Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-07-29
THE LIGHTHOUSE
KEEPERS PROXY
TOriginal.1

When l was young man l secured
q job at lighthouse My duties were
nominal, and at first I was much
pleased at having so little to do, but
before long became tired of the monot-
ony and wished myself anywhere else.
I asked the keeper what he hired me
for, and he said it was for company.
He couldn't stay there alone, so he was
willing to give % per cent of his salary
for a companion. l told him that l
would attend to the duties and give
him so per cent of the salary, and he
might stay away altogether To this,
after some consideration, he assented.
When he left he told me he would come
back occasionally, especially immedi-
ately after pay days. If lighthouse Of
ficials came along I was to try to find
out if they had ever seen the keeper,
Branegan. If they had I was to say
he had been taken i'll and had gone to
hospital. If they did not know him,
I was to claim to be the keeper him
self. With this he departed.
l found 1t a bigger contract than l
had anticipated. The loneliness was
simply awful. I stood 1t 9 month and
was about to resign when boat load
Of lighthouse officials and others came
to the steps, and when they came up I
noticed several women among them.
One Of them was a young girl, Cora
Earl, the daughter of the captain Of
the life saving station a mile down the
beach She was very pretty, and we
took a fancy to each other from the
;ses, and as the keeper wasn't known
to any of them l assumed to be he,
After they had gcae it was ten times
as lonesome as before.
The next day locked up and went
to the life saving station to see Cora.
found her mighty well pleased to see
me and didn't get away from her till
1t was nearly time to light the lights.
arranged for her to meet me the next
day half way between the light and
the station. She did so. and it wasn't
long before we were betrothed. 1t &C.
! Cured to me to tell her that I was
not the keeper, but didn't dare do 1t.
had nothing to marry on except my
salary, and was fearful she would
make a break and 1 would be relieved
of that. ! was surprised that her ia
ther hadn't seen Branegan, but learned
that the keeper was Supposed to be a
solitary man Who wouldn't have any
friends: Those met were aston1shed
to discover that he was SO sociable.
Branegan came along once month
and sometimes oftener. He had inf1u-
ence to get information when any off,
cial would call at the lighthouse and
would usually be. on hand. 1 posted
him how was playing him with the
life saving people, and he was careful
not to give me away. I married Cora
six weeks after I met her. Her father
thought it too soon, but told him I
was so lonesome that couldn't stand
It any longer. So we got spliced, and
Cora came to live with me at the light.
One night in fog vessel came
right in to within half mile of the
light. I was In the yawl at the time,
and. as the fog stood few feet above
the water, could see her, though she
couldn't see me or the lighthouse.
pulled out to her, shouting as pulled.
and succeeded in heading her of.
When directly under her bows her cap
tain hailed me, and told him he was
within few hundred yards Of the
rocks He gave an order to back off,
but before leaving asked me my name,
etc. I told him / was Branegan, the
lighthouse keeper.
A few days later two men came to
the lighthouse and asked for Branegan.
I told them was Branegan, and they
clapped pair of handouts on me. l
was taken into the city and charged
with murder, but when my accusers
came to see me they declared was
not Branegan. was obliged to con-
fess how l came by my position, and
was returned under guard to the light
house. A man was left with me to see
that l did not communicate with Bran
egan.
Of course this was great shock to
my wife. She remembered that she
had married me without knowing any
thing about me, and I was obliged to
confess that appearances were much
against me, but before I was taken
away told her the true story, and she
believed me.
Since my marriage l was used to
meeting Branegan half a mile up the
beach ON pay day, and next pay day l
concluded to go to him as usual. l
couldn't save him if would. OF
course I was followed and Branegan
was arrested.
The lighthouse governors heard Of
my arrest as Branegan, but the mat
ter was explained, and when I went
back after my release it was with au-
thority to act temporarily as keeper.
The truth is they had no one else just
then to put in my place and knew that
had been acting as keeper for months.
Nothing was done until after the ar
rest Of Branegan himself, when re-
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