[taken from Chapter 9 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

JAMES GARRETT (d. circa 1875),

mentioned in the foregoing account, was a very strange creature. He had been wont to say that he had been three times in the world. The first time, he came to it through the Red Sea with the Children of Israel ; and the second time, he arrived in it on the occasion of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. His third advent was not marked by any special event, but, during the life which followed, his experiences were so unpleasant that he had no intention of coming back again. He remembered certain events which occurred in all of the three periods during which he lived in the world, and, when anyone doubted his accounts of them, he always replied, " Wan't I there, and you were not?" Though a plasterer by trade, his real bent was for mechanical pursuits. With nothing but a file he made the endless screw and cog-wheels for double-bass fiddles and he also made American screw-bits with the same implement.

(Information from Mr. Henry Corteen.)