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470 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Irict school in Massachusetts. He frequently said, "We are all creatures
of circumstance," and illustrated it by his own career. He
came to Buffalo to go to Cincinnati or Columbus. By mistake his
baggage was put on the Sandusky boat. lie discovered the error and
jumped oft' the dock and swam 1o the boat and came to Sandusky
because the captain would not return and put him and his luggage
ashore. lie was a. cabinet maker and later engaged in business with
great success, lie had some eccentricities, one of which was he never
wore an overcoat.
He was one of the- few old residents of Sandusky who conveyed an
impression of strong individuality. He was one of the, few progressive
men that Sandusky has had. He had 1 lie contract to furnish the timber
for the prison on Johnson's Island, lie joined heartily in the movement
to locate the state penitentiary at Sandusky offering to furnish
building stone at low figures as an inducement, lie built the West
Mouse in the '50s when he was at least twenty years ahead of his time,
and followed it up by building the Mahala Block in his old age, which
was later destroyed by fire. He delighted to tell stories of early days in
Sandusky. One of his pet stories was of one of the later families of
Hebrew origin who became ashamed of it and changed their name to
conceal the fact. His story was that the then head of the family died
shortly after his arrival and the first job .Mr. West had after his arrival
in Sandusky was to make a coffin for the deceased. Mr. West had been
a carpenter and joiner by trade and readily undertook the task. He
made the coffin long enough and wide enough but not dee]) enough so
that at the conclusion of 1 he funeral services where he acted as undertaker
and after the relatives had viewed the remains when he started
1o put on the lid be learned for the first time that the nose of the corpse
protruded above the side line. "But" he said, "It was no time to
hesitate. I bore on with my knee and"screwed her down. I could feel
the bones of his beak crunch, but I screwed her down just the same."
He had some amusing stories he used to tell about the Sons of Malta,
a fake secret society which had a great run through th • United States
and struck Sandusky in the early '50s. The society was said to have
been organized by George Prentiss at the time of an epidemic of yellow
fever in Memphis, Tennessee, for the purpose of distracting the oopular
mind from their peril. The object of the society was represented as
the capture of Hie Island of Cuba, and for that purpose the candidate
was examined as to his qualifications as a recruit for such an expedition.
The initiation consisted of two parts, the first of which was
solemn and designed to impress the candidate. He was ushered into
a darkened room, lighted only by blue lights with an open coffin
in the midst guarded by four ghostly figures in long monkish robes
solemnly waving their arms above the coffin. An organ played solemn
music while a deep bell tolled, while the sides of the room were crowded
with figures in the same ghostly attire. Not a word was spoken, and
the candidate was escorted buck to Hie anteroom and blindfolded and
then brought back to t he lodgeroom to be put through a hoaxing degree