Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-02-10


the coast of California and Mexico
have always felt the uncanny spirit
of deceased San Clemente. Mexi-
can lore abouDds in grewsome le-
gends of the island-stories of de-
parted spirits that issue forth from
the graveyards amid the shifting
sands, and hold revels on the ghastly
cliffs just as they did long before
Cortez and the conquestadores came
from Andalusia and CASTLE. The
coast fishermen in Southern Califor-
MIA speak of San Clemente in bushed
tones. The lifeless and mysterious
character of the island appeals su-
pernaturally TO them, and they tell
how ghosts of ancient fishermen oc.
casionally, on dark nights, when the
sea is roaring and tossing, put forth
from San Clemente in crazy, creaking
crafts of strange whiteness, and catch
fish where no mortal fisherman would
dare go.
To this spot, out in the ocean, Abel
Summers went in the spring of 1869,
and there he has remained. He was
then a robust, ruddy- checked, genial
middle-aged man, who would have
succeeded in almost any, avocation
and have been honored in any com.
munity. Now he is white haired,
silent and old. The dreary years
and semi savage life have had their
effect. The men who went to buy
Abel Summers wool clip two years
ago did not believe he would be
there to deal with them the follow
ing season. But twelve months later
he was down on the beach to met
the craft when it ran it's nose into the
sands--a little more taciturn, but
still defiant when the trading crew
renewed their advice that he abandon
his abode on the island, and with
his sheep and dogs go back to the
mainland and enjoy the blessings
of civilization during his remaining
years.
Abel Summers came from proud
ancestry in New Jersey, and was
reared in a fine old Jersey home.
His father was merchant in Plain
field. His grandfather was one of
the State committee that formally
welcomed George Washington on
his passage through New Jersey on
his way to New York to take the oath
of office Of President. The boy Abel
was educated in private school in
Newark, and later entered Princeton
College. Then came several years
of clerkship in downtown bank in
New York City, and Abel Summers
was as promising a young financial
man as there was in the city. His
opinion was consulted by such men
as the Havermeyers, the Coopers
and Hewitts. Old men in plainfield
to this day tell reminiscen J of the
wide social swath that handsome
Abel Summers was wont to cut in
the naughty old Jersey town when
ever he visited the family home.
They remember how his were the
most fashionable clothes, how dotinp
mammas were tlattered by his calls
at their homes, how young men
envled him, and how fathers in the
community pointed him out as a
model for the local youth to folio W.
When Abel Summers and the
beautiful Mary Newcomb of Dunellen
"a village near Plainfeld-became
engaged to marry, it seemed as if ioy
were indeed his. No girl was more
courted and admired in all Northern
New Jersey than Mary Newcomb
She was the only daughter of Simon
Newcomb, famous wholesale grocer
in New York in those days, niece
of President Franklin Pierce, and
the belle of many great ball in
w ashington. The few who now re.
call those days tell how ardent a
lover was Abel Summers, and narrate
the costliness of his gifts and the
splendor of his plans for home in
New York. when he and Mary should
be married. No one knows exactly
what it was that came between the
lovers. Something suddenly hap