The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-19
By HAYDEN CHURCH

| I
 signs of the war the Deal folk have seen,
 and still continue to see day by day, The war is very near Deal, nearer than per haps to any other place in England. Of all these things and many more, l talked with my old seadog as we sat, with legs outstretched toward the fire, in the
 taproom of the Three Compasses," And
 then all of a sudden we began to speak of the Yuletide.
 Christmas be comin'." murmured my | companion, collectively. Tt be only a few weeks ere Christmas time. Shall I tell e a Christmas tale, governor" | l nodded and motioned to the buxom barmaid, who did what the occasion called for.
 This be a tale we tells ill Deal at Christmastide," went on the ancient mariner, "and it bain't none the worse for havin happened down here nigh
 onto 200 years ago. Ist true? True as
 gospel. You may read it in the records
 over to Sandwich, if thee cares to take the pains, for t'were at Sandwich they tried to hang Tom Rudland for murder he never done, Sandwich bein' the assize town in them days" will spare you both the old boatman' dialect and his peregrinations along side tracks of narrative. This IS the essence of the yarn as he spun it for me.
 In the year 172S, Tom Rudland. young fellow who was serving his apprentice ship in London to a master sailmaker, got leave to visit his mother, who lived in the neighborhood of Deal to spend the Christmas holidays. He did the journey on foot-it is the best part of 90 miles taking a couple of days to do it, and on
 his arrival at Deal on Christmas Eve was
 so leg-weary that he felt unable to trudge the few extra miles to his mothers home, and accordingly applied to the i landlady of public house., who knew his mother well. for a nights lodging. Her house was full, and every bed occu- pied, but she told him If he would sleep with her uncle, who had lately come
 ashore and was boatswain of an India
 man, he would be welcome. He was glad to accept the offer and was forthwith made acquainted with his temporary roommate, a worthy named Coombes. They were soon on a friendly footing, and after spending the evening together went to bed. The boatswain was soon
 snoring, but young Rudland, to his sur
 prise and disgust, found sleep impossible.
 No doubt he had overtired himself, and as a result he rolled and tossed about in
 unavailing efforts to get the repose which he needed so badly. Eventually he de- cded that 8 turn in the fresh air might rid him of his incomnia, and with many apologies, he reused his bedfelloW and 1n- auired of him the way to the garden. The boatswain directed him to go out through the kitchen, and as the latch ot
 the door was out of order, he told Rud-
 land to take a knife out of one Of his own
 pockets, by means of which he could raise it.
 The young man did al he was directed,
 and after strolling about for upward of
 half an hour in the yard, he returned to
 the bedroom To his great surprise,
 however, when he returned the bed was
 empty, and it's erstwhile occupant mo-
 where to be found. Not troubling him.
 self much over the others disappearance,
 however, Rudland jumped into bed and
 slept for several hours awaking few
 minutes after 5. Still the other side of the
 bed was empty, and Rudland found this
 disappearance of his companion puzzllng,
 but had no doubt that it had some simple
 exclamation. Being eager to see his
 mother as early as he possibly could on
 Christmas day he got up and dressed
 himself, and set off on his way home,
 arriving there about noon
 The landlady had been warned over
 night of his intention to start early in the
 morning. and was not, therefore, sur- prised at finding him gone but when her uncle in his turn failed to put in an ap- pearace at the breakfast table, she went to his room to call him, and, to her as- tonishment, found he was not there. On approaching the bed she found the bed clothes besmeared with blood, which eX-
 cited considerable alarm in her mind and
 she took instant measures to discover, II
 possible, his wreheabouts, but in vain.
 Christmas day had opened grimly indeed
 for the distracted woman, and 1t was to close still more grimly for all unsuspect-
 ing Tom Rudland. The alarm, as thing
 of course became general all through the
 town of Deal Further examination led
 to the discovery of traces of blood from
 the bedroom, through the passages, into
 the street, and at intervals to the public
 quay and to the waters edge. Rumor, as
 is usual in such cases, was not long in
 fixing the crime on the young sailmaker