Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-06-03

- the balance n pitifu, little pile of
~ small silver. and told him to get out
1t was against the law. of course. but
he didn't know that.
lie set adrift. almost without
money in land OF strangers. A
hostile land. too. for the gendarmes
in front OF the Office eyed him with
disfavor, lie desperately lone
felt the grip OF circumstance keen upon him. As
ndered about the strange streets he discovered
In the lining Of. his coat. an envelope until then
ced Its contents were four OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES bills
is note:
Irvington. Oct H.
os sr Make mrss gSs dust @ We kept wonS nIS
boarding masters You get drunk we neeifi
ned It ali; foT h%sK adrift dead
'''''' 1''' '''A'"S anu Your. SS r 'nan sraly
The friendly faces of Uncle Sans greenbacks
gave him courage He made plans and acted on
them then and there. Meeting that English mate
In the street. he gave him a most artistic beat
Ing. paid a fine. and took the next boat for Lon
don town. Incidentally. be forgot all about his de-
sire to travel six or seven thousand miles and kill
the sailortown kings What spasm of virtue caused
them to give him back his money he never knew.
They were not noted for doing such things.
That the kings continually escaped punish
ment was small wonder. The men injured never
had chance TO tell their stories until they were
ashore in some foreign land. Consuls in foreign
ports could not libel ships or detain captains on
their unsupported word. The ships papers were
always straight, at any rate on the face OF them.
The most that could be done to report the
case and there it ended. The Sherman boys on
the other side of the earth never heard even
echo of it. The witnesses against them were scat
tered over the seven seas and prosecution could
not touch them.
The United States district attorney and his staff
did their best to keep the Shermans within the let
ter. at least OF the shipping laws but they had
hard shedding. In one case the kings were indicted
Charlie Marsden the star witness for the prosecu-
tion. was locked in jail for safekeeping Charlie
Marsden disappeared. The jaer told n story of
m fusiO hut
identify no one as having taken part in the Jail
delivery with the witness gone prosecution halt
ed. Long afterward Charlie Marsden came back
and told moving tale. He had been bound.
gagged and carried aboard a ship Just she
sailed. When released at he told that
he had been regularly shipped and was led a sorry
life aboard. In foreign ports he appealed in vain
to consus. who showed him his name-forged. Of
course-on the ships articles and laughed at him.
When he finally worked his way back to Irvington
his story awakened interest and prosecutions
were begun. The Sherman boys had wellpaid
lawyers who dragged out the cases with adjourn.
ments and legal tahgles. Irvington too busy
to be long excited over the wrongs of n few sail
ors. Prosecution faltered and paltered along Its
usual dismal way. and what at last brought the
saortown kings up with a round turn the
united public opinion OF Irvngton directed against
them.
Irvngton suddenly walked up to find itself a blot
the map. Unexplained dead men good
advertisement for any town: neither myster
dsappearances Of strangers within its gates to
be desired II their friends make fuss about them.
Captains who refused to be held up for extrava-
CANT blood money. and to play villain at small
profit. avoided the port Business was falling of.
Upper 1rvington was hit where 1t lived and the
Sherman boys were notified to quit.
The kings Of saortown have abdcated. Steam
vessels make voyages short that advance
notes" no longer prizes Seamen's unions
have given a measure Of protection to deep
water sailors. who seem to have fewer rights and
more hardships than most men. The bullying cap
tain; the bucko mate and the boarding master have
all been snged by the feeble and tardy fire of
United States maritime law. The railroads had
their share in the revolution. But what really
caused the Sherman boys to become private citi-
zens was the wrath Of upper Irvington. When It
was hit in its pocket and its selfesteem-that up
set the kingdom Of the salortown tyrants.