Savannah daily herald. (Savannah, Ga.) 1865-1866, February 11, 1865, Image 1

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Savannah daily herald., February 11, 1865, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextSAVANNAH DAILY HERALD. ' _ c iliA I '2l VOLU>IK I.\ No. SB. j Sailg^jeralt) IS PUELI6IIEI) EVERY EVENING, SUNDAYS EXCEPTED, . RY £3. W. MASON & CO. At 111 Bay Street, Savannaji, Georgia, terms: Per Copy Five Cents. Per Hundred $3 50. Per Year .$lO 00, advertising: . t limited number of Advertisemeets will be re- C ived at the rate of Twenty Cents per Line for dist insertion, and Fifteen Cents per Line for each •mbsequen insertion ; invariably in advance. Ad vertisements should be handed in before noon of each day. JOB PRINTING ia every style, neatly and promptly done. THbl MAD ENGLISHMEN. Iq the year 1817, two Englishmen ar rived in Ostend ; and from their move ments, ' appeared to he two singular originals. One was short, stout and red haired ; the other was tall and thin.— Tue tall one was named Richard Mow bray, and his tali companion was Wil liam Feathering!on. Roth were in tiie prime of life, between forty-five and fifty-five. From head to foot both were gentlemen, and their passports were in the best order and regularity. Upon’ stepping ashore, they were conducted, at their desire, to the Scheldt Inn, on Gudule street. The host was by name Rysvoort, and his inn had by no means the best reputation in Ostend. The inn keeper was of course enchanted by the arrival of such unlooked for guests.— Tney occupied the best apartments in the House, and ordered the choicest fare. Tne cook busied herself in setting before them a most miserable dinner, and our host did the same by two bot tles of execrable wine. The islanders ate acd drank with the most perfect satis faction. But the reckoning ? Upon this point the host was quite at ease. The next morning his enormous charges were paid with tne utmost indifference. Thus far all was excellent; but Van Rysvoort, unused tov.such birds of Par adise, feared every moment they might depart, and continue their journey to, Brussels. He very sagely concluded" that, the Englishmen did not cross the' sea to see Ostend merely, and to pay dearly for this bad cheer, Tne pair, however, showed no signs of departure; a diligence offered them every opportunity. The Englishmen remained quietly ; all intercourse With tne townspeople they avoided—the sights they troubled themselves not at all about. Every day they walked into the country, and ate and drank, smoked, slept, and read the papers, and lived as quietly and peaceably as angels. No letters, came to them—they sent none off; the world was dead to them, and they- were dead to the world. Every third morning they regularly paid their bill; took nothing off, al though the landlord daily charged a threefold price lor everything. Van Rysvoort spoke Usually but little 100, and troubled himself about his guests still less, since they paid so well; but these sell-same Englishmen took up all his at tention. He puzzled his brain over and over again, and at last took his i- wife into his counsels ; but as they could.not ey n conjointly solve the mystery, they consulted with friends and neighbors Upon what these Emrlisiimen could pos sibly be doing at Ostend. “They are spies,” said one, “birds of flight, who are escaping punishment, ’ said others. At last tbe town clerk, who had been some years ip England, settled the’mat ter. - ' 1 “Do not trouble your hea ls : Iff tell you what these two Engiis mien are— ] SAVANNAH, GA., SATURDAY EVENING, FEB. 11, 1865. they are nothing more nor less than mad Englishmen. Do you Luow what that means? Listen, and I’ll tell you. I knew a man' m London * who, in his old age, took to leading such a beggarly life, that for fifteen years he lived as the most wretched of paupers. From his fellow beggars.he received every kino, ot an noyance ; his mode of lile brought on him euo; gel ings and imprisonments: but he still persisted’. At last, one morn ing, lie was lound in a lane frozen dead! And listen, he left a will—valid, and drawn up by a notary—b} r winch lie dis posed of more than £50,000 to fit village he had never seen nor known. Con less that that was a mad Englishman- Such are those now lodged in the .bcheiut, So spoke this clever man., ■ ■ R But Van Rysvoort answered, “Mad or not, they are good customers; and il l only for five years could keep such guests, I should become a made man.” A week after this conversation, • and three after their arrival, the Englishmen called their host, and thus .addressed him : “Herr Van Rysvoort, your hotel pleases us very much, and it our pro position pleases you we may continue our acquaintance with each other.” „ “My lords,” answered the delighted host, with, a low obeisance, “I am quite at your disposalsay your wishes and they shall become mine ; for I know what I owe to such distinguished guests” <■' c “My good friend,” said the little fat man, “your hotel is by no means so large as it ought to be ; you know you have but three apartments in which a gentle man can be accommodated, and these look upon the street- The rattle of carts and carriages make noise without end. ,We love quiet. We are here every in i slant disturbed. In short, the übise is unbearable: ’ “I am very sorry to hear it, my lord ; what can I do ? You are quite right. It is true‘the traffic is without end, but I cannot shut up the street.” Gertainly not; but the thing is not so difficult after all.” * , “What does my lord mean ?” “Tne cost cannot be important, and we will tyiliingly bear the half.” [ “Pray continue, my lord,” cried out the landlord, with a trankness and t warmth most unusual to him. “ You have, behind your house a small garden, in which nothing grows ; the old wad is also in ruins. Could you not build there a small house, with three ctomfortabfe-rooms, and there we shall Lind a quiet lodging ? If you freely give in to our plan as we have said, we will pay one half. When we leave, tbe house will belong to you, but should not this please y in, we must go, although we would willingly remain.’ Van Rysvoort seized eagerly upon the proposal, finding his own advantage in every view ; he kept his customers, and enlarged his house at their expense. Tue same evening the honest Van Rys voort consulted with a builder,wlioatone and tfie same time, was his gossip and godfather The builder stt 'briskly to woriv next morning tor the Englishmen would admit of no delay; and as they marked out the ground, all was quickly iu progress. From morning to night Mr. Richard Mowbray and Mr. Wihiam Feathering ton never left the workmen Ytu Rys voort took great interest in what vvas going on, but said nothing. It is true Tie was not quite contented That the haste with widen the Edglislimen hurried On the building, gave no guarantee of its durability. He would have been better pleased, perhaps, bad the building not be* n raised quite so much in the corner by me old wall, and had it been carried up a story or so higher ; but his guests were inexorable', and would only allow ol one floor. In fourteen days the gar den house was completed,* as if by magic. Tiie Englishmen were so de- [ ■ feu ligiitd, that they took immediate, pos sesion. * van Rysvoort a K nd'ftis'wife were now cehvinced that none'biit mad Eoglish iHtyfOiwouM leave a* good dry house tor a 'nqw and wet ones* * Hpyvpver, that was. j the business of bis guests, and being to lal| appearance"'a freak, thfcy resolved tjtat itsisuqid he Wjbll paid for. The en tire building, according to j.thc accounts iq’ the artificer's employed ‘upon it" cost jS BF4 florins—for his own benefit. Mon te juus \yas the bill presented 'to them, t min, the Englishmen paid it, the avoir ii dons host consoling his conscience with file reflection,, that it .was all liftle efidugh fot* accommodating subh crazy tmatics with his priimises. <: J and This matter'being settled, the English men being installed in*, their garden house, seldom made tifeir appearance out. of it. 'they ate, dfadk, smoked and read the papers, as usual; but the most curious part of oirr story is that they al lowed no 'one to enter, and even *' made their beds themselves. All this time their accommodation was jUoi of the best order. Perhaps the Frau iVan Rysvoot wished to try how little they could be pleased. Nothing could be ’worse than tlieir eating and wine ; for honest, Herr Rysvoot,'s reasoning was, that before mad Englishmen should drink of a good vintage, they must learn to value it. The facility* with which they paid bis double charges was only equall ed by the uneomplaininguess-with which they swallowed his ill-prepared viands, i . .The more shamelessness lie exhibited, .the greater became the forbearance of j»is guests/ The brain of mine host was always at work to solve so much myste ry ; he evten ventured to display a certain idogged anger; still he moved not ,;the 'equanimity oi his customers. The most puzzling and annoying circumstance, was the making Os their own beds. Why did they always keep themselves in ? Wky did they burn a light at ni n t ? They moved into the garden for q U * ie *t sleep; and yet, since they possess ion, they appeared not to Aeep at all.— Van Rysvoot lost himself in wild con jecture. He stood at his window whole nigh ts watching the lights in the English mens' rooms; and at last so puzzled his senses with his guests that he could no longer enjoy life. The bewildered and tormented landlord now took a good friend or two more into his counsels; and the result of a long deliberation was, that the, two Englishmen were neither more nor less tliau false coiners. Van Rysvoot, not a little alarmed at this verdict,passed in review the whole of the gold pieces he had received from the two Englishmen, but found amongst them not- a spurious piQee. Urged by his thrifty batter half, he took tbp gold to a neighboring Jew money changer to ascertain its weight and purity. The Jew made every usual test, out declared it good. Now was the hottest inn-keepei quite at his wit’s end: so was* his wife, and so was bis gossip 1 and his godfather, the builder. Things went on in this manner until tim middle of October,when the English men suddenly changed their mode of liv ing. Each bought a gun and shooting pootch, aud went out—but never together -rHs they, said, to sport upon the dunes and canaip. At last, one evening, Mr. Featlicringb n called the innkeeper, and ! informed, him that they were both going upon a three clay’s shooting excursion; And sure enough, the following morn ing, long before sunrise, a carriage was waning at the door, and the Englishmen, in fell iV rting trim, jumped into it, and tr ve off. 1 ‘bo precipitate were they, that the inn keeper had no time to make- them his lowest bow, nor to wish them a pleasant excursion. During the next three days, Van Rysvoort was in a state of consid erable perplexity. The Englishmen had taken with them the key of the garden house; and a hard struggle ensued in his breast,between curiosity and difCMt— tton.(, .Curiosity sard, break open tires garden house: discretion said, such an* intrusion, would lose him his guests, . a ! 'Wednesday, the fourth day from th>*/ departure of the Englishmen, and still they did pot appear. In tbev. evening a council was acid in the inn,-.; the sitting was long and stormy; aii* sorts of surmises and strange hypothecs** were indulged in. On Thursday, Yam Rysvoort put on his great coat.most to fully, aud went to give inforriptSon the public. He, however, took this gtep> very unwillingly, as he wisely calculate that in the event of liis guests having*; met with an untimely end, he could coV quietly possess himself of their valuable** The commissary and three gens-cVarmea* attended at the’inn to clear up the my<f* tefy. Asa matter of form, three knocks aA; the door summoned to a surrender. (M no use—no rephr. Then, as n, matter og/ course, followed the forcing the entrance The happy, long-wished-for moment wa.f '. now arrived. Lo! what came-to sight > JNothing, literally nothing! The police functionaries and the inn keeper started back in amazement.- r Then followed a long-drawn breath fro jthe head-over-head piping band of r ® rious friends and relatives pressing the back ground. A gendarme dre* sword, and valiantly nished intr ; apartments. But there was not> f encounter but two empty trmpkr "iff * r >» open letter. "With these tro? L ncl J 1 ** •came back.* A nfctv movetr 5 took place. The ccmimsssn ,/ . follows: • • y read aa- <• , “My dear Van Rysvoort _ i !that you are well versed f iclesofyd' andr town as y< M in * . , edger, whose exact Tde £ us nothing to ctouh\ r it. may be to tell you* that Ostend, in the be ginning of the seventeenth century, Woes. mixed up in the war then raging be tween Spain and Holland. Your iowi»* was, from the year HiOl to ICO4. expos- ’ ed to those vicissitudes'that all so situa ted are liable, until the. Dutch, garrison? 4 was forced to, yield t ti> life i/iTmiWngen eral Spinola. (Lq who fought like heroes under the colors of the United Provinces, were EnzHsfW men, sons of the first families of qua* country. In this band was treasurer of'* the expedition. Before the town capit ulated, he with great caution hid troirfci the capture of the Spaniards the treasure-,* box. Soon after, he returned to England amid died, but not before he had given to Br» \ - family some intelligence of the concern?~ ed treasure. This good fortune devolv ed upon us; your house and garden wer&r pointed out as the spot. Once upon ozup track, we lost no time in installing our - selves in your inn, and soon feund rea - son to be satisfied with our operations. We have succeeded, without giving rise? to any suspicions, iu obtaining poises— sion of the treasures so long and deeply , buried in oblivion, and in appropria - ting* them to ourselves, their right destfr nation, flow we operated- need/ njo* longer be a secret; but Herr Van jfijjjrs*— voort, we must premise our • disclosußfe • iby declaring, upon our honor as gentle- I men, that we have fairly let you Into?, one half ol thf? treasures. So long s* Ostend exists, no innkeeper will hater again such profitable Tmests. * You have - robbed us throhgh tbmk and thin, as > Though we had fallen into the hands of Aa bandit. You haye not only doubly, .hundred fold chidaned us. were determined to shn* onr to yonr proceedings. As we you have profited. In the farthest rooiw you wiii find a pojrtion of the fi-*)** broken up ; you will also find a hole ten* feet deep, at the bottom of which lies ait# iron dhest. We took our time in re moving the old ducats ot Charles V- The chest we beqnear li to you, with tires* / PRICBT« \Five Ceßto.