The Morning herald., 1878-10-08
"A LIVING SKELETON.
/ sTowAwAYs's EXPERIENCE --TwRLvE
Il DAYS INA SHIPS HOLD WITHOUT FopD.

Chester" arrived In New York on Friday
last was found the unfortunate stowaway
who for twelve days was shut off from the
world, without food or drink. :.
The night before the steamer left LIVER
pool the matches were fastened and remain
ed fastened until some hours after New
York was reached, The hold at the, time
was about three quarters filed with cargo.
None of the sailors who had been In It had
seen the stowaway, and it is supposed that
he crawled in there only few hours before
it was finally sealed. On the fastened
hatchways were placed some boxes, q guam
tty Of rope and tackle and number Oh
boards, ss ,seyf4eg7, ~areua.g-v v~ y w
The discovery of thettowaway wss made
on Fiiday afternoon, when the hatches were
| first opened after the sh 'p's arrival In New
York The food o, light that streamed
iDto the floating dungeon revealed the ste
ye5ores q sight that caused them to start
| In horror. Therr, stretched tetween two
| boxes, was living skeleton, whose! livid
features, as the light of day slione upon
them, told plainer than words the terrible
suffering he had Undergone during the long
| voyage. At first the stevedores thought
| he must. be dead, but soon they heard a fee
BILE moan and saw him slightly move. Then
| they heard feeble voice ejaculate, Thank
| God ~ Some of the stevcdoresN jumped
quickly to his side, while others hastened to
notify the ships officers.
When the doctor arrived, he saw young
man about twenty years of age lying mos
tionless. His eyes were closed, his lips
parched and his skin shriyelled; his tongue
lollcd out; his cheek bones were almost de-
void of flesh; his hands aud neck were
shrunken aud the cords Of the latter were
prominently visible. Large black ande blue.
spots were upon his arms and=body; his
bres tn came with apparent difficulty. The
Doctor hast ened to administer restoratlves'
| The treatment was 'contnIed, and after a
while some beef tea was administered.
Soon he rallied sufficiently To speak. His
4 voice was husky and his words low. In
answer to questions by the Doctor he
grasped his name James Donnelly, and
said he had been in tho hold since the ship
lett Liverpool, during which time he had
tasted ne ther food nor drink. He then re-
lspsed into silence, and soon was conveyed
to st. Vincebt's Hospital.
Almost directly over his prison were the
quarters of the Mapeson opera troupe, and
1t Is not improbable that the sounds of the
musical festivities in which they not unfre-
quently indulged during the voyage reached
the ears of the unfortunate man. What
effort he made to make himself heard can
b. told only by himself, but certain 1t is that
no sound from tie sealed dungeon Was
heard during the voyage by any person on
board. L. Z
On several occasions during the voyage 1t
was notice that the ships dog, an intelligent
animal, was acting in strange and unac-
countable manner. On the second night
after the vessel left Liverpool the animal
was chained to the hatchway that imprisol-
cd the unfortunate stowaw&y, In the mids
die of the. night the dog set upa furious
barking, and the watch haste 1ed to see what
was the matter The animal wagged It's
tail at the approach of the sailor, and
Jumped upon him joyously, bat the man
saw nothing TO excite the animal, and con.
cluded that rat must have occasioned the
alarm. He therefore turned away after
D ting the animal, and bade him stop bark
ing, and at length IL was found necessary to
remove him to the upper deck, as the mol 9
disturbed the passengers. The next day the
dog was again chained near the hatchway,
and again he began bowling. When re-
r moved to any other part of the steamer he
became quiet. A "Herald" reporter called
at St. Vincent,s Hospital and foand Donnelly
in bed, very cheerful and com mmunicative
In response to Inquiries he gave bis history
in pretty much the following language :-"l
left my home In Dumbaiton, village nine
and half miles from GLASGOW, on Satur
day morning the 2lst, ult., with one shilling
f and nine pence In my pocket. With this
5 paid my way on the steamer Greenock wher
took the Owl for Liverpool. landed on
the dock at four p. m, on Sunday anc
stayed there until Monday at tour p. m. II
s all this time, had not eaten mouthful.
I asked man to hide me on the vessel, as
3 wanted to go to America. have two un
! cles and three aunts here. One of my un'
/ cles, John Brown, is captain Of the police
in Olneyville, RI. The other, John Col
i lips, lives In the same village with two o
my aunts, Catherine and Rosa. My othe
aunt is married to Mr.. william Taylor, {
cabinet maker somewhere on Long Island ,
GAS was saying" he added. 4" l asked {
man 10 hide me en- the vessel, but he would
u not do it unless gave him gill of beer
= | had bottle of beer with Inc and passed i
r over to him. don't know whether he be
h longed 10 the vessel or not. When l got IL
! the hold of the steamer the man threw tn,
:; bottle down TO me and caught It,. About
4 five minut afterward the ho,d was CLOSED
O and was left 10 utter darkness. B a"'
o GAS near as can calculate 1t was five O
: six days before tainted away. Icould tel
y the days by the noise on the deck ant
the ringing Of the bells. In al
this time suffered dreadful th, oueh hunger
All ate In that time was tome salt and dir
i which scraped from tue floor in the hold
T. It was horrid lnouthiul, but swallowe'
'. it. How long I remained in that faint
Q don't know. The first Thing knew wa
y when l found myself on ieck with SOM
i man pouring whiskey and water over me-
n ~ often cried for help before l fainte'
q away and the echoes of my voice sounde'
1t like the howls of demons. On, the sound
l. haunt me even now I can never forge
them - and the man fairly trenbled at tn