Omaha daily bee., 1883-04-19
OUR SAILOR CATTLE.
How They are Crimp8d, Corral
led and Exported in Herds.
The Way Seat oing Vessels
are Now Manned.
"A Repulsive soene OF Almost Daily
Occurrence at Mallol Us Pier.

horLl0R JOuri ~.
80 you want to see q ship start on
her voyage, oh? Well, II You describe
he scene as 1t actually happens, hang
me IL I don't glvo you a chance. Show
up aboard the Spindrift tomorrow
morning at z sharp, and I'll take you
out to Sandy Hook with us. The
tug'll bring you back all rlght-but
be sure and do justice to what you'll
see!
The speaker was the tall, thin, good.
natured Scotch captain of q British
clipper lying at Roberts stores In
Brooklyn, whose contempt for a New
York crew had been previously ex.
pressed in phrases more bitter than
polite.
Next morning at z the writer wal
aboard the Spindrift-manned at that
hour by her captain, her two Scotch
mates, her English boats vain. her
Chinese cook and steward and q couple
OF stout North Country apprentices.
The tugboat lay alongside roaring out
her impatienoe through her exhaust.
pipe. Her commander fumed a. he
leaned on his wheel and wanted to
know, every few minutes, when the
missing crew was going to show up.
Pacing the ships quarterback, with q
capital cigar In his mouth and bis
hands deep In his pockets, was q
smooth faced stolid man who looked
like a country preacher. It was the
Sandy Hook pilot.
After twenty minutes delay a third
apprentice made his appearance and
diving below reported to the captain.
That long shanked Scot at onoe ap.
peared on deck. "The shipping mas
ters says he's got me a pretty good
crew, but they're all blazing drunk
and we've got to fetch 'em from the
Msllora pier"
The pilot family smiled. The tug
boat commander swore. The ships
captain, his first mate, and the writer
leisurely descended to the tugboat.
In q minute her head was pointed
across stream, and In fve she lay
alongside the Mallory pier, renew
ing her molly demonstrations Of i'm,
patience.
We waited perhaps a quarter of On
hour. Then q ramshakle express
wagon, drawn by a gray horse 40 thin
and 90 decrepit that he really offered
no surface Whatever to the blows which
his driver tried to shower upon him,
ratified ON the dock. The express.
wagon contained twelve drunken
wretohes OF the most pitiable aspect,
lying prone among their chests and
canvas bags. Not one of them wa,
sober enough even to hold his hoad up
They were all AZ stupid as If they hst
been drugged-ss, perhaps they hat
been. Not n Of them but had
black eye, q fresh soar on his cheek
or . bandaged head. S,me wer,
Danes, some Irish, some G .Iman, on
was a Greek, two we're mulattoes. 1
more desperate. Hooking lot Of cut
throats were never shaoklsd togethe
y In . jail.
An immense rufian with red Will
kers aud q club shaped like that
Hercules sat by the driver. Al 500
a. the Arsvan halted, he jumped of
and with the most prodigious an
{. vooiferous osths ever Illuminated b
one man In two minutes, drove b
:. charges aboard the tug. He piled hI
70 club with a vigor equal to that Of h
discourse, and the poor devils a,
= from him as II they were negro slsv,
under the whip of an overseer. III
- longshoremen looking on grinned
the familiar spectacle. A policems
lounging on the dock regarded Il
club performance with lsnguid pr
fesslonal, interest. The Scotch Gal
tsin's sharp face wore a cynical smil,
while the mate grumbled, "Thet
rect, mon' thet's rect! Gle II to Il
Y vsgabonds! Rattle 'em aboart
haets!"
Pell NELL they tumbled aboard Il
re tug, and In other ten minutes we Ia
aa alongside the ship again, greeted /
h the pilot ~ he looked over the "a
with a GOLD expression Of ~impatienc
10 The S;otoh captain was In his gan
way In q second, rallying the thinne
and bleeding creatures as they tuu
or bled up under the vocal stimulation
O. the two mates and boatswain, and Il
~, u~noeasiug club of the "orimp."
1t was, sooth to say, q curio,
nd scene. The Cinnamon did not ev,
IA vouchssfe q glance at 1t. Tbs thr
n stout apprentices occasionally look
y. on from aloft, where they were u
furling sails The captain stood
the pilot On his poop deck. The I'll
r, mate and the boatswain stood by 4
gangway shouting, while down belo'
on the tug, the second mate and I
"crimp" alternated persuasion wi
showers of resounding blows.
All of q sudden the last man left
the tug. boat, In q freak of drunk
a frenzy uttered q piercing yell and 7
like . deer IF the dock. The RI
p whiskered "crimp" ovsrhauled him
an instant aud, with q crash of
NM club, brought the bleeding wretch
the ground like an or In q slaugh,
,r& house. "Come!" shouted the Il
" mate, we're short-don't spoil IL
=, fellow"
= Glddy, vomiting, ard his face beat
"A to q pulpy mask, the hideous creatr
" was hoisted aboard as Ii he had be
, a bale of hay and thrust forward Ii
his quarters In the top gallant 70
cattle by the combined strength of
. boA,swain and the orimp.
sl la half an hour The busting tug "
si dragging her charge through the N
IN rows. The stout apprentices W,
OH still aloft casting loose the topsaI
III The boatswain and the mates W,
M picking out the least helpless of
III stupiied crew and giving them e,
III tasks. The seven, sbjeot, and sodd,
who conld not even cit up, lay arou
t the t~opgallant ~forcastle, a Qrueso