Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-12-01
AMarine Wandering Jew
tOriginal.1


 lOriginal.I
 Since steam has largely taken the place of sail on the ocean I doubt if the sailors yarn is what 1t was fifty years ago, when the Black Ball line of clipper ships sped between the occldent and the orient. In my younger days l was but lad-I sailed before tho mast in the Dreadnaught. Among our crew was Seth Hawkins, an old salt of forty. We considered him Methu- selah, tall, thin man with profusion 1 of little red curls. He was very relb ] gious, observing all the commandments scrupulously except the ninth, Thou shalt not bear false witness" and in this he sinned only in spinning yarns. 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 a lot about Judas Iscariot, who was cursed with havin' to live forever and wanderin' 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 I don't believe any of you has ever hearn about his sailin' 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.
 T first shipped on the Mark Matthews on a voyage around the Horn to take in hides on the west coast of South Amer ica. We was layin' in the doldrums one evenin' just before four bells. A thick fog was all about us, and we couldn't see q cables length. All of a student l heered q bell. It struck four times. As soon as it stopped our beli struck too. Then the fog thinned a lit. tie, and just about half the ships length from us was the oldest lookin' craft ever clapped eyes on. She was awful high in the poop, low in the waist and had head on her bow like that of ge2 sarpent. She had two masts like 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 igur' of an old man. 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 a Jew and the Jewiest lookin' Jew ever see. He was wrapped in 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 sick man as hadn't slept durin' 6 thousand year voyage. There wasn't bit O color in hls cheeks unless you call the leathery look O the hides we've got below color, and 1t seemed as if I could see right through his ghastly lips to the few teeth that was left in his jaws. He hadn't any hat ol, and wasn't near enough to see just what his hair was like, except that he had mighty little. Bz. somethin' was a-movin' on his skull that looked like worms. Whether 1t was worms or hair couldn't see, but it must "a been worms, for there wasn't the ghost of breeze to move even the finest hairs. He stood there lookin' at US without 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, but he couldn't, and every time he tried and failed his face would take on an expression of awful remorse.
 "While 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 second till suddenly they struck our stern. Then there was the worst fright come into 'em ever see on any mans face, not even mutineer once saw hung when he caught sight O the moose danolip, from thu vo rd q ,-y,
 'What did he see? Didn't I tell you our ship was the Mark Matthews? The name, O course, was on the stern. Some O the letters was faded, and the 's' in Matthews was pretty nigh gone. What the Jew saw was the names O two O the apostles, Mark and Mat thew
 'Then for the first time it struck me 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 throwed on his beam ends. You see. he was one O the twelve in 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 onpleasant remembrances.
 By this time I felt so bad for the | poor old sinner that I wanted to give him somethin' to warm him up. I ran | below, got some grog in can and ran back, expectin' to swing 1t over to the Jew at the end of rope. But when got on deck the strange lookin' craft | had disappeared in the fog.
 "But where she'd drifted to was 6 | pI,zZler for within ten nninntas fha |