Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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8 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR v)ii the beach when the tide was out. There war only one boat lc’ from the wreck an’ I got that clown in the other cave. 1 got kind o' tired o’ pcple cnywav, so I thot Pd live here alone an if cm of them fisher-fellers come up here. I'd scecr 'em blue an’ I did.” Wal,” lie continued. “I’d lived down in the lower cave ’bout a week, then I foun' this place, which leads up from the lower one. 1 guess the place must 'a been a pirate’s headquarters, cuz the place here had been lived in by some ensses, who lef a lot of stuff, murdered a feller, then went off. Ye see that’s how I got the skeleton. The way I live here is easy, I slip out o’ the place in the boat some night an’ get up to Bar Harbor in the morning an’ git my supplies, then I comes back at night, so the lisher-fcllers wunt see me. W’al. that's how I live an’ it suits me jes' right, s’longs nobuddv bothers me. I didn’t mind you fellers cuz I liked yer looks a heap bet- ter than them fisher-fellers, but I kind o’ scccred ye, didn’t I?” Then the old fellow chuckled and rubbed his chin. Bill asked him if he was ever married. Xaw.” lie piped, I hain’t got no use fer the women, the only good one that I knowed war my mother. Say.” he asked. What you fellers' names an’ where d’ye live? We told him and he put them down on a pad that he had on a shelf. I looked at my watch and suggested to Bill that we go back to camp, so the old man led us back to where the stump had been, and we started to go up tbc ladder. By observation, we saw that the stump was operated by pulleys, and that the death’s head had been lifted up by a stick. We said good bye to him and went down the hill toward camp. That afternoon. Bill and 1 went to Bar Harbor after the mail. He received a letter from his father saying that his mother was very sick and that he had better come home. So the next morning we broke camp and went home—it taking us forty-eight hours to get back to Boston. Bill’s mother was very sick, but she recovered, and we decided to cruise around the Massachusetts coast, instead of going back to the island. We often recalled what the old sailor-hermit had told us about the pirates, and it occurred to us that there might be hidden treasure up there, but gradually we dismissed the thought from our minds with the arrival of school and the football season. s During the mid-winter vacation, when Bill and I were home from school, I received a letter from a lawyer in Bar Harbor. Bill happened to be over to my house at the time and we read the letter together. The lawyer said that an old sea captain, named William Frazer, had made his will in his office about a month before this and had left to William Bryce and Henry Lcverett (myself), the sum of $100,00(1 which was then deposited in the bank at Bar Harbor, and that he also left to us in the will, a letter, which the lawyer hadn’t opened. It seems that the body of Captain Frazer was found in his boat by some fishermen, just a little way out from the island of Harachan, he having died of heart failure. Bill and I were even more startled than when we had seen the sulphur skeleton on the island,, and it took us about five minutes to recollect who Captain Frazer was. But we remembered our old friend, the hermit of the island, who had given us some lively scares. The lawyer had enclosed the letter which the captain had left us and it read as follows: Deer boyes having’ no children an nobuddy to levc my muny to i decided thet i wod leve it al to yu, it is sum thet i dug up in the cave wen i ferst com here i haini got no uther frends excep yu an the loir wo wil giv yu this wen i go. vour frend (sined) ' W.M. FRAZER.” This was another surprise to Bill and myself and it almost took us off our feet. We were at loss to know what to do with our money, but as we had taken a liking to the island, we decided to buy it. Now. on either end of Harachan Island are the summer residences of Bill and myself, where we had enjoyed a few adventures with the old sailor- hermit of the island, and where with our friends we enjoy exploring the pirates’ caves from which we got our wealth in such a spookish manner. --------------------.. ---------------- Morton S. Fnslin, 1915-B, has recently been operated on for appendicitis and is now in the Somerville Hospital. 11 is class hopes for a speedy recovery and awaits his return to school.

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 7 skeleton walking along the shore among the rocks. There wasn't a bright light, but a kind of a lowing, dickering, bluish light, something sim- ilar to phosphorus. It gave me the creeps” and in almost no time my back was all gooseflesh and I guess Bill went through the same experience. But as 1 said be- fore Bill knows a lot more than I do and lie quickly shot twice at the thing, but with appar- ently no effects and Bill is a dead shot with a re- volver. The whole affair was getting uncanny, but my hair stood in bristles when the figure stopped and .gave the most weird shriek that I ever heard. Then it began to groan. Ugh, but it sounded .awful across the water. This was enough for Bill. He crawled to the anchor chain on his hands and knees, while I started the engine and we headed for the open sea. We cruised about until the sun rose the next morning, then we got courage enough to come back to the island. It bothered me so much that I could scarcely eat breakfast. Bill’s courage was rising again and he concluded that he would get to the bottom of the mystery or die looking for it. Accordingly, we went ashore, though rather unsteadily and proceeded up the liill. ‘ 'Hie stump was in place again and nobody would surmise that anything was amiss, but the stump went down as before and the death’s head came, but this didn’t bother us now, as we had got kind of used to it. But scarcely had the head appeared when Bill threw his hatchet and clove the skull, it disappearing immediately. We had brought a pick and shovel with us and we started to dig to the root of the mystery, but scarcely had we stood over the hole, when it caved in with us. as if there was a trap door under- neath the soil. Lucky for us we landed on our feet, and after juickly looking around found ourselves in a long, low cavern, but apparently empty as far as a skeleton was concerned. Bill drew his automatic, and we started to look through the cave of mystery. We went from the big cave toward a smaller one. where we saw a light, and as we approached it. we hear a low chuckle and again Bill and T shivered. We hesitated, but then the voice said in a high-pitched tone. ‘‘Ye needn't be afraid o’ me T wunt hurt ye. c’mon in. We hesitated again and then took a step for- ward and in the dim light, we could see the figure of an old man with white hair, flowing over his stooped shoulders. Bill and I both heaved sighs that would have knocked the old man down had he been directly in front of us, so relieved were we. We entered the cavern and found it full of all sorts of seaman’s things, while over in one cor- ner stood the inevitable skeleton with its grue- some death’s head grinning at us. As we entered, the old man piped out, Did 1 sceer ye eny byes? What d’ye think o’ my leetle skeleton? Giv’ ye a bit o' a sceer didn’t he?’’ Bill had pretty hard work to control himself, when he thought of how lie had been frightened blue by a harmless old man and a skeleton. But Bill wishing to appear as brave as possible an- swered calmly, Well, he did frighten us just a bit, but that was only for a minute. I asked the old man how lie managed the skel- eton that night down on the shore. He motioned for us to be seated, then he squeaked out, Wal, I jes' tuk a leetle sulphur an’ rubbed it over the bones. It’s jes like if ye take a match in a dark- place an' rub the sulphur on ycr hair an’ it makes it kind o’ glow. Then 1 held it out at arm’s length an’ walked along the shore. 11 ain't that an easy way to sceer fellers? Bill burst out laughing, when he thought of how he had crawled on his hands and knees to pull up the anchor, merely because an old man had such a skeleton on the shore. Then the old gentleman, at Bill's request, told us the story of his life, which was as follows: W hen 1 was a young lad. 1 allcrs wanted to go to sea. but my father wouldn't let me, but jes same. I went. I knocked about quite a bit on sailin' vess'ls. but I never went 'board one o’ them noo tangled steam-boats. Wal, arter a while I got command o’ a brig, which I arterward bought. ’Bout five year ago. I war sailin’ offen this here coast, in my brig, when (lurin’ a storm, my old boat war wrecked. Here lie paused and shook his head, heaving a sigh at the same time. Then he continued: It was right offen the here island an’ in the mornin’ arter the storm. I foun’ myself in a cave with some old wreckage near me. The ole tub itself war lyin’ on the rocks, off shore jes’ to the lee of where yer boat is now. I went out there an’ tuk some stuff »ff an’ brot it in here. Ye know there’s an openin’ from the bay in a big hole in the cliff down there, where ye kin git a boat in when the tide is up an’ ye kin walk out

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 9 Jack JSurton, (Patrolman 36 ? Hrnold IB. ADurrag, 16 36 HE summer sun shone with fierce in- tensity upon the large number of hurrying people crossing Broadway amid the sluggish moving electrics. In the midst of the rush, Jack Bur- ton. traffic patrolman. No. 17C, motioned the drivers of the restless, panting auto- mobiles. and hopelessly snarled teams to wait. Jack commenced regulating the traffic while his good-natured face beamed with moisture from the sun’s rays. Jack had been a member of the force for seven months, and in that time had earned the name of being one of the most reliable men in the de- partment. He was a short, jolly patrolman, and a great favorite with the children of the East Side. His good-natured smile, and willingness to oblige, secured him popularity, and many were the friendly greetings extended to him by prosperous men on their way to business. This morning Jack was in unusually good spirits, for that night he had planned to visit his little nine-year-old crippled favorite. Jennie Long, a bright girl of the East Side, who lived an un- happy. cheerless life with a drunken father. Among the waiting automobiles, a large Bierce- Arrow touring car edged its way to the front, and the man in tlie rear seat beckoned to Jack, in a strained annoyed voice:— “Burton, there is an important political meet- ing this afternoon, and if I do not get to the City Hall inside of five minutes, I shall lose a very important office. Let me pass immediately, or you will regret it.” Can’t do it. sir.” returned Jack firmly. “I have to do my duty.” At last the people had all reached the other side, and as the long car shot bv Jack the man regarded him with an angry scowl. Jack realized fully what lie had done. The man in the car was none other than Ben Johnson, the most influential political boss in New York, lie had a large office in the Columbia Building on Jack's beat. Many a patrolman had mysteriously left the force through the efforts of this same man, but Jack was resolved to do his duty in all possi- ble cases, a fact that had not escaped the notice of the Chief. That evening Jack visited his little crippled friend, little realizing that close behind him was Ben Johnson, the political boss, who saw how much Jack cared for the little girl. The next afternoon just one hour before Jack's relief was due to arrive, a dirty little urchin rushed up to him, and handed him a note which read as follows:— If you want to sec your friend alive again, come at once. (Signed) Dr. Johnson. As Jack read the note a troubled frown ap- peared on his brow. It was four o'clock, and he did not leave his beat till five, lie must see his little friend once more. But what about his rec- ord? his reputation? He looked around for a brother otficer but no one was in sight. Finally, he decided to risk everything to see and help his little friend once again. So he hastily set out for the East Side, while a sinister, sneering face watched his departure. Hello!” Is that you chief? This is John- son. Mv office in the Columbia Building was broken into this afternoon while I was out of town. Must have happened around 4.30 o’clock, for my secretary left at 1. I tried to find Burton, who has this beat, but a small boy told me that he had gone to see a friend of his. Burton not on his beat? inquired the Chief in an amazed voice. He is one of the most re- liable men on the force. I shall send two men down immediately, and shall look after Burton to- morrow at roll call. Is that satisfactory?” “Entirely so,” retorted Johnson in a compla- cent tone. When Jack arrived at Jennie’s house he found his friend as well as ever. At once Jack scented that some plot had been formed to have him dis- charged from the force. $ Patrolman Burton.” The cold words and disdainful look of the Chief went through Jack like steel. “Before your brother patrolmen. I wish to ex- plain the breach of discipline you committed yes- terday. Did you leave your beat at four o'clock?’ “Yes sir.” sadly returned Jack.