The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 4, 1899, Page 19

THE SAN TFRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY. JUNE 4, 1899 19 ForR 25 YEARs. ashore because they had yellow backs. Coffin is destined to have an important “The skipper of another vessel offered part in the lineage of Pitcairners. There me a couple of bottles of wine, but they are but seven family names among the didn’t reach the landing place. The fel- 1% inhabitants. They are Young, Mc- lows. in charge of our boat told the cap- Coy, Christian, Buffett, Warren, Butler tain of the ship that no wine was per- and Coffin, and only Coffin of the original mitted on shore except for the purposes families now lives. of administering the holy communion. When the Pitc Strongly that if a good opportunity were and the British men-of-war supplied all the fsiand. her c to present itself he might leave the island the Wwine for that purpose. sail before the m: without going through the formality of _ “‘One time I had a good chance to leave, ers were willing to leave. but Brother saying good-by. . but the Governor (McCoy) said ‘lhcmfld Coffin Just 1n{;md lm- nother trip e o “ go if 1 would take my family with me. He consulted with the powers o o i g o 2l very well at first,” 5ald Cof- Now they are all right and I think a island, and to his great delight he was kit i ol bl b 289; whole lot of them, but when I got back permiited to go as an able seaman in the around an island that dees not cover € to Massachusetts the Lord knows what Pitcairn to Tahiti, the general impression than avoutith ee " hove I would do with them, because I think being that he would return to Pitcairn SRGEIOy b STee AT M ave i1 climate would very soon have a bad when the missionary ship made her next kept watch on Pitcalrn avenue many oo CHTALE WOU bkt :;«E.m;'wj::‘mv::r‘;gg(éo;na12;??%:0;:: Poor old Coffin—he was then over fifty— The Pitcalrn went w0 Tahiti, and there soon after the wreck, and now have quite Went back to the island to his wife and Brother Coffin bade her good-by. Ths 2 four children and to his cottage which San Francisco brig Galilee was about to was ‘“‘a little more comfortable than any leave for ifornia and Coffin left with other shanty on the island,” and where her. On the brig was also a missionary there is no need of work to secure a liv- returning from Pitcairn, and he and ing. But as he looked back it could Brother Coffin frequently discussed the plainly be seen that poor Cofin would pest and the future. Coffin always as- willingly have changed places with any- sured his friend that it was his intention body on board -the Florence even with to return to Pitcairn after he had spent midnight wheels, reefing topsails off the g goodly period among the enjoyments of Horn, holystoning decks and swinging ‘ his native country, but the missionary yards in the doldrums, and .all the other gays it will not be surprising if Coffin discomforts of a deep-water VOYage never goes back. ahead of him if he could only once more Cofiin is now 63 years old. Over thirty reach port. years ago he was a sailor on board one Nor was it any imagination of Coffin’s of the United States vessels at the cap- that caused him to think the islanders ture of Fort Donelson in the Civil War. were suspicious of his desire to leave his On this particular occasion Coffin was on family behind him, for while he walked one of the river boats acting in conjunc- about the deck, went into the cabin or tion with the land forces under General the fo'c’sl, one or two of the island crews Grant. He declares that he is entitled to always followed his movements with their a considerable amount of prize money, eyes and that the matter was being adjudi- 'As the length of Toffin’s term on the cated when he sailed on his last voyage island increased so Gid his family, and Which ended so abruptly at Pitcairn. He now there are six little Coffins, some of has now gone East to look up the record them well along in years, running around and see if he be rich or poor. In any on Pitcalrn. It is probably due to the event, he ins that he will have no dif- fact that the older boys are now able to ficulty in proving his right to a pensiom one of them. He confided to me the little romance of his life and also the fact that some of the leaders of the little com- munity ‘“kept an eye on him.” Coffin's remark made it very clear that a dozen years on Pitcairn, with the prospect of being buried there, was not all that an American could desire. He .hinted very rn was ready to leave ptain desired a man to None of the island- R ELDEST [SLAMD DAUGHTER 0 C’oFTIHLb SLAND MOME '}s ms REANS of ESCAPE N oy THE GHAPEL \xf'fifi RE OFF I \WED THE \S/IDOW. = Ff'N CAME ASHORE from THL WREC a sallors, having nothing to do and belng islanders, unt!l the arrival of a British “Whers man partakes the earth without ~four children—and the people support their mother that made it com- because of injuries recetved during the well f they were In a verit- p off the island gave all an opportu- dispute n't want me to leave without paratively easy for Coffin to return to his Civil War. By this time Coffin was so And bread itself is gathered as a fruit.” taking my family with me, because they native country. Early this year the mis- “Coffin is a pretty good fellow,” sail® f ne days Coffin, with in love with the little Widow Afrar o fe .ars the secluded life on Will have to look after them cnary schooner Piteairn made its annual the missionary who arrived in Oakland visit to the island. The Pitcalrn is the last week, “but his nature is not such as which it s said im- elected to remain. and when the tp. jg1and pegan to be irksome to Coffi “The people are too good here, although § it at ¥ ity wioth thorities concluded that he had po ooy 1 among the Inhabitante, sometimes tomebods. forgets some of the Property of the Seventh-day Adventists, to cause him to fall in love with the con- I what he could find. On' resided there long enough to know his py inig time there were two or three chil- commandments. The pec have lived Whose headquarters are in Oakland. In ditlons on Pitcairn Island. He assures me a tive littlc own mind he was married in the lttle qo.p “\when ships called the island here all their lives and haven't seen much, 156 the islanders, wno had up to that time that he is a sincere Seventh-day Advent- ¢ atter of supreme banana-leaf barn “that did duty as a (offin would look with wistful eves at In some of their religious books they have been following the tenets of the English ist, but if so, Brother Coffin has a few v t husban and wives their departing sails. 3 " read about yellow-back literature and Episcopal church, joined themselves to ideas of his own about Adventism. He Wit limited ¢ es of Pit- land life suited Coffin Immensely. Apout twelve years ago the British ship now they won't permit anything with a the Seventh-day Adventists, and Coffin cannot rid himself of his family obliga- ¢ ! : » soon is an ideal honie for a sallor with City of Florence called off this lttle yellow cover to come ashore. The last ¥as among those who concluded that the tions, because there is no such thing as : : ined to be abid- Lord Byron beautifully toid the jsland. I was one of her officers, and for ship that was here brought a bundle of §5v '\',‘,".'.,'.l“‘i“m.-n‘ll'{l‘::\';r Gafdan)inthe fi;'nrs" ‘;‘{,‘m'} Sns e, of Fitcaien existence on this is.and when several hours we enjoyed the company Harper's Magazines, and some of the folks hip. and not Sunday, as taught by "m‘:‘"m_ m:{‘:;‘m professes great affec- ¥, but the position of Coffin is perhaps absolutely unique. He 600060 00000 PODOG OO S 66 & has had a rare experience and it cannot be compared, so far as I know, with the experience of any other man living. He 5 @ P Big Men Nowadays Compared ® (il 2t vienand and orea w. /’ well after his children. He was always é [ 1t doing something for their comfort, but R b # it could plainly be seen that there was : v Those of the Olden Times. o aiways within him that irresistible de- * sire to return to where life was more glish church. crew was distributed among the he wrot two boatloads of Pitcairr tes. Coffin was mearly had a fit when 1 brought them the 560 6COODBHOOOV00060600606606 New Story of How He Met | to Cairo, for dispatch to England, and sl 1 C nla t .', < | but for the discussion in Parliament it g tion with the isolate S 2 would, no doubt, have been on view be- ? rn Isiand. The isl- i His End and o | fore now in sbme museum or another. . e { marke ) 4 . | The War Offic I showid think, will know : “iny kinds v What Became of His Body. * | wier: o in” it s mre After the body of the Mahdi had been “disinterred” and disposed of his tomb was destroyed. Lyddite was used [ A XX X3 ® pleasant to a man brought up as he w It may be possible that after a few years 50666 POOOOOOO0O00000606 0 PPPPO00CPOCP000000000 0 HOOOOOINIOOEOOS | ! ' A | 18 it & § : 2 A : EGARDIN disintepment and | ter for those In authority,” one was l“’]"‘; | is still necessary to note the action of | F anything, the human frame seems [lowed to drink no alcoholic liquors. Con- ( offin may actually long to return to his 5 mutilat he remains of the |However, it was presently said llh_d‘{ the i explosive owing to the sometimes | to be increasing in size rather than sst;;;tzn‘:]d“(f‘u«m:‘ Iflaoutaitpamter fin lslland home and those he has left thére.” Khandelsh ap- + hafier the bat- [ order was glverl 0, take. the D00y from | Peculiar conduct of Iyddite shelis. “So | decreasing. The man of well- | S¥Itaciand, sng nefthe B il et dumsing thal Cemc e the By | ey (L skl e % ‘hat | that we had an experiment of two kinds,” | developed frame to-day would have | '5,QVSE The QORME 88 o ight-footer i Exicenns) some. It is perhaps pr Gu the trunk The corporal wen | said one of the artillerymen. *“We exper- | hard work to queeze himself into a| Chang, ‘‘the Chinese giant,” who at- the only perfect altruistic settlement on J cia nd. On lifting the head it broke clean | manieq in religion on the ‘poor Mahdi suit of armor worn by the average | tracted much attention in this country earth. Its people cannot, even if they F eanaa” fr | ¢ from the body, and he hele it In his |5 4, "oy nnery we tried it on his tomb, | Crusader. - All through history, however, | and Europe a few years ago. It was said would, go outside the closely drawn lines t Sl f N SoMibeta bR the NIl and [Tt certainly seems aittle above the | there have been men of remarkable size, | that Chang had a sister who was ele¥en of government which regulate that soctal, c got it from the men The body was then wrapped up, ““““’I‘]‘f; mark to try concluslons with a dead |Jjust the same as there are to-day. “There | (%509 voung. 7 political, civil and religious life. ~ The t W z the ac- gaged in this place of diplomatic barbar- | ed and carried across the threds MUSS | poqy < Were giants on the earth in those days B o Jiaidsys it ‘was belleved that the island is but three miles one way and a < I nders. a jg that lay between the tomb and ”,"’ 2 and there are giants now. Baron Albert|size of man had gradually decreased half mile the other way, and there is no migl rasped the ship within The day after the Omdurman battle, | #nd at once t into the river. never Verly, son of Colonel Verly, who once|since the flood. One Henrion, a French- means of leaving it and returning at $6a Ind 1 some o by 3 cas seen of It : e E : man, evolved a ‘“comparative scale” by oloan € z ehip drifted speed- ¢ange. Major Gordon, they say, went on | 88ain.” sald one a 3 narane ¢ ants vn 3 FouaE. A v senc S as Americans under- ! ptain and his ;‘”.: ,,.U-“Jnr the gunoboats :m’:i\ vh:-n“hm: fact fs it must have been washed av;|n\ N a rm"(‘nf! n}llxmb;r of St. George, the fi.nm in Paris the other day to the sur- E}a‘f n“;a;pnés 1‘\‘;:? T ol ane stand the word, and there is absolutely ) | the islanders rushed » him a small party of Royal Marine | 810ng the bed of the river.” Another organ of the Birmingham Ruskin | yjiore of his father's command. Only a| Grandfather Noah was twenty feet no field for ambition. Everybody shares d the ship was ymen to the land. None of the | added that the dervishes are. of course, Society, the editor, J. H. Whitehouse, | fow of the members of this famous body | shorter than Adam, and Abraham was alike, and when a passing ship gives a feor gos L L0 wheco theisipges o board were taken “The | essentlally _superstitious, and. that they writes an interesting article on Mr. | of soldiers of the Second Empire stiil | only 28 feet tall. Moses was set down as gacks of flour or wheat or a few barrels ising swell of chatter too much,” explained a sergeant, | MIght In- the future, no doubt, be tm- Ruskin as he Is to-day. As to Mr.|Jive tp drag thelr huge and ancient bodies | pelng 13 fect Beh, anf Hercules as 10 of pork or beef to the islanders it is all Pacific was hurling Toilers on: wwhen you have experience of them they | Posed on by the production o el i ..‘.,r.':'f”f‘sn;;",r',::{’"gu"th“‘"“' Y. he Is | about Paris. Since the last banauet of||cireq man is only a subject for laugh. Put in a common storehouse and distrib- he rock 1 car the vessel With ,rea poor race of beings. A dervish is in | 4¢ad bo But,” he added, £ y wea 3 mentally he is | the corps eight have died, among them| tor now, but it was accepted seriously uted equally. 1 arts altegether more of a man. The | May be d of the body, they will never | quite clear, and though unable to do any | the amusing Dr. Gerard. He was a|in the days in_ which he wrote. N e iy ihcs. Whe theie cre ok : fow oel ot shore the. evaloh annotistand wone” . | &et the Nead ot theic MatdL? work whatever he still takes a lively in- | prigadier in the days of the Second Em- | height of Goliath has been estimated va- witos or husbands enough on the iclamd A } 3 co R 4 | “What became of the head?” terest in the progress of the world. * *| pire, and was dismissed for sleeping out | riously. The best authorities, such as % g 3 ks and ' rrpe ittle party marched directly to the | ..V he 6 0T Tt heth in | e ey i & pire, is and the Vatican copy of the to fill the demand communication is commenced to, fill. .The crew, seeln& . &mb of: the Mahdl : The tomb was "de.|iciih® YerXBHORL SUEy, e e | oy T seD fa Was S ta ketiout | ot quAierigttigu, 16ETE, Septuagint, ilistine champion opened with the friends of the islanders Shels AR hRar. i to comé dshore: arisr hanid aips o e | carried on board the gunboat and put In- | every day when the weather was fine,| The Cent Gardes were organized In the | Goun a5 teing “four cubits and a Span” on Tahitl, which is 1200 miles to the we e Chte ina T Ehore seribed as “iike a big square barn, bullt | (5 an empty kerosene can—one of those | sometimes taking slow walks and some. | Crimean war, when a visit was expected vhich would make him a little over On Tablth, which is 1210 miles to the west- Hirne The isl 5 e of half-baked bricks and slabs of mud | gquare cans, you know, that oil is kept in. | times going in a bath chair.” Mr. Rus- | at the Tuileries from Queen Victoria and about the size of Chang and Col- :L“ ;’ilcalrn on the “)(» |.n|"(‘(:“x'v1"%filn? a every m was safe Coreit It stopped there a few da The other | king' appearance is most Impressive and | the Prince Consort. The tallest and best o tan ‘°J‘-‘y of a tall man is that told have already referred a mail \\m"r:xade jsland had met with very It had a round domeé on the top, which | officers used to come aboard and say,|Mr. Whitehouse says that his face “has |looking men in the French-army were |, Ap00 SO Bl oays That the remains up, consisting of eighteen lettors. all of ¢ escape wving n dasheq had been so worked as to fit the & Gordon, show us that head,' and the cor- | undergone no material change since the | selected and formed into an ornamental | o this monster were discovered in his which were addressed to Tahiti. Thes: i Lt trom e building below. The body of the M voral, under orders, would then lift it out. | days when he was a professor at Oxford.” | body of houschold guards. All were over | gwn time In a cave in Sicily, and were [HCH WeTe LOOKERsed to Tahill. hese 1 ki ip. o 31 at the artillerymen termed “an | None of them would:touch it. It was not| It is still the face which Professor Her- | six feat tall, and it was their duty to | those of a man 400 feet high. The learned STHeTs FATG TEEREC CETNITE Sound the R Stk hard perhaps half the height of a | nic I might say that the Mahdl must | komer painted a number of years ago. | Stand immovable ahr;\:t the pa‘la;‘a nel\'(;r fiéfl“’}fli"i!fii"fl‘?'{hi :T;ué;d;y:;;~<l vis- : :v“l:s- a(f((;‘ g""g: w-‘ 1.L‘ p“\mr. he who had e hardest time ST a St TSR v man. 4 o 8 tion exce, o salute sc! ] etters, er g0 _ondon, were sent hore was g man, set up In the middle of the tomb. | have been a feartully ugly man. = The|The only difference is a long white beard. | SAREIE UIelr PYSTLOTLceX “Hive hundred | and found that the cave was only 3 & R T0 heni 1o Setl Frannes oIy . It ha 1 encircling rail made witn pieces | lower jaw protruded furgher than in any [To Brantwood there come every day | hna elghty men served togetiter In the | high, while the only remains which could 2 h o . osrs o oepiss 8co, pyeral s taken from English implements | man 1 have ever seen, The forehead was ‘many kind remembrances, and among | coat Cardes. The eorps went down with | be Shown to him were the fossil bones of thence by - 5n§n” to the _:;l island anders. to or furniture, and was decorated with | not particularly high—for an Arab. His | the greetings Mr. Whitehouse tells of ap | the foundering of the empire of Napoleon | an elephant. 3 SR x ; éiqf(;k;‘:;ofimh\pnd y were r‘v.azrr:g [z&‘lgm exliers o Begure Other trinkets, perhaps religious symbols. | halr was et black. The lower part of | American lady sending Mr. Ruskin efghty o e e A IO o otion bt oaey, 000 miles:ana arly. six months upon which the weakening The hody was wrapped In white and col- | one side of the face was gone—decayed— | white flowers, bearing the inscription: | ynot JonE 882 there dled on B8 Tarm I | Flizaboth, whose portralt by Zucchers (o reach a point 1200 miles distant from ¢ for his life. ored cloth, sewn together. “But whether | and we took off part of his beard. It is | “Eighty flower sprays for eighty pure and | over. efsht feet high. who had accumu-|hangs in Hampton Court Palace. He was Where they were ‘ fed, and the next day jt had heen embalmed.” sald another of | here in Eastney. I have a piece myself-- | lovely ye: lated a competence by exhibiting him- | a Dutchman and was 7 feet 6 inches tall. _Five yearslater Governor McCoy visited irely broken up by the the artillerymen, “I could not say, hav- | a fine, glossy, black, apparently the hair — Y e self in museums and ‘‘side slhows.'t" “} J:;'mes i hfadl a [mrl-;'\ \}\l'tult-{{_“ll’;;‘ ons, flukl:mdl' nd told me lnlt] §lr1r - ejdfl(;ll\(‘ry s. ™ xperienc s bodies 100k a a ma E ; u . 2 Thaveis On view in London now is a boy 19 |who was of the same height. Evans, ors eir. long journey, R ARt S LT Dot oo alter B R O ot RTM&":’:S, the yisttor, “have you | ,curs bld named Constantine, who is over | who Stcceeded Parsons and served as This incident conveys some idea of the lexs ple SIYPLING S unoe RO DAt PIOC ‘ha S ADYLrOMIG sreres eight feet tall. He is_well proportioned | porter for Charles I, was 7 feet 8 inches isolation of the little home on which Cof- posal of the ship- Nobody cared to describe what hap-|days in the can a wooden box was made| ‘“No,” replied wee Robble, solemnly; | ajd shows no sign of disease. He is fed | high, Cromwell also had a glant porter, fin spent twenty-five years of his lifetime, fifty-one days the pened inside the tomb. “That is a mat-|and it was packed in that. It was sent ! “I'm all the children we've got.” 1 mostly on milk and beef tea and is al- | one Daniel, who stood 7 feet 6 inches. STUART W. BOOTH.