Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-03-20
Miss Jonah.


y as they was then. Take the
h business. There are plenty OF
his today. ! had one OF 'em on the
fh Star on trip from Philadelphia
be Mediterranean. only In this case
hh was q woman. My supercargo
came to me fust day out and said
pc: 'Cap'n. thar's a woman aboard
goin' to bring Us bad luck. her
names Johanna
lou don't mean to tell me- says L
you're goin' to start a supersti-
like that on this shipr
Its started already says he. One
he men heard the woman that's
her call her Johanna. and he told
y man in the fo'castle.'
Re hadn't been out a day before
young woman had bewitched the
and second mate. and II / hadn't
on to myself mighty tight she'd
ot away with me. As for the men,
had a deadly fear Of her. II was
eautiful, balmy day we sailed, but
light our sails was dappin' in a fog
hick as puddin'. Miss Meddercroft
ht was Johanna's other name-she
up on deck half an hour before
midwatch come on, Iaughin' and
g II there was gomepin funny
be situation. News had come inst
re we sailed that the Arctic had
struck by a vessel in q fog on her
from Liverpool to New York and
nearly everybody aboard had
lost. I see the watch scowlin' at
nna and ordered her below. She
giggIed. l couldn't force her be-
and she stayed az long as she
led
hat fog never lifted for three
then II come on to blow great
out Of the no'east. Jist when
most anxious the ships doctor
to me. and he said under his
ID, 'Cap'n.' says he, I'm afraid we
case Of poisonin' aboard Great
r says l. Whose poIsonedY The
ian that's travelln' along with that
Meddercroft.' Don't bother me
while we're drivin' inter this
says l. How do you know It's
pnY 7 took the STUFF out with a
bach pump says he. It's arsenic
q, git away from me while I've got
can do to sail the ship. IL she
to der She's dead says he.
away from here ! says. and he
below.
he men found out a woman had
aboard and that she was with
Meddercroft. or Miss Jonah, as
had got to calm her. We tipped
corpse over as soon as possible
bout ceremony-on account Of the
Their. l give out-and / told one Of
men that now It was overheard
have better luck. 50 q he'd spread
he did, but IT didn't do any good
Jonah come up on deck lookin'
Of Wild out Of her eyes and turn
up her face and putin out her
y Why, it's snowin',' she said.
sure enough, lookin' on the deck,
law a few fine specks. In ten min.
there was the wo'st snowstorm
seen. You couldn't make a man
he fo'eastle believe but Miss Jonah
drawed that snowstorm down on
The temperature went away down,
the wind was howlin' at a gait Of
to seventy knots an hour. Then
( do you suppose happened7 The
hast give way. and we swung
hnd into the trough Of the sea.
thought we'd roll over sure. but
Didn't. We got her before the wind
cut away the mast. When the
b went down some'at we put her
y in her course.
list as soon as we got the ship
Ated the men come aft in a body
told me they was goin' to pitch
Jonah over. / said we was only
+ days from the Azores, where we
goin' to touch, and I'd put her of
:. They grumbled. but agreed to
he night before we reached the
DDS 1t was black as ink. I was on
thinkin' about gettin' rid Of our
ah. hopin' there'd be no more
Dnin', fogs, snowstorms or howlln'
3, when I felt a shock The ship
red up for a moment. then went
i leaned over the gunwale and
a black mass slippln' by. /
wed II was a derelict. / called up
hands and went below to look for
ole. ! found one, bat not 30 big
we could get san over It. and in
fashion we kept on into FayaL
What was my surprise to tind Miss
ah already packed and ready 20 60
pre-. I was mighty glad OF It. AZ
expected q hard time putin her
The doctor took her ashore, and
went. smilin' and wavtn' her
dkerchief at us
The doctor never come back. We
ted and waited, and. hearin' moth
Of him. concluded to leave him
went on 20 Gibraltar for repairs.
Z clear skies over Us and calm wa
under Us. Not q bit Of bad luck
we have AFTER we got nd Of Miss
ali
When got back to Philadelphia
the doctor one day on Chestnut
eet I was nightly surprised