The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1912-03-28
CRUISE or THE
YACHT HlLDA
Why Her Disappearance Re-
mains a Mystery.

A promise Of secrecy was made. and
he yarn was spun.
The Hilda had the newest thing IN
eoginese ana a. soon a. she had been
Tested her owner. Mr. Chlppindale.
started Ia her for . trip around the
world. with me a. engineer.
"A great many people think the days
u pirates are past and gone. Don't
you believe H. ships 30 out and are
never heard from-gone down IN
storm: more likely their crews are
murdered and the ship Il piundered
and erulfled. Well. We were steaming
westward somewhere between Hong
kong and Manila when We met q saileF
Wearing British col0rs coming through
the water. turninE the white before
her. heading right for ua aud signaling
a. 10 slow down Thinking she had
somefhing important 10 communicate.
We stopped the engines. aud . boatload
q men came aboard A. soon a. they
we're on our deck the ship they came
from hauled down the British dag and
raised the skull ana crossbones.
-rm not eoing over the doing away
with every man o. IA That's what
keeps me from sleeping--
-wereut you one Of the yachts
crew.
sure. But I was the engineer. and
DOT one o. the pirates could run "a en-
gine Oooledge. their eaptalp. said %
ne: Run them eneinea. and % long ~
yea run them right you live When
700 run them wroag
4 knew what be meant without bis
anlshlng. aud you bet ! ran the en-
rlnea right This was the time when
the Spanish var Was coming on, and
we'd learned all about L from speak
Ina az American cruiser. especially
that Dewey was soon % sail nom
Hongkonr. Besides. an the nations
we're sending men-of-war 70 the Phil
lpplnes 10 see fair play. 0ooledge had
been lodging vessels that were cal
ceIafed 10 give him this Information
and did not know anything at All
about a. He came % me and asked
me what kind o. craft we'd been meet
ing. and I concocied a story. told
him that . couple Of hundred miles
east q Manila we'd PASSED small
steamer. capable o. making eight knots
and 20 more. that carried express mat
Ter. CooleslEe suspected that a money
safe belonging 70 the express compa-
nles might - aboard and was itching
a. res AZ A. We would have % 20
back between Hongkong and Manila
10 reach the steamer and were likely
70 fall IA with q cruiser.
-fure enough. one morning We saw
black line on the horizon 70 the
norfhuard. then another and another.
Il was Dewey'a neei. but We didn't
know q
AAa lock would have n. We were
s,eaming across the ilne Of . scout
shin looked out and saw the smoke
north b. northeast and made % my
mind that the Stranger would pass
aslern OF "a ! kept ~ eye out me
narihole. and when she came within
sirht saw a signal dying for a. 60
heare TO- oooledge didn't dare risk
an inspection and paid 20 attention 70
n The cruiser came on. but was only
Two Knots better than % and gained
.,owlx. dldnt know that she was
ordered 10 overhaul everything she
met. aud was afraid she'd ct Urea
AZ me chase. % I conirived 20 loosen
a screw and ict 50 . rod. then calleu
Cooledee and told him ia have 70 stop
fhn ENGINE q few minutes aud Ok u or
fhe thing would break a. %. II
hadn't been necessary 70 him be would
have killed me right there. but instead
he told me he'd give me just ave min
ufra 70 az 4 after stopping and neio
bis watch IN one hand and pistol IN
the other.
Il Kept asking him the time. blunder'
ing az well as could without his see
ING me DO Il. until he called four min
cites. Then screwed her up and
started on. hadn't more than done
% when a shot went skipping before
our bows. and made up my mind
we'd be overhauled heard 0ooleogs
come below aud 80 into Mr. Chippin'
aalos ssnferoom. which he'd appropu
,sed 10 his own use. and IN few MIN
otcs there was the report Of pistol
went to the room. looked In and saw
The pirate giving bis last gasp.
u hurried on deck. and there IN the
distance sFas feet Of war vessels
ana the cruiser that had been follow
ing Us had turned to Join them sein
ing cooledrcs glass lying on one q
The quarter deck wicker chairs ] lev
eled Il and saw the flagship OF th'
aoet signaling the cruiser to come 10.
when Il was known that the cap
tain had blown out his brains. tive o.
the crew came to me and said tne'
had been taken when 0ooledge wal
short handed and had Joined to escape
walking the plank. They said 'hel
would have hard work to set clear i
taken. The others. were tired OF IN.
business. They proposed that II
would run the yacht ashore ana ue
stroy her / might 20 free. As tner'
was nothing else 70 Do and was II
the same boat with the others. COZ
eented. A few days after Dewey esp
tnrcd Manila we landed on the island
burned the yacht and. making our wal