Evening star., 1924-10-04
PILGRIM CARPENTER
LOST IN PACIFIC
Dramatic Career of Ira C.
Sparks Ends on Small Is
land in Philippines.
By WALTER ROBB.
SPECIAL correspondence of The, Star and
The Chicago Daily Naus


Special CORES spondence Of The, Star and tbe
lhe Chicago Daily News.
MANILA, +. L., October 4-Rloody
Moro kriSses on one of the loneliest.
most lansuld. silent and mutderous
coasts of the world have perhaps
ended the dramatic career of the pill
grim carpenter, Ira c. Sparks of
Peru Ind, on small island south of
totabato, Mindanao, in the southern
part of the Philippines The sympa :
thy of the entire archipelago was
aroused when Sparks Christian but
not church member, arrived at Tan
dag. Mindanao, last year from Homo
lulu, after voyage of 73 days from
Honolulu in a 23-foot sailing boat.
which he had made himself and of
Whlch he was captain, mate and crew
At his bench in his little shop in
Peru the vision of Abraham told him
10 make pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. learn the true doctrine of
Christ and make it known to all the
world. He laid his tools aside and
started. Reaching San Francisco he
had himself shipped in goods box
a $ freight to the Far East, but was
discovered before reaching Honolulu.
where he way landed and turned over
to the authorities. They soon re-
leased him and he found a living at
his trade while building his boat,
which he called the Dauntless
"DauntleSs = Honolulu" was painted
athwart her stern and bows.
Knew Nothing of Sailing.
Sparks knew naught of sailing nor
of boat building. Nevertheless, the
Dauntless was staunch craft; she
rode out even stormy seas gal1antly
Sparks sailed westward in midwint ter
from Honolulu. shaping his course
by the sun and stars. He knew if
he did this and met with no mishap
he would touch land in the Orient,
whence he could continue to the Holy
Land by comparatively easy stages
Mariners said he had one chance in
a hundred to reach land al all.
They call this boat my coffin" he
said, but | am not afraid. The vision
that came commanding me to make
this pilgrimage contained assurance
that | would meet no danger on the
way | have message from God"
The message will never be deliv-
cred. Leaving Tandag, where the
constabularX. had relieved him of his
arms-an old saber, bayonet and a
Shotgun-because he had no license
for them. in the worst part of the
Year, early Spring, he sailed down
the east coast of Mindanao, across
the turbulent mouth of Davao Gulf
and along the Cotabato coast to Matt
mus, having rounded Cape San Au-
gustin and made this point without
an intermediate landing
Met Mishap in Safe Zone,
April Il he left Matimus for Zam-
boanga, ocean port of Mindanao, dis
tant about 100 miles. Having made
far more hazardous voyages, on this
short and quite safe one, in so far as
the sea is concerned, he came to grief
His fate is not known and may never
be known. All that is known is that
August the DauntleSs. looted and
stripped clean down to the bare
mastS, was found stranded on the
shore of Gatuaan Isle, in Sibuguev
Bay, many miles off her course to
Iamboanga and nearly four months
overdue. The Moro natives of the
coast deny all knowledge of Sparks
An overall suit and a copy of the
Honolulu Bulletin of the day be-
fore Sparks left that port. giving an
account of the farewell to him. identi-
fled his boat.
Sparks on landing at Tandar and
at Matimus was in good health Foul
play by fanatic Semi-Savages is indi-
Gated. But this involves an element
OF strangeneSs, for, though Moros are
MohammedanS, they accept Christ
and it would seem that Sparks. de-
voted to no creed but the teachines
or ChrlSt, would have been accept
able even to the most benighted
Was 1T that they coveted his boat
that first effort of an inspired car
penter from Il country town on the
American plains, who had never seen
the sea nor heard the sough of it's
waves? Even more strange, for the
! Moros are sea-dwelling and sea-
| farlng folk and their swift yintas
queenly in excellence among small
sailing craft
Sea Holds Secret.
Perhaps the piratical Moro seas
VIII forever hold their secret. On
the other hand. it is quite possible, if
the constabulary work diligently On
the case, that some aStute sergeant
of this famous insular police force
Will get an inkling of information
from a tribal renegade one of these
days and little physical discipline
to pepper the examination will cause
all to be revealed. Sparks had in
trep1d courage. Had he not been
dlsarmed at Tandag perhaps he
would not have disappeared at
Matimus. At any rate, yonder in
the south is Matimus, and yonder
westward STILL to the Near East, is
the Holy Land. The looted and de-
serted Dauntless, towed to Fam
boanga by customs launch, tosses
day and night at her mooring in the
harbor. Her master does not come to
clear her, hoist sail and make for the
open sea. 1t is not hard to conjecture
a picture of natives from the fatal
shore of Matimus coming up to the
capital, strolling down to the quay.
recognizing the little Dauntless in
the veiled light of tropic moon and
grunting mutual comments on a san
culinary tale they are determined
shall never be told.
So ends the devoted career of the
pilgrim carpenter from Peru. His
feet are not to tread the streets of
Nazareth. His soul may see Jerusa-
lem; his ruined body, mayhap with
a hundred kriss wounds in it's torse,
beyond scarce doubt now disinte-
CRATES in some of the vilest earth
ever raised above the level of the
ocean.
copyright, 1924. by Chicago Daily News Coz
Query the Promoter.