The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-09-24
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY,, SEPT. "a. :
The History Of Con.mmmnsc ~Scoundrel.

The History of Communicate sco"ndrel.
The story of the life of a notorious rascal, is
sometimes both interesting and profitable, as at
fording to the reader an example to be summed,
and giving to all mankind a knowledge of the
practices of rogues, and an opportunity to avoid
them. We propose, to-day, within the limits of a
newspaper article to lay before our readers a briei
sketch of the life of such a man, a man, who. if
he gets his deserts, will some day offer to the
world a practical illustration Of the efficacy OF
capital punishment. Capt. Henry Hayes, alias
Capt. William II. Hayes, is well known in Homo
lulu and his recent flight from San Francisco,
with u vessel, cargo, and valuables to a consider
able amount, and his subsequent escape a few days
since from the officer of Customs on Maui, in the
Hawaiian Islands, are too much of a piece with
his we'll earned reputation to excite establishment.
Hayes, who is now about thirty-two years of
age, was the son of poor and not very respecta-
BILE parents in Cleveland, Ohio, his father being
the keeper of a grog shop in that place. At an
early age he acquired a knowledge of the man
ual part of the seafaring profession, and was, it
we are correctly informed, subsequently married
in Cleveland. About the year 1852 he was so
unfortunate as to mistake a few horses belonging
to a neighbor for his own, and sold them accord
ingly, pocketing the cash. Unfortunately again'
for the world, he escaped prison by a Haw in the
indictment, and marrying another woman, whose
doubtful character was more than compensated
for by the possession of a small amount of prop
erty, he fled from the danger of a more perfect
Indictment and landed, with her, in California.
On the passage out. Hayes formed the acquaint-
ance of a San Francisco gentleman, over whom
he acquired considerable influence. He persuade
ed this gentleman to advance sufficient money to
establish his wife in a retail liquor saloon, and
then by promises of a great speculation and
princely returns, assisted by a confederate whom
he employed to personate the part of a wealthy
San Francisco merchant, he persuaded him to pur-
chase the bark Otranto, and fit her out in the
most costly style for a China voyage. The Otranto
being at length prepared, Hayes sailed in her as
master, and this was the last the owner saw or
heard of him or of the vessel until his return to
San Francisco last winter, after an absence of
five or six years.
After Hayes's arrival in China, he ran the
Otranto for a while between the various Chinese
ports, taking advantage of every opportunity to
raise funds by means of bottomries upon the YES
sci, until at length the bark was seized to settle
her liabilities. With the money thus procured
he bought the bark J. Bradley, I., and after
pursuing as long as prudent the same course of
borrowing and raising moneys on b~ottomries, he
suddenly left. Shanghae was one of the last
ports, perhaps the last, at which he touched in
China. There he employed a tailor to furnish
him with $500 worth of clothing for himself and
$40 for each of the crew. The clothing was
and delivered, and on the morning of his
- IL 1900 l~c;cIt sc tho Sb An N - ca m off
to get his money. Hayes received him very po-
litely, requesting him to wait a while until he
was more at leisure. At length the vessel aP-
preached the mouth of the river, and the tailor.
beginning to 50 smell a MICE urged him again
for the immediate payment. "Sir," said Capt.
Hayes, sit is very inconvenient for me to pay you
now | shall return in Two weeks, and then we
will square our accounts. At the present mo
ment I am going to sea, and if you don't get into
your boat you shall go with me-" The tailor
went ashore without his money.
The rascal next turned up in Port Adelaide in
Western Australia. Here he c~onspired with the
captain of a ship, to defraud the owners of that
vessel out of $50, 900. In collision with him,
Hayes brought suit for the recovery of four thous-
and pounds, said to have been advanced by him
on the security of a bottomry bond. The case was
decided against him, his bond pronounced fraud
ulent, and Hayes was left penniless, he having
sold the J. Bradley, J. to enable him to meet his
expenses and carry on the suit.
In Adelaide, he married again, ard with his
wife proceeded to Melbourne, where, he sold to a
party of miners a share in a vessel in which he
had not the slightest interest. Soon after, by
some accident, he was engaged to take command
of the bark Orestes, bound for Vancouver's ISL
and. The Orestes entered the port of Honolulu
on her way, and remained in this harbor about
six weeks. The voyage thus far had been one
continued scene of trouble and pickering between
the Captain and his passengers. From one of
his passengers he had, while in Australia, procur-
ed the sum Of $1,000, all the money he had,
for the purpose of investing it in liquor and sell
ing it on their joint account, to the Storage pas
sengers during the voyage. He received the mo-
ney, but forgot to buy the liquor; and the con-
sequence was that the ~imprudent speculator lost
his money. While in Honolulu, his wife, a lady
of interesting demeanor and irreproachable char
acter, procured a separation from him by act of
law, on account Of his brutal treatment towards
her and during the stay of the ship here, Mr..
Clement, the supercargo of the vessel and agent
of the owners, having discovered, besides various
dishonest acts on the part of Hayes, a conspiracy
with others of the crew and officers to run away
with the vessel and cargo, took the responsibility
of removing him from the command of the ship.
Hayes subsequently left for San Francisco in the
Adelaide, leaving worthless drafts, debts, &C.,
behind him, in Honolu0, to the amount of near
two thousand dollars. His wife took passage in
the same vessel, Cor the coast, with the expecta-
ton of joining some friends in California, and
bidding adieu forever to her worthless husband.
But her woman's nature prevailed, and after their
arrival at San Francisco, she, aloneand friendless
in a great city, returned to the arms of him who
had forsworn his vows to love and cherish her.
Capt. Hayes saw the old owner of the Otr0nto
insSan Francisco, and succeeded in abating his
resentment by stating that he had several thou