Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-05-13
Homicide on the High Seas.

suicide of an aged lady, the particu-
lars of which are given elsewhere, a
man named &. F. Armstrong, q
steerage passenger, eng; ged by
Onderdonk to work on the Canadian
railway, met with sudden, not to
say violent death, soon after the
stear.er had left the dock at San
francisco. Officers of the vessel
say that he came on board drunk,
and got into a quarrel with another
steerage passenger named John
Molloy; o fight ensued when Arm
strong fell to the deck, lacerating
his lip. His wound was dressed by
DR.. Mcclure, who was passenger
on board, but Armstrong died few
hours later, the doctor giving his
certificate that death resulted from
the eff -cts OF alcoholic poisoning and
heart dis ase.
A different version Of the affair is
given by Mr.. Thomas Johnson, of
this county, who was a passenger on
the steamer and claims to have been
an eyewitness of the main incidents,
which he narrates as follows:
"l came to the Sound the last trip
of the steamship Dakota. We left
San Francisco between two and three
P. NJ, Saturday, April Both. About
5 o'clock the same day, man was
knocked down and killed. The de-
tails of the affair are substantially as
follows: A man in the steerage whose
name was Armstrong, was somewhat
under the influence of liquor. He
had bottle of some kind of ardent
spirits and roll of papers which he
handed to one OF the passengers to
keep for him. Subsequently, hav-
ing fell in with some acquaintences,
he desired to repossess his bottle,
and accosting fellow-passenger who
he doubtless supposed to be the in
dividual to whom he had entrusted
his parcels, he asked for them. The
party denied having the property,
.whereupon Armstrong, i'll a jocular
manner declared that he would fight
for it. An alteration then ensued,
during which Armstrong pulled off
his coat, and threatened to whip
the supposed bottle-holder unless his
demand was instantly complied with.
While Armstrong was in the act of
disrobing, his opponent struck him
u violent blow which knocked him
down, and then kicked him with.
great force in the stomach, after
which rough treatment Armstrong
never spoke again. A doctor on
board was called, who sewed up the
mans lip which was split open by
the blow which knocked him down.
He did not try to revive the injured
man, but ordered him carried for
ward to the forecastle, when he was
laid on the deck. The doctor was
told that it was too cold to allow
Armstrong to lie there unattended,
but that he should have him I'M
dressed and placed ir his bunk.
His answer was the man was only
drunk, and that the cold would do
him good. Several times the atten-
ton of the officers of the ship was
called to the apparent lifeless con-
dition of Armstrong, but they paid
no heed. During the night, the
steerage passengers became con-
vinced that the injured man was dead
aud the next morning notified the
doctor. The deceased was immedi-
ately sewed up in canvas and thrown
overheard. The man who did the
killing managed to hide himself un-
til the vessel reached Victoria, where
he stepped ashore. The officers of
the vessel seemed tn think the k;ll;no
was justiGable. No investigation
was made, no names ascertained,
nor vas anything done to deter
mine the cause of the murder. On
the contrary, there seemed to be a
disposition manifested to keep the
matter secret"
It appears to us that under the
circumstances, a judicial investiga-
ton should have been made upon
the arrival of the vessel at port, to
have fully established the fact that
death resulted from causes which
would exculpate Mol!oy, as quite a
| contrary opiniOn exists in thu minds