The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-01-09

One OF the relatives of young woman
on board was nearly out his head wor-
rying over her fate when a friend, q
Broadway merchant, met him at Fulton
street. He ran up to the grief stricken
man and babe him be of good cheer,
saying: II have just been told that
the City of Boston is being lowed into
Halifax
This queer attempt at easing the
strain of the situation did inestimable
harm. In great Joy the relative Of the
passenger rushed off and told his
friends. Soon it became generally
known that a report of the safety OF
the ship had been received. The tele-
graph lines buzzed with the glad It'd
ings. New York had been in gloom
for days over the belief that the ship
was gone, and it went wild with JOY
over the supposed discovery that it's
fears were unfounded. The city off,
Gals dragged cannon to the city hail
park and fired them off. People knelt
in doorways in the streets and services
and thanksgiving were held in q num-
Der of churches, including Trinity.
Alas, the story told by the Broadway
MERCHANT was untrue. The City Of
Boston never reached her destination.
On Feb. II, some days before the news
Of her safety was so widely celebrated,
board bearing her name and
scrawled message that the ship was
sinking was washed ashore on the
coast Of Cornwall. And the message
proved to be only too true.
Deserters from ships are frequently
hoax starters. A week or so ago two
men landed on the coast Of Florida,
near Key West, and told how their YES
sci had gone down in a storm, and
what a fearful time they had in getting
to land. Kind hearted landsmen pro-
vided for their wants, and then a few
days later a sergeant Of marines ap-
peared on the scene and claimed the
two men as deserters from an Aneri-
can war vessel. They hadn't even wet
their feet in getting ashore Ill: Ill &C., "a
6 a favorite way 1T perpetratinE ma
rine hoax is to cast overheard bottle
containing "a message from the dead"
A great many message laden bottles
have been picked up at sea- in some
corner grog shop and turned over to
the authorities as part of the chastity
JonC. LAiiSt4Sli AIoyuS lids d. SLduuluS
reward for the arrest and conviction
of such cheerful idiots. but the authors
of these alarming messages usually con-
ceal their identity, and few are caught
One canard maker, however, was dis
covered in London five years ago. He
wrote 4 note giving an account of the
sinking OF a Clyde bark, with the usual
postscript that all hope was gone, and
one Of his acquaintance, who had more
brains than are usually found among
the friends Of fools, exposed him. The
indignation was so great that a mob of
Londoners wanted to lynch him, a
thing Heretofore unheard Of even in
the most brutal cases Of murder in
London. The fellow was sentenced to a
year, and when he was released he took
the precaution to go to sea, where, with
the aid Of a capstanbar and a marling
spike judiciously applied they made d
man of him.
The reported loss Of the Red Star line
steamer Nederland was bottle hoax
that cast the people Of the civilized
world into gloom some twenty wears
ago. The ship was bound to this city
from Antwerp, and almost due here.
when a bottle containing the details Of
her alleged loss was picked up and it's
message made public. There were over
700 passengers on the vessel, many of
them we'll known New Workers. The
bad news quickly spread, and one poor
German who had his wife and seven
children on board, blew out his brains
with a shotgun. The ship turned up
without the parting of a ropeyarn, inst
as the Cedric did, and a number Of
families throughout the country who
had hastily donned mourning consti-
tuted themselves into a COMMITTEES tn
find the author Of the hoax, but without
success
AS a general thing the bottle fraud
authors prepare messages about ships
that are overdue Or supposed to be
lost. The failure of the White Star
line steamer Naronic to finish her trim
on the ship and related how the ship
had struck an iceberg in a binding
snow storm, and was fast sinking when
the message was written. The message
was dated Feb. 10, season when ice
bergs are in their glacial beds, and not
nightwalking over the Atlantic. The
finding of this message was the be-
n.
as usual, and which served to reopen
the wounds of those who had relatives
and friends on the illfated ship.
The loss of the yacht Cythera in the
great blizzard of 1888, resulted in the
finding Of many fraud letters, W. A. W.
Stewart, the owner of the boat his
friend. G. Lee Smith. and q dozen 9TH
ers, were never heard Of. One Of the
letters found was signed &c. Lee
Smith and one was picked I'D on
Rockaway beach IN "a fiat bottomed
ginger ale bottle. Mr.. Stewart left a,
big estate, and to probate his will 1T
became necessary to prove that he was
dead. To this end, dozens Of hand
writing experts were called in: to pass
upon the letters hat the sea gave up.
and yhichl i. the xperts declared to- Sc
bogus. Tales how the aNil Ment
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