Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-08-20

Tor awhile, he replied, after thinking
it ver "Ill jest keep track of the
Mary Ann as long as | can, and it's
Jest possible that we may be picked up
and have a show to git her back. If
we don't meet anything by tomorrow,
and the wind allows it, I'll head for
home, though don't see how Tm ever
to hold up my head in Boston or Salem
ag'in. They'll say l was a coward not
to make a fight fur it,"
Then they'll be fools! The Dutch
men would have killed every one of
us but what they'd had the brig, and
we ought TO thank heaven we got off
as well as we did. Don't We despair,
Elisha. We've seen some tight squeaks
but we've allus come out all right.
Don't We remember how a whale once
saved u.s."
"And the same whale may eat us
this time!"
All that day the boat ran her true
course, but al the brig bore into the
north and sailed the faster her top
sails were only a speck on the sea
when the sun went down. AS the
breeze did not fall with the sun, the
men were divided into watches, a lam
tern was run to the head of the mast
as a signal, and hour after hour, the
boat danced over the seas
There were two men on the look
cut, but after midnight Nancy reused
up and spoke to them and found that
both Of them were asleep. She sat
Gown beside one of them in the bow,
wide awake with her thoughts, and a
long hour passed when the sight of
a ship suddenly danced before her.
1t was a craft with all her sails set,
and having been taken aback she was
drifting away stern first, though this
fact vas not known till later. A cry
from the woman reused everybody in
an instant, and pointing into the south
she chokingly exclaimed:
"There-there-a ship-a ship"
by Josh, and there isl" answered
Capt. Elisha a second later. Nov,
men, all together and hail her."
A great shout went over the water,
but it was not answered, and neither
was a light displayed. The shout was
repeated again and again and again,
and then after a long look Capt. Elisha
cried out:
"Why, l believe she's an abandoned
craft and takin' car of herself! Well
run right alongside in five minutes!'
They reached the decks of the
stranger to find her a ship a good deal
larger than the Mary Ann, and q search
of ten minutes proved that not a living
soul was aboard. There was a dead
man though.
Lying in the main cabin, fully
dressed, was the corpse of the captain
and a sailors sheath knife was still
sticking in his back. Murder had been
done before the ship was abandoned.
Did you ever read an account of that
ocean mystery? The ship Voorne, Capt.
Bergen, master, had set out from North
Sea ports bound for New York with a
valuable cargo. That was the craft
Capt. Hopewell found adrift in mid
ocean
Her crew, from the mate down, were
the men who took forcible possession
of the Mary Ann, after killing their
captain and abandoning their vessel.
What drove them to the deed of blood
why they didn't stand by their ship
afterward-where they headed for in
the stolen brig-these are questions
that have never been answered.
Perhaps the mate and his chief
quarreled and murder was done in
passion. Then fear of the law made
the whole crew clamorous to get out
of the ship. They took nothing with
them which vas not their own.
They even left over a thousand dol
lars in gold and silver behind them. II
any human eye ever sighted the Mary
Ann after her crew lost sight of her
the fact has not been reported to this
day. 1t is easy to guess her fate, how
ever. She either went down in a gale
at sea or was wrecked IN some iron.
bound coast to the north, and every
soul persisted.
No sooner had the body of the late
captain received burial and the ships
papers been overhauled to find her port
of destination than she was headed fol-
the port of New York to be delivered
up to the consignees. It>was a short
handed crew to work such a big craft
but every man tried to do two mems
work, and it was recorded on the log
that Nancy Hopewell steered her tricks
at the wheel and kept lookouts with
the men.
While they had been despoiled Of
the Mary Ann, they were to find them
selves largely the gamers by it. Aftel
a run which was bare Of event the
derelict was safely moored in New
York harbor, and Capt. Elisha badt
Nancy remove the tar from her hands
and slick up to meet company.
1t is of the long ago I have written
The tombstones of both Elisha ant
Nancy are moss-grown in the ole
cemetery, but the salvage money re.
ceived from the Voorne gave then
years of comfort and happiness
People sometimes wondered that ir
their old age there was no abatement
Of their affections, and Elisha would
always answer them with:
"Then, by Josh, it's because Nancy
is the bravest and best woman OF
earth, and I don't care who hears m,
say so!"-N. Y. Sun.