The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-03-11
Miss Jonah.


AHeie Io'S OF lhlngS IN the good
book" said Captain Tottle that some
people thinks Is nothin' but big yarns
nowadays, bu, some Of 'em are true
today ms they was then. Take the
Jonah business There are plenty Of
J"nnhs today. had one Of 'em on the
North Star on n trip from Philadelphia
to the Mediterranean. only IN this case
Jonah WAS woman. My supercargo
he came to me fust day out aud said
to me: 'Cnp'n. thars u woman aboa I'd
as is goin' to bring us bad luck. Her
fust names Johanna
you don't mean to tell me- says I,
that you're goin' to start supersti.
ton like that on this ship2
Its started already.' says he. one
of the men heard the woman that's
with her call her Johanna. and he told
every man in the fo'castle.'
1--WE hadn't been out day before
the young woman had bewitcbed the
fust and second mate. and If hadn't
| uSN' WI w w! Ssi' NlSuN Cuc
a got away with me. As for the men.
they had deadly fear Of her. 1t was
a beautiful, balmy day we sailed, but
by night our sails was tlappip' in a fog
as thick MS puddin' Miss Meddercroft
that was Johanna's other name-she
come up on deck half an hour before
the nidwatch come on. laughin' and
jokin g If there was somepin funny
In the situation News had come Just
before we sailed that the Arctic had
been struck 10y n vessel In a fog Oh her
| way from Liverpool to New York and
that nearly everybody aboard had
been lost. ! see the watch scOwlin' at
Johanna and ordered her below. She
only giggIed couldn't force her be-
low. and she stayed as long ms she
wanted
''That fog never lifted for three
days: then 1t come on to blow great
guns out of the noeast. Jist when l
was most anxious the ships doctor
come to me. and he said under his
breath. 'Cap'n.' says he. I'm afraid we
got II case Of poisonin' aboard Great
gunsr says l. Whose poisoned7 The
woman that's travelin' along with that
Miss Meddcrcroft' Don't bother me
now while we're drivin' inter this
gale says I. How do you know It's
poison?' I took the stuff out with a
stomach pump says he. It's arsenic
We'll, git away from me while I've got
all | can do to sail the ship. 1s che
goin' to der She's dead says he.
Cit away from here I says. and he
went below
"The men found out woman had
died aboard and that she was with
Miss Meddercroft or Miss Jonah, as
they had got to calm her. We tipped
the corpse over as soon as possible
without ceremony-on account Of the
weather. l give out-and l told one Of
the men that now It was overheard
we'd have better luck. SO g he'd spread
It. he did. but It didn't do any good.
Miss Jonah come up Oh deck lookin'
kind of wild out Of her eyes and turn
in up her face and putin out her
hand. why. it's snowin'.' she said,
and, sure enough. lookin' on the deck,
we saw few fine specks In ten min
utes there was the wo'st snowstorm
ever seen. You couldn't make n man
IN the fo'castle believe but Miss Jonah
had dra wed that snowstorm down on |
us. The temperature went away down.
and the wind was howlin' at gait OF
fifty to seventy knots an hour. Then
what do you suppose happened2 The
fo'mast give way. and we swung |
around into the trough Of the sea.
II thought we'd roll over sure. but |
we didn't. We got her before the wind |
and cut away the mast. When the |
wind went down some'at we put her |
back in her course.
"Jist as soon as We got the ship |
rlgbted the men come aft in a body |
and told me they was goin' to pitch
Miss Jonah over. I said we was only |
two days from the Azores, where We
was goin' to touch. and I'd put her of |
there They grumbled. but agreed to
wait.
1.-THE night before we reached the
islands 1t was black as ink. l was on
deck, thinkin' about gettin' rid Of our
Jonah, hopin' there'd be no more
poisonin'. fogs. snowstorms or howlin'
gales. when l felt shock. The ship
slowed up for a moment. then went
on. l leaned over the gunwale and
saw black mass slippin' by. l
knowed it was a derelict. ! called up
all hands and went below to look for
a hole. found one, but not so big
but we could get sail over It, and in
this fashion we kept on into Fayal.
"What was my surprise to find Miss
Jonah already packed and, ready to 60
ashore. was mighty glad Of it, AZ
I'd expected hard time putin her
off. The doctor took her ashore, and
she went. smilin' and wavin' her
at us.
1.-THE doctor never come back. We
waited and waited, and. hearin moth
in Of him, concluded to leave him.
We went on to Gibraltar for repairs,
with clear skies over us and calm wa
torc ,,ndnr Not n hit oP l,nH l,rC1p |