Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-11-16
DAILY STORY
A MARINE WANDERING JEW.
lOriginal.l

1
the sailors yarn Is what it was fifty
years ago, when the Black Ball line of
! clipper ships sped between the occident
| and the orient In my younger days
| / was but q lad-I sailed before the
mast in the Dreadnaught Among our
| of forty. We considered him Methu-
selah, tall, thin man with profusion
| of little red curls. He was very reli-
| gious, observing all the commandments
scrupulously except the ninth, Thou
shalt not bear false witness,'' and IL
which he always vowed were real hap
penings. One starlight night ON the
| forecastle while we were lounging
about the capstan he gave us the fol-
lowing:
you've all heard lot about Judas
Iscariot who was cursed with havin'
to live forever and wande-in' all over
the world, at one time bein' seen in
Egypt, another in France, and so on,
always leavin' trail of misfortune in
his wake. But / don't believe any of
you has ever hearn about his saiin' the
seas. There's no sense in this, for how
could he have got to America, where
he's turned up often, unless he crossed
an ocean? Leastaways I've seen him
myself, and on the water too.
Il first shipped on the Mark Matthews
on voyage around the Horn to take IN
ho % A
lea. We was layin' in the doldrums
one evenin just before four bells. A
thick fog was all about us, and we
couldn't see cables length. All of a
student l heered n bell 1t struck four
times. As soon as 1t stopped our bell
struck too. Then the fog thinned a lit
tie, and just about half the ships
length from us was the oldest lookin'
craft l ever clapped eyes on. She was
awful high in the poop, low in the
waist and had head on her bow like
that of sea sarpent. She had two
masts like a schooner, and the sails
was hung on 'em like they put 'em on
Chinese junks. OF course they hung
limp like ourn.
'She was head-on, and the fog didn't !
let us see abaft the fo'mast On the |
forecastle stood the figur' of an old man. |
1 couldn't tell you how old he looked, |
but there was somethin' about him |
that reminded me of a people long |
passed away. He was Jew and the |
Jewiest lookin Jew 1 ever see. He |
was wrapped in a cloak that looked /
like a monks frock. The melancholy |
way he stared out o. them blinkers O.
his'n was enough to send cur yelpin |
to his kennel They was like the eyes |
of a sick man as hadn't slept durin' a |
thousand year voyage. There wasn't |
a bit o color in his cheeks unless you
call the leathery look o. the hides We've
got below color and it seemed as il 1
could see right through his CHASTITY lips
to the few teeth that was left in his
jaws. He hadn't any hat on, and 1
wasn't near enough to see just what
his hair was like, except that he had
mighty little. But somethin' was \
a-movin' on his skull that looked like
worms. Whether it was worms or
hair couldn't see, but it must "a been
worms, for there wasn't the ghost of a
breeze to move even the finest hairs. |,
He stood there lookin' at us without 4
any interest in them melancholy eyes
o. his'n, and the only motion he made
was with his skinny hands, pourin'
some silver coins from one hand to
t'other. Every oncet in awhile he'd
make as If to throw the silver away, Il
but he couldn't, and every time he tried
and failed his face would take on an
expression of awful remorse.
while I was lookin' at him the two
ships was so slowly driftin' apart that
nobody could see 'em move. The other
craft was gettin' in our stern. The
Jews blinkers was movin' about, never
restin' on anything for more'n half q
second till suddenly they struck our
stern. Then there was the worst fright
come into 'em l ever see on any mans
face, not even mutineer l once saw
hung when he caught sight O. the moose
danglin' from the yardarm.
What did he see? Didn't / tell you
our ship was the Mark Matthews? The
name, o. course, was ON the stern. 4
Some o. the letters was faded, and the
IS in Matthews was pretty nigh gone. I
What the Jew saw was the names o. :
two o. the apostles, Mark and Mat
thew. lt
''Then for the first time it struck me I
who he was. He was the wanderin' (
Jew. AS soon as he saw the names o.
them two old friends o. his'n he was s
throwed on his beam ends. You see.
he was one o. the twelve i'll good and
regular standin' till he betrayed his
master for them thirty pieces O silver.
To be brought face to face with two
Of the disciples after couple o. thou
sand years wanderin' must "a brought
back unpleasant remembrances.
by this time / felt so bad for the Z
poor old sinner that wanted to give
him somethin' to warm him up. ran