Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-03-10
DAILY SHORT STORY
The DereIict.
IOriginal.l

business in d very singular way ]
was sent TO England to follow up q
clew which might expedite an extradi-
ton case. Two days before reaching
port we came upon derelict- No one
of us at first supposed her to be dere-
lict, for she appeared TO be perfectly
seaworthy. Some of her fOresails were
set and caught the breeze, but there
was no one on deck, not even at the
tiller After haiIing her repeatedly
without answer our captain sent boat
to her, and secured permission to go
along.
She proved to be the brigantine Mar
tina Conner of Liverpool. There was
not a sign of her having struck a rock,
colIided or passed through storm.
Both hull and rigging were in good or
der. Within, all was shipshape. The
only thing wanting TO ship in COM
mission was an adequate supply of
provisions. In one of the staterooms
was guitar and sheets of music on a
table; also a sewing basket containing
scissors, needles, thimbles, etc. The
log had been kept regularly until Aug.
10. when the ship was off Newfound-
land, with pot an unusual entry. but
after that date there was no record.
The captain ordered a prize crew
aboard the Martha Conner. and l re-
manned with them, determined to dis
cover the cause of her abandonment.
AS soon as we We're pointed for the
British coast l began to study every
possible clew. but at the end of two
days the matter was as mysterious to
me as when l boarded the vessel.
On the morning of the third day l
was standing on deck before Il small
cabin used for the chartrOOm when 1
noticed some scratches on glass win
dow that looked like letters. 1 drew
nearer and read, written with Il dia-
mond, doubtless set in ring, the
words. ELLEN Dexter shut up here
Aug. A. They were written more like
scratches than words, doubtless to
avoid attracting the attention of who
ever had made the woman a prisoner.
Here was beginning. Eagerly I
hunted through the room i'll search of q
further clew, but found nothing In
deed that little sentence was all there
was aboard the ship to Indicate the ma
ture of what had occurred. The same
day we made port, and l reluctantly
went ashore.
Upon inquiry l learned that no mem
Der of the crew of the Martha Conner
had ever turned up. BY consulting the
record of missing ships l discovered not
only that the Martha Conner had not
been heard from, but that the Penguin.
Il small schooner that had sailed from
Boston for Havre on the 18th of Au-
gust. was also missing. 1t occurred to
ME that there might be some connec
ton between the two cases.
advertised widely in England for
of relatives of Ellen DeX-
ter and received reply from Il man
living in York asking the cause of my
inquiry. stating that Ellen Dexter, his
daughter, Il girl of twenty, had sailed
in the Martha Conner two years before
for America, and neither the vessel nor
the girl had ever been heard from. He
wrote hoping that | had information to
impart. | went to York to meet him
and learned only what he had written
MIR Dexter was tradesman with
some accumulation of property and was
ready TO spend it all to prosecute the
case. l saw little hope, but agreed on
my return TO America TO stop at New
Having finished my business in Eng
land, took Il steamer for Nova Scotia
and on arriving there went to a point |
ON the coast hundred miles south, as
nearest to the reckoning laid down in
the log of the Martha Conner Pro
ana1insr MI fHn ct I cor-
slant inquiries for Ellen Dexter. did |
not find any one who had even heard |
IF her by name, but did find village |
where the people reported that the day |
after the date entered on the log of |
he Martha Conner a young woman
:ame ashore in a boat. She was crazed |
With the trouble through which she |
lad passed and had been sent to a !
public asylum for the insane.
l went to the insane asylum and |
'Ound 4 young woman who could re-
nothing of her past. She was,
well except in this respect. |
called her Ellen Dexter. and her face /
lighted up. / had succeeded.
/ wrote Mr.. Dexter, who came for
Ter and took her home. She finally re-
covered her memory and told the fol-
owing story. or all of it that came
Dack to her impaired memory:
The captain was weak; the first mate
fiend. He made the crew believe
hat they We're badly treated and led
hem into mutiny. They killed the
.aptain and put the first mate in his
lace. What to do with Ellen Dexter,
he only woman aboard. was a puzzle
They confined her in the chartroom,
nd she expected to be put out of their
way by murder. The men soon realized
hat they had placed their necks in +
alter. Meeting the schooner Penguin,
hey took possession of her and. de-
erting their own ship. a>slow sailer,
aileds for unfrequented seas. They /,
orced the crew Of the Penguin TO join
hem and kept them in their service