Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-09-20
. JOHN MILLER MURPHY TELLS STORY


mental. which was $4,000, for which
price he could have her for his phil
anlhropic mission. This was wholly
beyond his means. and he sat vainlv
iendeavoring to devise some plan for
overcoming the difficulty. He was re-
ceived a call from Ben Halliday, who
began conversation with: Il under
stand the government offers YOU the
Continental for $4,000, and that you
nave not the money If YOU will LET
me have her, | will fit her UP and
carry your people to Seattle for
nominal sum-
1t is said that drowning men catch
at straws and Mr.. Mercer grabbed at
this frail support, and was after cuI-
mination of the transfer entirely at
the mercy of him as to what the min
mum price should be. Defamatory
articles were circulated broadcast, in
winch II was stated that all the men on
fuget Sound were rotten and profit
gate and that the girls and women
were intended to establish houses of
lll-fame. Before Mr.. Mercer could
counteract this outrageous calumny
two-thirds of the passengers had can
ceied their contracts with him for pas
sage to the Sound. When he stated
this result, Holiday declared the con-
tract Off, but as the ship was to be TAX
en- to the Pacific Coast, he would take
such passengers as presented them
selves at regular rates.
Delay in fitting out the ship cost
delay and further expense, but on jan
/ uary 6, 1866, the Continental, with 200
passengers, left New York, and after a
pleasant run of SO days made San
Francisco via the Straits of Magellan.
After some delay in San Francisco,
the people were sent north in bands
of from 10 to 40, by lumber vessels
plying with the Sound.
Mr.. Mercer, many years later, pays
| this high tribute to the ladies who ac-
companied him on the trip out: They
are now growing into the scar and
yellow leaf, with as a rule sons and
daughters rising up to call them
blessed. Their influence in the state
has been good. God bless them and
| theirs! He safely said that never in
! the world has been an equal number |
OF young women thrown together with |
higher average of intelligence, mod
esty and virtue"
He also relates that one of the most |
enthusiastic supporters of as he called |
1t the raid upon the widows and or |
Dhans of the East" was Governor Will !
liam Pickering of the territory When |
Mr.. Mercer started he said, God bless
you, and make your undertaking a |
great success. If you get into finan-
cial trouble and need money, do not |
hesitate to wire me and l will give you
help"
When Mr.. Mercer arrived In San
Francisco, he had but three lone dol
lars in his pocket, with host of peo-
pie to provide for. He spent $3.50 in
notifying Governor Pickering of his |
exact condition, with q request for |
$4,000. Next day he received a notice |
from the telegraph company to call for
q message with $3.50 to collect. He
called at the Office, stating his finan-
cial condition and that the message |
was doubtless reply to the request,
and asked the superintendent to open
the dispatch, and If a remittance said |
he would pay for it-Otherwise it was
to be at the cOmpany's loss. This was
done and he passed the message with
laugh to the credulOus victim. 1t was
hundred words of congratulations
but not word about money.
Mr.. Mercer Is himself the authority |
for saying that a correct list of the
Continental passengers has never been
published, and gives the following as |
nearly correct as he has been able to
make, but may err in two or three
particulars:
Albert A. Manning and wife, w. L. |
Mercer and wife, John Wilson and |
wife, DR.. c. F. Barnard and wife, c. |
Boardman, wife and child, ]. Bogart
and wife, r. Conant, Lewis A. Treen,
f. A. Stevens. w. PerrigO and wife,
Mrs. ]. S. Loud and son James, Mrs.
M. Osborne and son Eben S., C. s.
Spaulding and wife, Mrs. Pearson and
son Daniel O., David H. Webster, T.
A. Lewis, B. Brady, r. Read, ]. ].
Tingley, H. o. Hill, - Rhodes and
wife, Capt. E. Pettis, wife and son,
Mr.. Weeks and wife, Mrs. Grinnold
and two daughters, Mrs. Wakeman and
three children and her mother, Mr..
Stephenson, wife and child. Mat A.
Kelley, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Chase and
two children, Mrs. Warren and two
sons, Mrs. Buckminster, Mr.. Peterson,
wife and three children. Mr.. Horton,
s. s. Tingley, and the Misses Harriet
F. Stevens, Annie E. Stephens, Mamie
Stephens, H. Stewart, Sarah Davidson,
F. Collins, A. Weir, M. Kenney. Clara
NJ. Lord, Carrie Bacon, E. Bacon. Nina
f. Manning, nj. A. Griffin, M. Staples,
M. J. Smith, Annie PEBBLES. Lizzie
PEBBLES, Julia Guthrie, Ida Barlow, L.
Barry, A. Horton, A. Miller, NJ. Martin,
Sarah A. Robson and Misses Rhodes,
Atkinson, Lawrence, and Conner.
nfc nd
during the voyage out. The local pa
per of June II, 1866, makes the follow
ing announcement:
D. Bagley, David H. Webster to Miss
Sarah A. Robson, of King county,
w. r.
migration movement could not escape
Cupid's entanglements. as the follow
ing notice will show:
Married-On the 18th of July, 1866,
at the Methodist Protestant church In
this city, ISeattlel by the Rev. David
Bagley, Mr.. Asa Shinn Mercer to Miss J
Annie E. Stephens Of Baltimore, Mary
land.
The Continental has often been rep
resented as having been captured by
the Federal feet while engaged In
blockade running during the Civil war.
This is not true. She was built for
the United States at Philadelphia In
1864. She was constructed of oak and
hickory. Her length was 2S5 feet,
beam So feet, depth of hold II feet.
When turned over to Ben Holiday |
she was practically new ship and
worth fully $250,000. By the scoun-
drelly trick he relates in his letter
Mercer was robbed of fortune. Capt.
Charles Winsor commanded her on the
voyage out. He was later succeeded
by Capts. Dali, Bolles, Thorn, Metzger
and others. William Law and John
Farrell, both widely known Pacific |
Coast engineers, came out on her.
The Continental ran up to Portland
and also to other Pacific Coast ports
for the ensuing four years, but Sep
TENDER 81, 1870, while crossing the
Gulf of California, encountered a
heavy gale and foundered, eight lives