Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-05-09

Terrible Holocaust of Coolies.
To an editorial in the London Telegraph of
April 22d occurs this statement
"a catastrophe, almost unparalleled IN hor-
ror-disclosipg the gross crueltles OF the Macao
emgrant trade by one last and most terrible
demonstration happened IN the Chlua seas
last May, and is recorded in Parliamentary
report just published. \ vessel, called the
Don Juan, set sail on the 4th of that month
from Macao, bound to Peru, with SIX hundred
and fifty FIVE coolies on board, who had been
kidnapped and shipped under the flag and
with the authority of the Portuguese govern
ment. Once on board, this large multitude
was placed literally in prlson-peuned on the
main deck and fastened down by three iron
pratincs which closed the matches, ten coolies
at a time only being allowed to come on deck.
The ship sailed in fair weather from Macao.-
On the second day OF the voyage, as declared
by Herker an Austrian seaman, the captain
selected twenty coolies and put them 10 irons,
with much brutality, as an example to the 9TH
ers. On the third day difficulty arose about
the food passed down to the emlgrants. The
Interpreter got angry and struck those who
complained with his cane, whereupon the
wretched coolies made rush at their Euro,
pean aiors The iron hatches were lmmedl-
atcly slammed back upon them. and when the
poor creatures beat upon the beams and plank $
to get air. muskets were fired down into the
crowd. 1t then appears that, 10 desperation,
some few of the coolies set fire to store room
forward, hoping, no doubt: to force the crew to
throw their prison open The sailors tried
to pump water down upon the seat OF the con.
hagration, but the treuzied men below passed
the hose out of the port holes, so that pump
ing became useless. Then the fire spread be-
yond all coutrol, aud volumes of thick smoke
rolled into the main deck, choking the mass
of coolies at either end, who;s.had taken
no part in the previous proceedings. he'd
tongues of fame and suffocatiug clouds fill
ed. the ship = below hatches-while the
miserable prisoners beat at the lron gratlnss,
tore at the fastenings of the deck, and even en-
deavored to get up TO the air thro' the vcntil;:-
tors. The portfolios, however. were fastened,
the dead lights were too small to allow uf
mans body passing, and the ventllators were
barred, So that there was no escape. ln two
hours time the fire was Established on the
main deck which means that scores of the
Chinese had already been roasted or smother
el; yet the crew never took single step to-
wards saving the lives of the imprisoned
wretches. They merely lowered three boats on
their own account. and pushed off from the
burning vessel. leaving all that mass OF human
ny. The sea was calm; the hatcbes might surely
have been opened at the last moment; yet the
Don Juan 5 captain and hands showed of, while
the ship biazcd and while the coolies perlshcd
inside with trightful cries and screams The
scoundrel master and crew saved their
vilainous lives: Junk picked them up; and the
same witness who tells this says that when the
twenty Chinese in irons who were upon the
forcastle broke away their letters and swan to-
wards the junk, they were pushed off into the
Sea to drown. Meantime, IN their awful
terror. the survivors of the six hundred and
fifty. five below found some means OF bursting
the fore-hatch. Scores were by this time Kill.
ed by the flames or the smoke: scores had been
tramp|ed 10 the frenzied rush for life to the
upper deck About hundred in all at last
emerged from that Golgotha OF anguish, and
caped at once into the sea. \ few managed
to get hold of spars and floating gear aud hung
upon these till some fishing boats picked them
up next morning The majority were already
,nortally injured when they escaped, or were
drowned. or crushed by the falling chains and
spars of the ship But atlcast five hundred
were first scorchcd to death, or choked and
trampled dead, before the Internal prison gate
was forced by the breaking open Of the matches
which the captain and crew had so shanetuliy
left fast.
IMPROVED STREET LAMpS.-A new descrip
tien Of lamp for street lighting is among the re-
cent foreign inventions Of interest. The prn-
cipie of the invention is the application of re-
lcctors, in order to bend down and utilize the
very considerable amount of light which is now
wasted by upward radiation
t. tb,t tho IF Huht which