| Show ifa oab aw adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES LIVE S OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Fl 1 mad alad week weekend E end by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter auello EVERYBODY HELLO 11 II talk about being in a tough spot heres just about the toughest one I 1 ever heard of suzanne mathias of ne new W york city contributes this tale to the column and becomes a distinguished adventurer on the strength of it As tar far as suzanne Is concerned the only redeeming feature of this experience is that a number of other people shared it with her it was down in miami in december 1929 A crowd of Su zannes friends had bad clubbed together and chartered a boat tor far a weekend week end fishing trip it was an old boat of the cabin cruiser type with plenty of bunks in it and the party sailed at midnight on the captains assurance that by morning hed aed have them at a spot where be plenty of good fishing when they awoke next morning they were out of sight of land the only thing that showed on the horizon was a small island that looked as it if it might be one of the florida keys suzanne asked the captain where they were and he told her they were about 90 miles from miami but he be say in what direction their captain was crazy and shortly after that things began to happen the first inkling P bove ve had that anything was wrong suzanne says came from my py 4 pother other who was chaperoning chape roning the trip she came up and asked us 48 4 8 the captain appeared with a gun in his hand band what we knew about the captain she had been talking to him she said when suddenly he began raving saying that his son was the high priest of the temple and that his father was the right hand band man to the king of sweden A couple of us decided to investigate and started a casual conversation with the captain after talking with him a few minutes we were left in no doubt he was CRAZY AS A LOON that look so good ninety miles out at sea out of sight of land and totally at the mercy of a crazy boat captain the whole crowd agreed that the best thing to do was to put back to miami but the captain agree with them he flatly refused to move the boat and said a few things more too he told them that not one of them knew a thing about navigation and run the boat by themselves that they even know where they were and what was more he was in absolute authority while at sea and not even the president could tell him what to do with his ship they tried to cajole him but that work the men started to threaten him but he walked away and five minutes later appeared in the companionway with a gun in his hand band after that nobody cared to argue with the be skipper planned to kill all of them the day wore on slowly no one fished tor for every one was too scared to fish the captains raving make them feel any better either he had bad suddenly got the idea in his bis head that the whole crowd was just a bunch of sinners and that hed be taken straight to heaven if he killed them all then and there the night was even worse none of the crowd could sleep they huddled together in one of the cabins while the captain prowled about the boat early in the evening they found he had let out the fresh water supply that they had nothing to drink there was a little ice in the refrigerator and they melted that what they were going to do when it was gone they know still the mad captain prowled restlessly about the boat late that night one of the men saw him slinking along the deck a flashlight in one hand and a heavy wrench in the other he followed him below the skipper crept into a dark cabin walked noiselessly to one of the bunks raising the wrench high in the air and brought it down with crushing force on the pillow then he turned on the light looked at the bed and grunted his disappointment when he saw there was no one in it the man who had bad followed him went back to the main cabin and told what he had bad seen by that time half of the company were ill one girl was having hysterics another had developed a nervous hiccough cough and suzanne who had acquired a bad case of sunburn during the day was down with chills and fever toward dawn the hys hysterical girl quieted down and they sat in silence to await the rising of the sun ak lord told him to go back to miami D daylight made them feel a little better but what would the day bring about eight the engine started chugging what did it mean fere ere they going back to miami or was the mad captain taking them till ill farther out to sea one of the men ran up to the bridge to find out e came back with good news the lord told me not to bother with you the captain had said hell take care of you himself were going back to miami they reached port early that evening and reported what had happened to officials at the dock the officials especially surprised tor for another boatman had already noticed the skipper acting queerly and had told them about it if the boat come in that night they said they were going to send a coast guard cutter out to look for or it outside a little hysterical reaction suzanne says everyone in the crowd was all right suzanne been out in a boat since she claims although she might be induced to ride on a ferry boat sometime if she could have the captain examined by an alienist before she started copyright service |
