Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1912-04-19

pose. The steamer came right on and
struck the schooner's main boom
the wind, with sheets fiat, SO that the
boom hung very nearly fore and aft,
and the force of the blow from the
steamers step was transmitted to the
mainmast, which was broken off short
at the jaws of the boom, letting the
stick down on the deck with fearful
thump. The heels of the broken mast
stove big hole in the deck and there
the stick rested, swaying athwartships
in the slack rigging and prevented
from going over the stern only by the
springstay.
The crew of the Carleton made a
rush for the boat at the stern davits,
but Captain Falkingham, seeing that
they intended to desert her, seized an
ak and chopped hole in the boat, SO
that she would not float. That
stopped the panic, and the men turned
to and helped in patching up the hole
in the deck with tarpaulin, for the
sea was making over her, she being
decks to with coal, and with such
gap open she would soon have filled.
The steamer, after backing away,
came close up and asked if assistance
was wanted. Captain Falkingham said
that he would like tow to Boston,
and the steamer sent him line. The
line to which the steamer belonged
settled for the damage, and at Boston
the Hannah F. Carleton got a new
mainmast and boom and had her deck
patched up. Had the steamer struck
her in any other place the schooner
would have gone to the bottom like
shot. The end of the boom was about
ten inches in diameter, and, as an old
coaster captain remarked, "they don't
often shoot as close as that.
The queer accidents that have hap
pened to Maine vessels would fill
volume, and some of them would not
be believed. An old coaster captain
who had listened to the story of the
Hannah F. Carleton recalled the mys-
terious wreck of the little schooner
Active in Fox island thoroughfares
some years ago. 1t was in the fall OF
that year and the Active was going
through the narrow passages between
the islands. She carried but two men,
the master Captain Ray, and his six
teen-year-old son. When last seen UNI
der sail the Active was shipshape, the
boy at the wheel and his father below
taking a nap, as 1t was afterward
found. Next day the Active was found
on the rocks, with her stern stove in.
the master drowned in his bunk and
the boy dead at the wheel with bull
let hole in his head
This discovery caused a great SEN
sation, and as there appeared to be
motive for any one to kill the boy and
as it was known that the shot must
have been fired by third person the
whole affair was a mystery and re-
NAMED thus for year, when man in
distant state confessed on his death
bed that it was he who fired the shot
that killed the helmsman of the Ac-
tive.
The man said that he had fired at
hawk which was circling low and did
not see the schooner, which suddenly
came into range, owing to an interven-
ing clump of bushes. Then he was
Mortified to see the boy at the schoon-
er's wheel throw up his hands and fall
to the dack, while the vessel preached
to and was driven ashore by the wind
and tide. The gunner, who was after
gulls and ducks, fed without waiting
to investigate the result of his unfor-
tunate shot, fearing that If her re-
ported the matter to the authorities
he might. although innocent of any
criminal intent, be imprisoned.-New
York Sun.