Marietta Daily Leader

Reported—There Are Thirty-Five Families on the Island, Prosperous and Happy.

San Francisco, Jan. 2.—Capt. Slocum, the American skipper, who is voyaging around the world alone in a small yawl, tells of his visit to Robinson Crusoe's island, Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chili, on his way across the Pacific. At Valparaiso he had heard the reports that the island had disappeared, but he found it all right. He said there were 85 families on the island, prosperous and happy. Robinson Crusoe's cave was still intact.

Capt. Slocum said the report of the disappearance of the island originated with a Chilean skipper who had been sent to the island with a cargo of supplies for the inhabitants there. Among the supplies for the inhabitants was an assortment of spirits and the skipper freely helped himself. The result was that from the moment the vessel left Valparaiso he could not be sobered up long enough to take an observation of the sun and determine the position of the ship and the course that should be taken to reach the islands. None of the crew except the drunken skipper understood navigation. The mate, after sailing about for several days in the spot where he thought the islands should be, turned the bow of his vessel toward the east and, picking up some landmarks along the coast, found his way back to port. The drunken skipper, for an excuse for the failure of his voyage, said the islands had dropped out of sight.