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FEBRUARY 2/ HOW IT CAME TO BE... ¢-#. sre Early in her career under the ownership of the Graham Brothers of Kincardine, Ontario, the three masted schooner, BURT BARNES transported a cargo of cedar posts to a wharf on the Rouge River which is a tributary of, and flows into the Detroit River just below Detroit, Michigan. Captain John Graham was her master and Alex Graham, Dan Graham Alf Schaeffer, Geordie Cleeg, Bob Whitebread, Jimmie Smith, and Cap Smith were familiar names on her decks. Usually local people from Kincardine, Goderich, and the backing farmland were employ- ed, Sometimes, of necessity, due to illness or accident, a stranger was hired, On this particular visit to the Rouge River, Cap Smith failed to return from an innocent tour of the dockside terrain, As sailing time drew near, a husky stranger approached Captain John with a request for a job. Captain John hired him. Captain John also inquired at the local Police Precinct, with no success, for Cap Smith. Now, Cap was a simple soul, and Captain John had no doubt that he would turn up in his own good time once his curi- ousity about the surrounding countryside was satisfied, so a sufficient sum of money was left with the police to send Cap home by train when he was found. In the light of later identification of the new sailor, -it-is more than possible that he had something to do with Cap's tardi- ness, The new sailor was none other than Kid McCoy, somet ime light heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Although he may have been a boxer, he was definitely no sailor. At least he made no effort to work at being one. It would appear that he deliber- ately manuevered to join the crew of the BURT BARNES so that on the vast expanse of the blue waters of the Lakes his whereabouts would be virtually unknown, Another time he had fled after mur- dering his 12th or 13th wife in California, At that time he was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in San Quentin Peni- tentiary. What he was fleeing from at this time is not known,