The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1878-02-20

York and Boston. The :'City OF
Berlin" Of which I spoke, is the
model steamer, as well as one of
the largest steamers, that goes out
Of the port of New York, her meas
urement being between five and six
thousand tons, and her capacity for
passengers being something over
two thousand, the united measure
ment of the feet being forty thou
sand tons, with monster engines,
aggregating seven thousand horse
! power. This has been a severe
season for our steamship lines. The
emigration which a few years ago
amounted to between three and
: four hundred thousand annually
has dropped to less than sixty
thousand. Freights have been lower
this season than they have been
for many years past. All the lines
have suffered severely,-the' Inman
suffering less than the others on
; account Of the popularity of their
vessels and officers, and their un-
i equaled facilities for transporta-
tion.
Near Fulton Ferry lies the
flames Foster" one of the old Black
Ball Line. I never pass her with
out shudder. About three years
ago she arrived in this port, with
her crew and passengers in con-
dition that would have ashamed
the Black Hole of Calcutta, The
horrors of the slave-ship in the
terrible middle passage were re-
vi7ed, and the sailors say that
on stormy night at sea the ghosts
of dead men and women can be
seen dancing on the bowsprit, or
sitting on the yards, while means
and cries come over the stormy
sea like the shrieks of drowning
men.
It is not pleasant to be compelled
to travel along these docks at
night. It is true that every block
is patrolled, and the river-police are
lynx-eyed and strong, but the men
they are placed there to watch are
the most daring, desperate and
reckless in the world. It has been
remarked by some philosopher,
whose penetration was only equaled
by his benevolence, that a thief
looked very much like an honest
man in a crowd. Your river-thief
does not belong to that class. No
one could possibly mistake him for
anything but what he is, a low,
brutalized, murderous rufian. He
began life as wharf-rat,-he rob-
bed market women of apples and
children of their candy and toys,
broken bales of cotton opened to
him untold visions of Paradise, till
at last he stole boat and set up
for river thief. Utterly brutalized
and degraded, he has neither hu,
.nanity nor fear. ina letter few
weeks ago, I mentioned about the
death Of Dan Shelley who was
killed by the mate of the "Ocean
King" and about which such a
sensation occurred at the time. It
was on the night of the 9Th of De-
cember, 1875, the ''Ocean King"
was anchored in the middle of the
river, nearly opposite the landing
of the Fall River steamers the
| night was dark and stormy, not 8
star to be seen, the only relief to
the inky blackness being the twin
king lights that fickered on either
shore. The captain had left the
ship, land the chief mate, WilliamGra-
ham, vas in command. AS night
closed in he looked to the anchors,
saw that all was taught aloft, gave
strict orders to the watch on deck
to keep a sharp look out, and then
retired to his cabin; he had fallen
asleep with his head on the table
when he was awakened by some
one trying the cabin door; the lamp
had gone out and he was in the
dark,-istening for moment~and
not being able to divine the cause
he went up the steps and opened
the door; seeing nothing he stepped
out on deck to look for the man on
watch, when he was Immediately
seized by some one from behind who
tried to throw him on the deck; strug-
Cling toward the side Of the ship
he seized an iron Delaying pin, and
freeing himself with a desperate
effort he dealt his assailanta blow
which laid him senseless on the
deck; almost at the same instant
!! he was struck down himself by a
blow from an unseen foe, and blow
after blow were rained upon him
with terrible and murderous effect ;
the second officer, reused by the
noise and outcry, reached the deck
just as Dan Skely had recovered
from the mates blow, and blinded
and bleeding as he was, he prepared
to take a hand in the fray he seized
a capstan bar to strike the prostrate
I i l. 4