ficed. Result—a contract to carry 500 passengers from New York to Seattle for a minimum price, in consideration of turning over the ship to him. Later—too late—I saw where the 'little joker' came in. Had there been a clause stating that 150 passengers were to be carried free, and $100 for each additional passenger, all would have been well.
Being blind, I proceeded to list all of my passengers and notify them of the date of sailing, issuing many tickets to the girls free. A few days before the time fixed for departure a long, scurrilous article appeared in the New York Herald, slandering me, stating that all of the men on Puget Sound were rotten and profligate; that the girls would all be turned into houses of ill-fame, and apealing to them to stay at home. The old saying that a lie will travel a thousand miles while the truth is putting on its boots was true in this case. Everywhere the article was copied, and before I could get my references printed and counteract the calumny, two-thirds of the passengers had written me, enclosing the Herald article, or clipping from it, and declined further consideration of the matter.
Armed with a handful of these letters, I called on Mr. Holladay and told him I was unable to carry out the contract as to numbers, but would be ready with perhaps 200 people. For reply I was told that the contract was off. But, as the ship was to be sent to the Pacific, they would take such passengers as I presented at regular rates. Then I saw the 'little jokerof the contract.
Delays in fitting out the ship caused expense and many annoyances, but we finally left New York on January 6, 1866, and after a very pleasant run of ninety-six days made San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan, touching at Rio Janeiro, Lota, and Talcahuano, Chile, and at Charles Island, one of the Galapagos group, lying under the equator and 600 miles out from the west coast of South America. After some days' delay in San Francisco the people were sent north in bunches of ten to forty on the lumber ships trading between Sound ports and the California metropolis.
The voyage was a remarkable one in many ways, but espe-
