KELLY THE CRIMP

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 2

KELLY THE CRIMP

SHIPS A WOODEN A.B. A colourful overseas journal states that one foggy night in October, 1890, a five-masted British barque in the harbour of Portland', Oregon, waited for one more A.B. to complete her crew before sailing for Sydney loaded to the scuppers with Douglas fir. Her skipper sent word ashore to Bunco Kelly, the crimp, to get him a man before' midnight. Kelly swung into immediate action, for it was then 11 p.m. Kelly prided himself bn his ability to make up deep-water crews at short notice. He set out to make the rounds of. the. waterfront. district. There was no one available in Larry Sullivan’s sailors’ home to fill the vacancy. The next .call was at the house operated by Liverpool Li*, but Liz couldn’t or wouldn’t oblige. Then Erickson’s big saloon and Nancy Boggs’s Dive, and a doaen other likely resorts proved unproductive. A.B.s were scarce on the waterfront that night, either on the street or in the joints. ■ ■ Unsuccessful, but undismayed, Kelly the Crimp kept oh. He stepped into Wildman’s cigar store for a packet of cigarettes. When he came , out a thought struck him as he eyed the wooden Indian figure which stood guard in front of. the store proffering a dummy packet of cigarette tobacco. The night was dark and foggy. Kelly picked up the cedarwood Indian and, throwing him over his shoulder, made for the waterfront. Arrived there, he procured an old tarpaulin and carefully wrapped the .wooden figure, in it. Then he packed his . burden .up the gangplank of the barque and carefully put “ him ” to bed in the fo’castle, covering him well with blankets. Kelly immediately reported to the captain that he had procured the required A.B. “ He’s for’d there in the fo’castle; pretty drunk, but he’ll be all right by the time you get to Astoria. He’s a big son of a gun, too, and I had one h——- of a time getting him here. • Nasty drunk he is. I reckon, captain, you shoilld come across with 50dol for him.” “In the fo’c’sle. Why didn’t you bring him along here?” inquired the captain. “ To much oiled, skipper.” “ T7h, huh,” commented the Oimejuicer captain, “ might as well have an eyeful of your emergency mariner. Say we have a look along to the fo’c-sk.” Kelly demurred, but,- accepting the inevitable, he and the captain went for’d along the main deck. There was ample room on the deck of the fivemaster for the; two beamy men to walk abreast, although the braces were, laid down for running, and the waiting tow-boat was sending wood smoke freely on board. When they reached the fo’c’sk they halted outside the door and the captain : peered into the gloomy interior, “ That’s, him in the lower bunk on ■the far, side,” the, crimp explained. .“.Just look at the size of him bulging up through the blankets. The length of him fills . the bunk. A whale of a man.” “ He seeins to, .be there all Tight,” agreed the captain. /‘ There?” ejaculated Kelly. “ You can bet your bottom dollar he’s there, cap,,* If it wasn’t for all this clanged noise about the deck you could hear him snoring. The man-is full.” • “ All right,” agreed the captain of the delayed five-master, turning away from the | fo’c’sle door, “ lOdol extra blood money for a whale of-a sailor snoring in his bunk.” “ Sure thing, captain,” said Kelly. “ I’ll take the fifty in gold; these paper dollars are the devil for geting wet and soggy.” So Kelly, the crimp, went ashore with his blood money, and the cigar store dummy sailed for Australia as an A.B. aboard a British five-masted barque. ~