Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-16
TERRIBLE CRUELTY.
The Atrocities Of the Seattle Case Of the
Brutality on the Ship Gatherer.

Brutality on the Ship Gatherer.
Concerning the brutality of the officers
of the ship Gatherer toward the crew, on
the voyage from Antwerp to Wilmington,
and which have already been referred 70 in
the RECORD UNION, these further details
may be given. The Captain is C. n.
Sparks; William Watts first, Cornelius
Curtis second, and John Driscoll, third
mate. The ship had cargo of iron. Soon
after leaving Antwerp, last September,
Watts and Curtis numerically thrashed a
seaman, Peter Clark, for a trIfiing breach
of discipline. Soon after Peter Clark was
beaten SO as to lay him up for months.
September 18th, Curtis beat John Hansen
so that one of his eyes was nearly put out
and his mouth SO injured that he could eat
or speak only with great difficulty. Sep
TENDER Goth, John Burns was lashed to the
rail and beaten by Watts, who broke his
nose with brass knuckles. A boy who
stood by and expressed his horror, was
knocked on the head. October lst, Watts
dashed a heavy capstan bar to the back Of
John Burns, compelling him to stride up
and down the deck, at the same time kick
| ing him as he passed. Watts compelled
three sailors, Peter, George and McCue, to
strip themselves, and they were forced to
submit to horrible treatment, not here to
be described. On the following day, McCue
and George, after having been partially
stripped, were compelled to have straps fas-
tened about their waists. and to draw each
other across certain line. George, to es-
cape further torture, jumped overheard
and was drowned Seaman Hansen was
treated so brutally that he either jumped
into the sea or fell overheard from weak
ness, and the Captain made no attempt, it
is said, to save his life. November 25th a
sailors nose was broken by blow from a
Delaying. pin in the hands of the mate. The
ships Chinese steward was beaten and
locked up without food for five days.
When San Pedro was reached he was raw
| ing lunatic, and is now in the hospital at
Los Angeles. November 18th, McCue hav-
ing been partially stripped, was fastened
by strap to his waist, hoisted up to the
mizzen stay, and held head downward till
| black in the face from the effects of the
Ill cd rushing to his head. A couple of
other sailors were also brutally used. 1t is
alleged that the Captain and first mate,
responsible to the laws, declared that
bGSy ldu lluuGliCG W pTU-
tect them. Gustave Adleng, young
man, says the Captain was a witness to
most of the brutality of the mates, and
knew of all of it, and took part in some,
and that to his cruelty is due the demented
condition of the steward. The steward,
he says, had been made i'll by the brutality
of the mates, and the Captain went to his
bunk October 25th, pulled him out by the
hair, and beat him till be was left for dead
William Almer was ll-treated by the mate,
who stuffed his mouth full of hard tack,
and rammed it down his throat with be.
laying PIN. This operation only provoked
laughter from the Captain and second mate.
October 9th the first mate charged Adleng
with spilling some paint, and Immediately
knocked him known and jumped on him
and kicked him in the eyes, so that
he was confined below for four weeks.
The Captain with oaths refused him
medicine, and before he was we'll, sent him
aloft, saying he hoped he'd fall and kill
himself. The second mate says Adleng
brutally beat John Anderson with knotted
ropes till he was half crazy, and so that
the flesh was cut from his legs in chunks
and his body was a mass of bruises. He
then ordered him aloft. With tears the
man begged for mercy, but up he had to 60,
and being SO weak, he fell off and into the
sea. The mate wanted to lower boat for
him, but the Captain shouted "No; let
him go, he's dead anyway /" Nearly all
the time the men were badly treated, and
were fed on bareback and water. The mate
used to tell the men I" am king of you
low beasts y October 18th, says Adleng,
the mate, split Delaying pin over
" Frenchy's" head. On another occasion,
when a sailor named Charley" was at
the wheel, the Captain came to him and,
after calling him ali the foul names he
could think of, struck him heavy blow
under the ear, knocking him senseIess to
the deck The blow destroyed the hearing
and the ear still keeps running a man
named McCue and boy known as George
were the subjects of fiendish assault.
The men were afraid to rebel against
their prosecutors on account of the
mates going about armed with brace
of pistols. The third mate, who was APP
pealed to for protection, declared that he
was powerless to interfere, but at the same
time he assured the men that while he was
on watch he would protect them. Dris-
coll, the third mate, corroborates Adleng's
story, and says he was powerless to pro-
tect the men. At San Pedro the crew was
kept on board till the two mates escaped.
Driscoll and Adleng are in San Francisco,
and tell the above to the United States
District Attorney. Watts, the frat mate,
has sailed for Queenstown on the ship I'M
perial. Efforts will be made to secure his
extradition. Curtis, the second mate, was
found in San Francisco Tuesday, and was
lodged in Jail. The Gatherer arrived in
San Francisco Tuesday night, and the
Captain was arrested and locked up. The
men go brutally treated are kept on Alca-
traz Island The Examiner describes Cap
tain Sparks as thick. heavy.set man,
about feet 10 inches in hight, and will
weigh about 200 pounds. He is about 45
years of age, very dark complexion, and ap-
parently possesses an iron will and a wicked
temper. He is reported to have served a
term in San Quentin some ten years ago,
A few years later he left this port as mate
of the bark Penang, and had to leave the
ship at Sydney to avoid arrest at Australia,
whittier he was bound. Soon after his re-
turn to San Francisco he sailed as mate of
the schooner Lovett Peacock, and was
obliged to leave her before his agreement
was up, owing to threatened arrest for
abuse to seamen. Last year he sailed as
Captain of the ship Hagerstown, and SIM
liar fate attended that voyage. The pres.
emit engagement as Captain of the Gatherer
was one OF emergency, arising from the
illness of Captain Tompkins, her regular
commander, who was taken tick at Ant
werp and obliged to return to this coun-
try, and he put Sparks in his place.
THE RAILROAD TAX CAsEs.-In oonse-
quence of the recent decision of Judge
Waymire of the Superior Court, Saa Fran
cisco, relative to the railroad tax suits
pending in his Court, \ motion was made
on Monday afternoon by the counsel for the
Central Pacific Railroad Company to have
the cases transferred to the Federal Courts,
on the ground that they alone have juris-
iiction. Creed Raymond said that the
Central Pacific Railroad is bound in time of
war to turn it's trains over to the Federal
Government to remove armies; to convert
its workshop into cannon manufactures, to
suspend its business in obedience to writ
80 ,.,pdarnus from, tho Federal Cavern