Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-10-15

/ port ifebolt, nothing more ghostly
| heard than the occasional creak with
/ which 1t rocked i'm its davits.
The lifeboat seemed Ia he indicated
! 10y the cross. II SWUNG almost Shout
der high on McWhirter. We looked
I under and around It. with II growing
| feeling that we had misread the sig
T.ficance OF the crosses. or that the
! sinister record extended tO n time he
| fore the ''shs dcv:T' OF til. Turner line
/ WIS dressed in white and turned into
| lady.
was feeling underneath the boat.
with a sense of absu-dity that Nc
! Whittier put into words Il only hope"
| be said. that the Waterman does not
| wake mp now and see us. He'd be
! justified in filling us with lead or put
! ting us in straitjackets'
/ But ! hId discovered something
Mac" l said. some one has been ut
! this boat within the last few minutes"
Why"
Take your revolver and watch the
! deck "One Of the barecas''-
What's that
One OF the water barrels has been
! upset, and the plug is out 1t is leak
! ana there's only n gallon or so in the
! bottom. Give me the light
The contents OF the boat revealed the
! truth OF what l had said. The boat
| was in confusion. Its cover had been
| thrown back. and tins of biscuit. bail
ers. boathooks and extra rowlocks We're
! jumbled together in confusion. The
! barecas lay on its side and its plug
It,I =.
! McN'hir:er was for turning TO in
! spect the boat. but ordered him stern
( Il 10 watch the deck He was inclined
! To laugh at my caution, which. he
/ claimed. was n quality in me he had
! not suspected. He lounsed against the
/ rail near me and in spite of his chaff
/ kept a keen enough lookout.
The barecas Of water were dashed
amidships. In the bow and stern were
! small air tight compartments. and in
| the stern was also q small locker from
which the biscuit tins had been taken.
I was about Ia abandon my search
when saw something cleaning in the
, locker and reached in and drew it ont.
II appeared to he an ordinary white
sheet. but its presence there was curl
Gus. ! turned the light on. 1t was
covered with dark brown stains.
Even now the memory of that sheet
turns me i'll. l shook it out. and Mac
at my exclamation came TO me. 1t
was not sheet 1T all-that is. not
whole one. 1t was circular piece OF
white cloth, on which in black were
curious marks. six pointed star pre-
dominating. There were others-a
crescent. a crude attempt TO draw
what might be either n dog or n lamb
and cross. From edge TO edge 1t
was smenred with blood.
OF what followed just after both
. NcWhiTter and ! are vague. There
seemed to he simultaneously n yell of
fury from the rigging overhead and
the crash OF falling body on the deck
near us. Then we were closing with
Il kicking. biting, screaming thing that
bore me to the ground. eXtinguishing
the little electric flash. and that. rising
suddenly from under me. had Nc
Whirter in the air and almost over
board before l caught him. So dazed
were we by the onslaught that the
thing whatever it was-could have es-
capped and left us none the wiser. But.
ALTHOUGH it eludcd us in the darkness,
it did not leave. 1t was there. whim-
thing-the sheet. As ! steadied Mac it
passed me. l caught Mt it. Immedi-
ately the struggle began all over again.
But this time we had the advantage
and kept IL. After n battle that seem
ed TO last all night. and that was ac-
tually fought all over that part of the
deck we held the creature suhdued.
and Mac. getting a hand free. struck Il
match
1t was Charlie Jones.
That, after all. is the story. Jones
was a mailman, n homicidal maniac
of the worst type. Always a mad
man. the homicidaI element OF his dis
ease was recurrent and of n curious
nature. He thought himself priest
of heaven. appointed to make CHASTITY
sacrifices ut certain signals from on
high. The signals ! am not sure Of:
he turned taciturn after his capture
and would not talk. ! am inclined To
think that shooting star. perhaps in
II particular quarter OF the heavens,
was his signal. This IS distinctly pos
sibie and is made probable by the
stars which he had painted with tar
on his sacrifcial robe.
The story of the early morning OF
Aug. II Will never be fully known:
but much OF It, in view OF our knowl- I.
edge. we Were able to reconstruct. !
Thus clones ATE his supper that night, !
a mild and we'll disposed individual. I
During the afternoon before he had !
read prayers for the soul of Schwartz. !
in whose departure he may or may not |
have had n part-I am inclined to
think not, Jones constituting his mission |
as being one TO remove the wicked and !
the oppressor. and Schwartz hardly /
coming under either classification.
He was at the wheel from midnight 4
until / I'm the morning OH the night /
Of the murders. At certain hours we
believe that he went forward 10 the
forccastle head and performed. clad in
his priestly robe. such devOtions as his
disordered mind dictated. II Is my
idea that he looked. at these times. for
n 1fr~uuI afshar a D1afanP al J