Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-22
A TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.
The Murder OF a ships CapgaIN By
MuSInOus Seamen.

One of The most frightful stories OF mur-
der on shipboard made kaown within recent
years was told In New York by the officers
and crew of the ship Freeman Clark, which
left Calcutta on February 9Th, and arrived
In Brooklyn Saturday morning. The trag-
edY took place on the morning OF May 9Th,
while the vessel was off the Island of St.
thomas, and resulted in the death OF the
Captain, James s. Dwight, who was mur-
dered by two Cinnamon, and OF his assail-
ants, who we're thrown overheard by the
enraged crew. The second officer OF the
ship was James NJ. Lowry, of Baltimore,
nephew Of James D. Lowry, steamboat
inspector, and brother of VIM. P. Lowry, OF
the Baltimore City Court. Mr.. Lowry gives
the following account of the affair:
''I went on duty at half-past four o'clock
on tne morning Of May "a. It being Satur-
day. About halt an hour la+er I saw two
Of the seamen run aft toward the cahin. /
ran to see Whist was the matter. A passed
Nate VIM. Willisms' room klR9 10 aud
saw him engaged IN q desperate s ruggle
with the Chinese cook, who had q hatchet
in one hs11 and a carving knife In the
other. The maze was shouting 'murder'
and endesv0rlng 10 defend himself as best
he could. saw tais as dashed by to the
Cap aims room
''As / Opened tbr doo- of the room saw
the Captain on lis knees, with his heal
covered with wounds Inflicted with the
Ratchet. ran out to The man at the wheel
and cried out to him, "My God, they've
murdered the CaptaiDI' meaning by they
the steward and cook, both Chinamen,
whom we had shipped at New York. By
this time the two iends were en- deck, each
armed with a hatchet and a large knife.
looked like wild Indians. They ran
amuck through the ship, striking
ows at every one who came on deck.
No one of the crew had any weapons, but
cked up whatever was at hand, and en-
ueavored to get blow at the Cinnamon. I
ran around the deck, with tie steward in
pursuit., and suddenly thought of the Cap
tain's revolver. ran into his cabin, pur-
sued by one OF the Cinnamon, but one
glance showed that the weapon was gons.
It was The only pistol on the ship. grabbed
a sword as | ran through the cabin and made
q slash at the Chinaman with 1t. / cut him
only slightly. For twenty minutes we were
fighting and lodging blows from the fiends.
"The scene was a fearful one. Finally
got slash at the steward with the sword
and cut open his shoulder. Before he could
regain his feet one of the seamen, Andrew
Jansen, hit him In the head with q capstan
bar and crushed his skull. Previously an
other seaman named johnson, had got
blow at him with pump handle, as the
steward dashed past. The Chinaman cook
was chopped in the head with an axe by
'Frenchy,' sailor. As the cook struck At
him with his knife he lodged, and before
the hatchet could be brought into play
'Frenchy' brought down his axe on the
cooks head. Both Cinnamon died before
noon and were thrown overheard. Tue Cap
tain was buried In the ocean at sunset"
At the Office of Vernon II. Brown d Co.,
agents of The vessel in New York, IL was
stated that the terrible fair grew out OF
the fact that the Captain deprived the stew
ard and cook of their usual allowances OF
opium. One of the angry Cinnamon went
to the Captains berth and killed him with
hatchet. One blow OF the hatchet split the
Captains head open and another blow cut
a very deep cash in his face. The China
man, after killing the Captain, went to q
berth where the mate was sleeping, and
struck him on the head. The mate was
stunned somewhat, but he arose and grap-
pied with his assailant
James s. d wight, the murdered Captain,
was native of Springfield, Mass. He was
fOrty-6ve years of age and unmarried. He
was large man, weighing over two hun
dred pounds. His disposition was genial,
and Messrs. Vernon II. Brown 81 Co. state
that he was one of the last men who would
abuse any members of his crew. Captain
Dwight has Deen in the employ of the fine
Tor about ten years,