Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-12-26

of life raft, very small and not prop
erly part of the regular equipment
of the ship, though 1t was steneiled
with her name. There IS a tradition
that one Of the officers Of the Delphie
invented this style of raft or was in
terested In it in some way. Anyhow.
1t was aboard, and it foated and was
picked up by a fishing schooner out Of
Newfoundland 1t bore the dead body
of man and a living child. The man
had saved this child even after his
own death, for his stiffened arms held
It. a little girl
! took Conner by the shoulder.
You are going to tell me" said /.
"that this girl was my sister Don't
do it unless you're sure. | ain very
much alone In the world. A sister
( would mean to Newell, perhaps rath-
er more than you could easily believe"
He took some sheets of paper from
his pocket They were folded and fas-
tened together at corner.
There's 4 list" said he. "of every
| human being on the Delphc | told
you that nearly all the original pas
sengers were transferred to another
vessel What resulted? Why, just
this-there was only one girl baby on
the shipl"
The simplicity and force Of this
| statement staggered me. There re-
NAMED, of course, many questions, but
! | was unable for the moment to frame
one.
let me tell you" said he, how |
first got on the track of this 1t was
through Mrs, Gilbert She is interested
in the Woman's Exchange, as you're
aware. and thus she came to know
very beautiful and charming girl who
brought embroideries to the exchange
to be sold. This girl fell i'll, and-well,
she was pretty hard up; that's the fact
about it,
destitute, my sister, and i 50 rich that
people pointed me out in public places
as the Golden Bush man!
Mrs. Gilbert was very good to her"
continued Conner, but | guess the
best thing she did for her was to tell
me that the young lady was a survivor
of the Delphic and had been brought
Newfoundland. I thought | saw q
story. and l telegraphed TO our CORE
spondent in Newfoundland on my own
account. When / got his answer
which was peach. as you'll see-I
made some Investigations here through
the agents of the line to which the
Delphic belonged and had the luck to
tumble straight on one old fellow who
knew everything and had records and
all that Then | went to Mrs. Gilbert
and told her what l had learned You
may imagine her surprise in view Of
her acquaintance with you and the
fact that she didn't know that you
were the original Delphic survivor"
81 never told her" said |. but l sup
posed she knew. 1t has been printed
often enough"
Mrs. Gilbert says she never reads
the papers," replied Common. "There
was only one kink in the story. and
that was the reason why the rescue
of your sister was kept so extraor-
dinariy quiet. Why didn't your uncle
hear OF it? l don't know yet, but that
can't alter the fact. AS to her being
a survivor of the Delphic, my man in
Newfoundland says there is no shadow
of doubt whatever. You will see in
his story
He was interrupted by ring at my
telephone heard the voice of Mrs
Gilbert:
"Oh. Mr.. owen, is that you? Has
he told your"
! "Yes," l answered.
isn't it wonderful? Isn't 1t beauti-
| full? I've told her! You must come
up-you must come right up. Take
an electric, you and Mr.. Conner. I'll
wait for you right here. The doctor
! Is with her now"
| This overwhelmed me, accustomed
| as l was to Mrs. Gilbert's exuberant
style of conversation. l could only
gasp, Where are you"
AT the drug store on the corner,
she replied Mr.. Conner will know.
Hurry"
II appeared that Mr. Common really
did know. and we obeyed instructions
and hurried We found Mrs Gilbert
and she led us a little way along a
rather poor street but not squalid, and
into a bleak bah bedroom in lodging
house.
That was the room my sister ha(
used before Mrs. Gilbert had trans
ferred her TO better one 1t was {
"hall ROOM" somewhat larger than ,
prison cell, sparely but neatly furnish
ed, mprovided with any means for
heating except wretched apparatus
fitted 10 the gas fixture My sister hat
lived there. She had lain i'll in tina
narrow bed without care, without at
tendance doubtless poorly fed
thought of it, and ! remembered tina
evenings extravagant dinner with nau
sea
ann not ashamed to say that IN!
f-r,~. -g,,ot- ,,v,Go,. hon 7 xt-oi