Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-06-26

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ding of whatever kind was given me, not even
mat was then marched into a boat with
hundred others. There were several boats.
Some foreigners guarded us. They carried
muskets and drawn swords-about one to every
ten men.
We were all put into large hold. The graf
ing of the hatch was always down. There were
two hatchways, and each had an iron grating.
cannot tell the date the ship sailed, but l be-
lieye it was either the 18th or the 18th. Before
the ship sailed we were not allowed on deck at
any time, not even for necessary purposes. We
had buckets in the hold for this purpose. Twelve
men were tolled off to act as cooks. They were
allowed on deck. The hatch gratings were only
opened to lower down our meals. Nobody was
allowed to smoke. We had five lights in the
hold all night long. There were about ten for
eigners acting as sentries in the hold. They had
swords and ratans. They were on duty night
and day. They were relieved at intervals.
On the third day after we sailed, shortly after
| our breakfast, there was a fire on board. The
| fire occurred in the aft part, in a room adjoin-
| ing our hold. The smoke came into our hold
| in a great volume; it had a strong smell of
| gunpowder; l heard no explosion whatever be-
fore the alarm Of fire; there was no foreigner in
the hold at the time; no foreigner came into our
| hold during the fire; the hatchway was never
| opened during the while; the smoke came in
very thick, and a great many were suffocated;
more than one hour after the smoke first came
into our hold, the hatch grating was torn off by
somebody-by one OF the cooks, believe.
We all made a rush for the hatchway. / was
partially suffocated when got to the hatchway,
and | could not climb up. Some Chinaman
pulled me up. The fire had then reached the
hatchway My face was severely burnt in my
attempts to get up the hatch 1.-THE whole of the
left side of this mans face presents mass of
roasted flesh, besides several burns about the
face and hands). When | came up the whole
ship from the mainmast to the stern was mass
of flame. The foremost had not caught fire
then. About twenty men chung TO the rigging,
and there were more than ten Others holding to
the bowsprit. | was holding on to the anchor
chain. The anchor was dangling at the side of
the ship in the bow. seated myselfon the anchor
| and my hands were holding TO the chain. In
| this position | watched the progress of the fire.
| When the fire reached the woodwork which
| held the anchor chain, | was tumbled into the
sea with the anchor l could swim a little, and
| swan to burnt spar which was floating on
the water. There were three or four Others
| holding TO the spar. 1t was a small spar. When
| fell into the water it was about one hour after
| | came out of the hold. When l came on deck
l could not sec any foreigners, nor did | see any
| boats; was very much confused and partly in
sensible from the effects of my burns. There
| was a larger spar floating on the water, and
more than ten men were holding on to it,
could not say what had become of the men that
chung to this larger spar. | and the Others that
held to the smallar spar were carried away by
the current, and it was because of this that did
not see what had become of the larger and its
men. We were carried away much faster by
the current, as we had fewer men and our spar
was much smaller. | was carried so far away
from the burning ship that l could hardly see
her.
was picked up by fishing junk that passed
in the evening Of the same day the fire occur
red The junkmen wanted us to give them
money before they would pick us up. | had
some money with me, So, the balance of my adj
vance of IS at the barracoon. / paid them S.
and the junkmen refused to take in my COM
panions four in number, because they had no
money to pay them. These four men wanted to
get into this junk, but the junkmen pushed
them back, and they had to remain on the spar.
| do not know the number of the junk. When
was picked up l could see that there were over
| ten others floating on a spar long way off.
| The junk took me TO Hong Kong. My treat
| ment on board the fishing junk was very
| good, but I could not eat, as my pain is very
| great / could not tell how the fire originated.
| On our way here on that fishing junk we saw
many persons on the water, but the junk people
would not receive them, as they had no money.
| Before left the burning wreck saw blood ooze
out from the sides of the vessel, from the hold
where the coolies were lodged.
Another survivor, HUI Afui, in the course of
his statement, says: When l came on deck the
| boat was about a cheung (about thirteen feet)
from the ship. A great many Chinese wanted
| TO swim to the boat. mast was floating on
| the water, and great many were clinging to it,
| The boat was close TO the mast, and | was
| standing at the side of the burning ship, intend
| ing to jump into the water to get hold of the
| spar. The Europeans in the boats warned us
not to go near, with swords, and one of them, a
| short man, had pistol in his hand. He fired
| at me and shot me in the leg. The bullet is not
| extracted yet; it is a small bullet fell down,
| and became inSensible. My friend, Ashea, let
me down to the mast by rope fastened around
4 my body The men chung TO the mast, and we
| all called out for help. A fishing junk was at
| tracted to us. The junkmen picked US all up.
| The fire at this time had reached to the copper
sheathing close TO the waters edge. The junk
men treated us very well. They gave us clothes
TO change, and covered us up with mats.
large fire was lit to dry ourselves and our
clothes They boiled cOngee for us at once.
| The treatment we received from their hands was
| very good Very few had any clothing with u.s.
| as we took our clothes off before swimming
| and The clothes of Others were burnt off their
| backs. The treatment on board ship was very
| fair, but rather severe, because we were whip.
| ped very often by the sentries. | believe the
| fire occurred through the explosion of gum
| powder. We had no light of any kind in the
| hold. We were not allowed TO smoke in the
| hold, but could do so on deck.
| Another of the passengers, Chu Akwai said:
| When came on deck the whole ship was on
| tire. There was great smoke. 1t was very
thick. could not see through it. l chung to
| the rigging of the foremost. When the mast
was burned it fell into the water, but as | could
| swim managed TO swim to the spar. NV leg
! was bruised by the fall. When came on deck
/ l could not see any foreigners or any boats as
| the smoke was very thick. l remained on the
| spar till daybreak A fishing junk came and
| took us up. The ship was still burning at the
/ time; all the woodwork of the ship was burnt
| leaving only the iron sheathing Of the hull. /
| heard discharge of firearms previous to the
| fire. When the fire occurred no European was
/ IN the hold. could not say why the firearms
/ were discharged. heard no explosion what
| ever. No European came into the hold with
| hose. We had no quarrel or fight in the hold
About nine A. M, on Saturday-so runs the
| seaman's story-the Chinese mutnied, revolted,
| showed signs of taking possession. They tore
| up their births and the woodwork about their
| hunks, and using planks as a battering ram
| they broke down the bulkhead and got into the
| lazarette, which was direct aft. This was when
about a hundred miles from land, steering east
| Having got through the bulkhead and into the
lazarette the coolies piled up the lumber thus
torn up and set fire to the ship by its means
| When those on deck saw what the passengers"
had done, hose was got down into the hold;
| but the coolies deliberately threw it overheard
| through one of the side lights. The fire was
| apparently lighted aft with the purpose of fore
| ing all those living overhead to 20 forward, and
thus simplify the capture of the vessel 1t is
even said that, on being asked through the
grahng what they wanted, the coolies declared
their intention of taking the ship. However
improbable this may appear it is alleged the
coolies openly stated their purpose lis pre-
sumed that they expected the fire would be
easily extinguished, and that they never antici-
pated the horrible death in store for them.
The JehersOnian Cheese of Berkshire.
The story of the big cheese made by the
Jefersonian democrats Of the farming town of
Cheshire in Berkshire county, nearly three
quarters Of century ago, has just been retold
in an English periodical, in connection with the
history OF cheeses, and may be worthy of recall
ing to the present local generation. In the
great contest between the federalists and the
democrats at the presidential election of 1900,
Cheshire, under the lead of Rev John Leland
Its parish minister, took sides almost unani-
mously with Jefferson, and Jeffersonian democ-
racy became not only the politics, but the re.
hglon, of the people of the town. Leland
preached and prayed it from pulpit on SUNDAYS,
and exborted it at the village bar-rooIn on week.
day evenings. When the triumph came, Leland
and Cheshire both had the idea that they had
} contributed INN ensely to it, and under Leiands
4 ADVICE, the farmers of the town agreed to cele-
= pirate their success by making for present 10
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