The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-12-11

\ uOdlSu " 44oA4 SA1I "AShS
ed vessel, heaven knows how, sort
Of life raft, very small and not prop
erly a part of the regular equipment
Of the ship, though it was stenciled
with her name. There is tradition
| that one of the officers Of the Delphic
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 fishing schooner out of
! Newfoundland. 1t bore the dead body
! of a man and a living child. The man
had saved this child even after his
own death, for his stiHened arms he!c
| it. 4 little grip
| took Connor by the shoulder.
'You are going to tell me-" said l,
( ''that this girl was my sister. Don't
| do it unless you're sure. am very
much alone in the world. 4 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.
sThe7e's a list" said he, 'of every
human being on the Delphic. I told
you that nearly all the original pas
sengers ,'ere transferred to another
vessel. What resulted? Why. just
| this-there was only one girl baby on
the shipv'
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 a
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."
The tears rushed to my eyes. III and
destitute, my sister, and I so rich that
people pointed me out in public places
as the Golden Bush man!
Mrs Gilbert was very good TO her,
continued Connor, but l guess the
best thing she did for her was to tell
me that the young lady was survivor
Of the Delphic and had been brought
up by foster parents at a place in
Newfoundland thought l saw a
story, and I telegraphed to our CORE,
spondent in Newfoundland on my own
account When l got his answer
which was peach, as you'll see-l
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 l 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 I, "but I sup
posed she knew. 1t has been printed
often enough"
"Irs. Gilbert says she never reads
the papers" replied Connor. There
was only one kink in the story, and
that was the reason why the rescue
Of your sister was kept so extraor-
dinarily quiet Why didn't your uncle
hear Of it? don't know yet, but that
can't alter the fact. AS to her being
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 I heard the voice Of Mrs.
Gilbert:
"Oh, Mr.. owen. is that you? Has
he told your"
"Yes," answered.
isn't it wonderful? Isn't it beauti-
full? I've told her! You must come
up-you must come right up. Take
an electric, you and Mr. Connor. 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. Connor will know.
Hurry
1t appeared that Mr.. Connor really
did know, aud 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 hall bedroom in a lodging
house.
That was the room my sister had
used before Mrs Gilbert had trans
ferred her to a better one. 1t was a
''hall room," somewhat larger than a
prison cell, sparely but neatly furnish
ed, unprovided with any means for
heating except a wretched apparatus
fitted to the gas fixture. My sister had
lived there She had lain i'll in that
narrow bed without care, without at
tendance doubtless poorly fed.