The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-07-06
BTRNEB At SgA
Six hundred ChiHameR Roasted Alive
on C00lie Ship-St0TT Of a Survivor.

/ - a--+AE hlAVa VI - 1Al ' ~ Ut
The Hong Kong Mail, of the Iatf
May, gives the following particular.
, of the burning of cooIie ship or tn,
coast Of China, ofwiiich some mention
has already been made iu the teie.
graphic dispatches:
On the 4th inst. a ship formerly
known as the Dolores Ugarte sailed
from Macao under the new lame OF
Don Juan, with $50 coolies, 0rCallao.
On the 9Th, when CD miles to the
southwark Of Hong Kong, a fire broke
out How the fire was caused IL is not
yet positively known. The fire gain
ell the mastery over the ship. While
It was doing SO the matches were kept
battened down upon the passengers for
the space of an hour. When the cap
tain and most Of tiie crew had made
their escape, the fastenings of the
Z hatcuets were removed; 80 or Sd Of the
: passengers who We're nearest to the
deck were thereby enabled to estape-
70 hang on 20 = floating mast, and
ultimately 20 be picked up by a lis 1Ing
Junk and brought on to Hong Kong.
hut all the rest of the passengers re-
manned on board, suff0cated and
''stewed in their own fat" until the
ship was totally burned. That is the
simple statement ofan incident which
exceeds in horror anything that has
ever before occurred in the history of
the MacaO eOOlie trade.
Leung Ashew, one of the coolies
who was rescued and brought 10 Hong
Kong, gives the following narrative.
NODOdy was allowed 10 smoke. We
had i've lights in the, hold all night
long. There werea about ten foreigners
acting as SentTies in the hold. They
had swords and rattans. have not
seen them use the rattaus. They We're
on duty night and day. On the third
day after we sailed, shortly after our
breakfast, there was = fire on board.
Phc fire OCCURRED in the aft part, i'm a
room adjoining our hold. The smoke
came into our hold in a great volume. I
IL had 4 strong smell of gunpOwder. /
/ heard no explosion whatever before !
the alarm Of fire There was no for 4
cigner in tAe hold at the time No
foreigner came into our hold during
the fire. Tile hatch grating was never (
opened all the while. The smoke I
came in very thick, and n great many
We're suflOcated. More than one hour 7
after the smoke first came into our
hold the hatch grating was torn OfPby
somebody, by one of the cooks, be-
lieve. We all made a rush for the
i was partially sufl0eated
when got To the hatchway, and / Z
could not get up il. Some Cinnamon
pulled me up. The fire had reached
the hatchWay. My face was severely
burned in my attempt to get up the
hatch. (rhe whole of the left side of
this mans face presents q mass of
roasted flesh, besides several burns
about the arms and hands,. When
came up, the whole ship, from tie
nainmast to the stern, was mass Of }
iames. The foremost had not caught
lire then. AbOut - men clung to the
rigging, and there were more than 10
others holding 10 the bOwsprit. ] was
holding to the anchor chain. The an
'hOr was dangling at the side of the
ship, in the bow. | seated myself OH
he anchor, and my hands were hold
ng 10 the chain.
In this position Iwatehed the pro-
sTess of the fire. When the fire reach
cd the woodwork which held the an
;hor chain, l was tumbled into the
.ea with the anchor. Ic0uld swim a
little, and SWAN to burned spar
which was floating on the water.
There were three or four others beside
ne holding to this spar. It was
mall spar. When / fell into the
water it was about one hour after l
;ame out of the hold. When / came
Iafat- "
lOr did see any boats. was very
much confused, and was partly insen-
iible from the effects of my burns. /
There was a larger spar floating on the
water, and more than ten men We're b,
lnlding on It, y could ,net sss.ys ~ lisst
lad become Of the men that clung on :
his larger spar, i and the others ,
hat held 70 tile smaller spar were car
led away By the current, and il was 8
iecaGsC OF this that / did not see what
iad become Of The larger spar and its
nen. We We're carried away much !
aster by the current, as We had fewer
men and our spar was much smaller.
was carried 50 far away from the :,
,urning ship that ! could hardly see /
ler. was picked up by a fishing ,
unk that passed in the evening of the
anne day the fire occurred. There ;
vas no fighting on board on the day :
# the fire. Nothing unusual took +,
,laee in the hold that day. We could :
,lay at dOminOes or dice in the hold. !
NY treatment ON board the fishing :
unk was very good, but I could not 3
mt, as my pain is very great. | could
rot tell how the fire originated. On !
'ur way here on that fishing junk we ,,
aw many persons on the water, but ,
lac junk people would not receive
hem, rs they had 10 money. Before /
left the burning wreck ! saw blood q
,oze ont from the sides of The vessel
rom the hole where the coolies were
odged.