The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1912-06-13
AN OCEAN
MYSTERY
BY DOROTHY HALE

ton larDOr, on his lett the AtldutIS
ocean. on his right the bay. He was
watching ship. with her sails set.
slowly making her way up the coast
Presently he got up FROM his seat.
went into the house and returned with
a spy glass, which he turned upon the
approaching vessel After keeping the
glass fixed on it for awhile he lowered
it and exclaimed:
"NeL, | declarer'
What surprised Mr.. Crashaw was
that the ship he saw coming had not
a single person on deck. not even
man at the wheel Calling for some
of his negroes. he led them down to
the brink. where he found yawl
Launching her, he got in at the stern
and directed them to pull him out to
the ship During the passage he kept
his eyes fixed on her. every moment
expecting some one to cume up the
companion way on to the deck. But
not a sign Of life appeared. and when
the boat was pulled up alongside on
her port bow there was no one to take
a rope The yawi was ATTACHED to the
bowsprit chains. and Mr. Crashaw
climbed up unassisted on to the deck
Walking aft he went down the com
panionway into the cabin. where he
found table set for dinner A joint
was on asplatter at one end. a fish at
the other and vegetables between The
plates indated that no one had been
served How long the viaiids had been
on the table there was nothing to
show. but they Ind been there long
enough to get cold.
Mr. Crashaw lacked through the
rooms. but found no one In several
of them there were ladies' apparel. in
dicating women had been on board
There We're II few ARTICLES of clothing
in each room. and Crashaw searched
the pockets for some Indication as to
who they were and what ship they
sailed in. for if there had been any
name painted on the vessel it had dis
appeared But there was not even
scrap of paper to show who were the
persons who had deserted her. where
she was from or where she was bound
One Stateroom was locked Kicking
in the door he found on the floor the
dead body of Il young WOMAN In her
hand WAS Il vial in which Il small part
of the contents remained The infer
ence was that she had poisoned her
self. What reason could she have had
for doing 40 except to ESCAPE some ca
lamityi
Returning to the deck. Crashaw ex-
amined the lifeb0ats to see if there
was name of the ship on any of
them In these days names Of vessels
appear on everything belonging to
them. but that was very different
age. Ships were fewer and smaller,
and the distances travelled were there
fore far greater than today 1t is not
therefore SO remarkable that there was
nothing to indicate what vessel this
one was The log would have shown
it. but the log was not to be found.
Crashaw let down the sails and. get
ting out hawser. attached one end to
the forecastle and making fast the
other to the stern of his yawl be
started for the mouth of the harbor
The progress made was slow. but the
distance was not great. and in due
time the deserted ship was anchored
just below Crashaw's dwelling.
AS soon as it was known that a ship
with mystery attached had been cap
tured visitors from Charleston and the
neighboring plantations came in f1ocks
to see her Every one had theory as
to the mystery. but no theory fulfilled
the conditions Those who had desert
ed her could not have done so on ac-
count of storm. for there was moth
ing broken. no lights stove in, and the
lifeboats were all in their places
OF the several hypothesis advanced
the most likely was that the ship had
entered-a harbor. all aboard had gone
ashore and she had been blown off.
But In that case she would not have
been left entirely unguarded and. If so,
surely not without the anchor having
been dropped. Another theory was
that she had been blown ashore and
the passengers had swum to land.
With rising tide she had floated aft.
In either of these two cases the YES
sci would have shown signs Of bad
weather and in the latter it is to be
supposed that at least one of the boats
would have been taken and certain
buoyant articles would have been used
AS floaters.
What became of the ship has not
been recorded. In these days Crashaw
would have turned her In and received
prize money He may have done this,
as would be done today Had it not
been for a crime committed by an old
man In New York in stabbing to death
comrade. both of whom had been
sailors. the mystery would never have
been solved The murderer. who had
been brought up Roman Catholic. Z
was very penitent before suffering the
death penalty for his crime and con-
fessed all his sins to priest.
Among them was piracy. He had