how they made out on the voyage
whether he would have anything due
| him or not, even if he stayed. This
crew had shipped on a LAY" that is
7 hnx he hot -
the oil that was taken. But the cap
tain paid Charley some money and put
him ashore going with him himself
and turning him over to the king "
Then one of the families took him in,
and he remained for nine years. He
need not have stayed SO long though !;
there had been plenty of chances for
him to leave sooner. Quite a number
of ships called in that time, and three
times during that nine years English
naval vessels called and took off any
who wanted to leave. But he stayed
on and finally left on merchant YES
sci that took him to Rio, and from
there he went to New York, then he
left the sea and went to the regular
army. He had been in it now 10 years
before he came to us, and left him in
it; he was in it still during the Spanish
war, was wounded in Cuba, and if still
alive he may be in the regular army
home at Washington now; that is
where l would expect to find him; he
vas a good soldier.
When he landed in Tristan, there
were about 200 people on it, all except
three being natives of the island
While he lived there he taught chill
dren to read and write None of the
grown people could do either
The chief calls himself king, but he
has very little authority Every adult
male is member of his council and
! they make law when they need one,
then execute it themselves. They
never held any kind of a church
service; but he said that while
he was on the island he had
never heard a native use an oath.
There were more women than men
and the king, when he saw that Char
ley meant to remain, offered to give
him wife, but Charley did not take
her; he did not know how long he
would stay and did not want to take
one and then leave her. The king
both married his subjects and buried
them when they died, but the services
were crude and very short, until
Charley found a prayerbook on the
! island, and after that he read the
service while the king looked on
why did you not appoint yourself
chaplain?" l asked, then hold church
on Sunday"
"Oh, they get along well enough
without any church, and did not want
to make a burlesqne out of it. / would
| look well acting chaplain. would | not
Besides, we never knew when Sunday
came, anyhow"
The men are tall and thin, and most
of them are very ordinary looking; but
the women were all good looking