The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-12-08

lOcallty. No"r urtc 70 Soo1ooHe
fact: up to the time of the swift con
viction and sentence Of the murder
er Of Mr.. Noe, q month ago, Grim
was Cd the advance in this city
Since, it has fallen of, as if that right
eous death sentence had palsied tn
hand of violence.
propose in future letters, to Civ
some account of the dongerous class
es Of this city, their way of actin!
and living, including some curious
facts, the result Of my W observa
ton. 1t seems a queer sort of thing
that a man should carry on burglary
as a trade during a long life ant
die at last peacefully in his bed ano
scores of rascals do it, and many o
them are well known to the authorl
ties, and are on good enough term:
with the detectives, and have a sor'
of social status Of their own, in which
they rank asa sort of beroes and
good fellows.
SAILORS AFLoAT AND ASHORE.
There's a sweet little cherub that
sits up aloft,
To keep watch, for the life of poor
Jack"
So runs the stout old English sea
song of Thomas Dibden, but surely
that attitudinous watcher is sadly re.
miss of his duties, for the records
show that 800 sailors annually lose
their lives BY falling from masts and
spars of ships at SCI Think We well
housed landsmen, of going aloft 10
the darkness of a winter storm far
out at sea, up sbrouds, and along
rigging and slippery With ice, when
to miss a grasp of q frozen rope, or a
false step, is certain death. Very
few persons know much or care much
about the sailor. His life is the life
of a dog; no slave was eve the vie
tim of such wrong as be endures.
His life lies so apart from that of or
binary humanity, that the advance of
civilization hardly includes him ; be
is left 10 a condition of barbarism.
Let me try to convey to your readers,
some notion of the way he is treated
in this city, one of the greatest sea-
ports of the world, it being the same
everywhere. Imagine a sailor just
landed from a voyage. Suppose him
to have been a sailor for twenty-five
years and to be forty years old. He
has got his wages in his pocket, Ire
knows no such word as home or fam
lily, be has not a friend in the world,
the strict discipline and narrow life
on ship, have SO degraded and i'm
bruted him that he has almost lost
the gift of speech, and only retains a
few terms of the sea. He has only
one notion of enjoyment, and that is
of the lowest forms of animalisra
The land sharks are waiting for him,
and although be has been devoured
by them thousand times in all the
ports of the world, he rushes into
their jaws again. He is led ~unresist-
ingly into one Of the many vile dens
in Water or q similar street, piled
with poisoned liquor until be is out of
his mind /; handed over to a wretch
I'd female companion, whose business
is to see that be does not leave the |
premises, mol allowed TO get sober.
Then when his money is all spent
md it :akes only a few days to do it
and a bill run up equal to his ad-
'ance wages, the proprietor Of the
hole where be Is waIlowing
hips him through an agen: on any
'essel aboutsto sail-for vessels are
lways short of men, and all sorts of
nfamous tricks are put into use to
ct them-and Jack comes to his
enses some morning to find himself
q the f~orecastle of an outward bound
hip, which is being towed down the
ay, and out through the narrows
there she is cast off by the tug-boat,
nd must hoist sail and away. He
as no knowledge OF how he got
here. He was dragged on board
runk. He was druak when be
igned his name, or made his mark,
the ships papers; drunk when be
igned an order for his landlord to
btain his advance pay, and is now
and stupidity coming TO con-
The first mate now en-
ers the fore castle. He is armed
nth brass knuckles or a marlin-spike.
he secand nate is with him, also
and SO is the steward ard
erhsps the captain. Then ensues a
Gene the like of which is hardly seen
ow that the horrors of the slave |
hip has been abolished by indignant
'hristendom. These poor drunken
supplied, and helpless from
heir long debauch, are driven aloft
nth horrible curses and blows, and
compelled to do their duty
Y main force. ]
The voyage made, they leave the ,
hip to go through the same expert
nee again, and over and over, until
wallowed up by the sea. This is no
,ncy sketch or exceptional case !,
bis is the life the sailor is used to;
ldeed, he kno Ms no other, and, ap- /,
arently, desires no other. Once in d,
while some horrible case of brutali- /,
on the part of a sea-captain gets
Ito the courts and the newspapers, /,
ut it is only once in a while, for no .
ailor would think of taking excep- /,
to the treatment / have describ-
d it is nc more that the custom OIL,
re sea. F;
Let your son steal hogs, deal at ia |,
}, or drive horses OF the towpath of ,
lie Erie canal, and do you isfict on !,
i'm anything short of murder to keep :
i'm from going to ses. !,
THANKSGIVING DAY 4
as quite universally kept, and its
,servance grows more and more in A
lis city. The weather was delight
].
PIETRo.
Crooked whfskey. L
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