Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-10-11
A Boatman's Story
IOriginnl.l

L was at the SeaSnOre curing tno
summer Being ~passionately fond OF
sailing and not being a sailor myself,
l hired a superannuated fisherman to
sail me. One afternoon as we were
leaving the dock a woman not quite
arrived at middle age came down lead
ing q little boy and had some private
conversation with my sailor. noticed
that he spoke to her very gently, even
~affectionately, and patted her son on
his curly head. There was something
In the appearance of the m that
interested me. Either she had expert
enced some deep grief or had commit
ted some sin for which she could not
forgive herself. But Of all this my
conceptions were vague. While talk
ing to the old man there was a shad-
ow on her face, but on turning away
her lips parted In a happy smile.
Once on the water, after much plead
ing and many promises, l got a story
from my navigator:
II knew Annie Miller when b was
a slender little thing of fifteen. All
her people were fisher folks, as every
body In this place Is. Her father had
bad luck and got very poor. AL Bar
ker. a Teller about thirty-five who'd
gone to sea and come. back with some
prize money for TOWN. in a deserted
vessel, befriended him, and the two
made it up between 'em that Al was
to marry Annie. Meanwhile Annie
had grown to be twenty and as pretty
a craft as you ever saw. Sheds lover
on the water, but he made long yoy-
ages, so her father and AL had a good
chance to bring her round. They o o
got her before the wind and sailed
her into the port of matrimony. But
when they got her there she was all
stove in and ready to sink.
"Al spent a few months at home,
then went on a long cruise. He'd been
gone a year when in comes Jack Tuck
er, Annie's old lover, and when he
finds Annie married he sinks right
down ON the beach, covers his face
| with his hands and shakes like a ship
buckin' up against waves driven by
a hurricane. Then without goin' to
see even his old mother he lights out
and doesn't show up again for another
two years.
"One day a body of a man was found
up In the inlet. There were certain
marks about it that led some people to
think it might be AL Barker, who'd been
to sea for a long cruise without being
heard from. They called for Annie to
decide the matter, and she decided that
it was, so they buried 1t, and a head
stone was put up over the grave, sacred
to the memory of Alfred Barker. The
widow put on mournin', but there was
not much grief, and when Jack Tucker
came in again she picked up mighty
quick. Jack wanted her to marry him
right off, but she said she feared she
might have been mistaken about her
husband bein' dead and put him off.
He went ON another cruise, and when
he came back, no change havin' taken
place as regards AL, Annie married
Jack. He left c%rulsin', turned fisher
man and settled down right here. In
time the little Teller you saw with her
at the dock came along, and the Tucker
family was happy, only I noticed that.
Annie was kind of worried and always
seemed to be lookin' out for somethin'
or some one.
ut was five years ago comm No
vember. The Tucker kid was about
six months old, his father and mother
havin' been married a year and a half.
That was the fall we had the big storm
that swept the coast from Nantucket to
Hatteras. In the middle Of the night
l heard q boom out at sea. Then the
life savers went by in q hurry. l got
up, dressed myself and went out. A
ship was driftin' in, draggin' her an
Choir. She stuck on the bar and went
to pieces in an hour. Then wreckage
and bodies came in, strewin' the beach.
"Just as 1t was comm light | turned
and saw Annie Tucker just behind me
She was white as a corpse. Takin' me
by the sleeve, she led me, without q
word. to a little cove between two
rocks. There lay a dead body. At
once I recognized AL Barker.
81 tool in the situation at once. She'd
been livin' with Jack while another
mans wife.
II stood lookin' from the body to her
and from her to the body. She was a
picture Of despair. Then an idea oc-
Cured to me. Coin up beyond high
tide and takin' a bit OF board that had
been washed ashore, l began to dig in
the sand.
"'What you goin' to dor Annie
asked.
"'Bury him. Nobody but you and me
knows that he hain't been dead all this
time, and I don't propose they SHALL
II dug a shallow grave, put the body
In 1t and covered 1t over with sand.
Then l took Annie by the hand and
said to her:
"Tf you value the peace and comfort
Of your husband and sol, keep this a
secret
"She jlst threw her arms about my
neck and cried.
II sent her home and watched the