The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-03-12
A SAILORS LONG-BOW.
A MOST EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.
GOrged with Dynamite and Rlce-Itum .
Fellow Leaps from q Lofty Emil
nence and Considerably AS
tonishes the Spectators.
rcineinnati ENQUIRER |


It's fact. Never was suicide like
it,"said an old sailor to a reporter. "It
occurred in Marking, the capital of the
Province of K Kangsu, China, which is
about ninety miles up the Yang -tse-Kiang
River. was sailor before the mast, and
our vessel, the Ella, an English one, had
carried outa cargo Of cutlery and ginseng,
and was to take back load of tea. We
had sailed from Baltimore, and whilethere
one morning q fellow came aboard and
begged so hard to go with us that the
Captain put him to work. He was willing,
and worked like a trooper; never COM
planning either at the food before him or
the ask he had to do. We had not been
out long before the lads began to like him.
He was so quiet and clever. He had a
restless look about his eye, and it was not
until we had been several days out that
his uneasness seemed to wear away. He
was reticent about his previous life, and
at. mess or on watch, when the lads were
wont to speak Of their travels and expert
ences, while he listened he rarely had any
thing to say. We had quantity of dyna-
mite on board, and one day the Captain,
for some reason or other, wante1 it moved
to another part Of the vessel; yet not un-
derstanding the handling Of it, asked il
any Of us knew anything about it. Tom
Bowsher, for that was the name he went
by, at once spoke and said: Captain, un-
derstand the stuff. used to work for the
Roberts Torpedo Company, who blast out
the wells in the Pennsylvania oil regions,
and can handle it safely.' OF course he
was given the job.
"The dynamite was all removed by him,
and no accident happened. Nothing
worthy Of note occurred during the voy-
age, and we reached our destination in
safety, and had unloaded our cargo. 1t
was during grand festival of some sort
think the beginning of the new year
and the natives were making great prepar-
ations for big pagan blowout. Marking,
you know, is the great center of learning
in China. 1t was formerly the capital,
but is now only large commercial city.
We sailors had the run Of the port and
often went ashore and had grand old times
wandering around and seeing the sights.
The drink of the country is arac, kind Of
fire-proof whisky, terribly Intoxicating,
and made by distilling rice. Bowsher had
ben ashore with us several times, and
seemed to take great interest in all the
curious sights Of the town. He was par.
ticularly struck with the porcelain tower,
which is one Of the greatest wonders of the
world. 1t is two hundred feet high, and
made apparently out Of a solid piece Of
this brittle glassware. He stood round it,
! and walked about it, examining with care
every minute portion, and then was un-
usually moody and silent. l well recol-
lect that days it was impossible to get a
word out of him, aud when we were ready
to go aboard he wanted to go out and take
farewell look at the tower. That night
it was my turn on watch, and while lay
coiled up on pile of ropes long time
after mi might ] saw Bowsher coming
along in his nj niyhtclothes, carrying tim
covered can. thought he must be walk
ing in his slsep, and so d ,termined to
: watch i'm, that no harm should come to
him. He proceeded to the part Of the boat
: where he had store | the dynamite, and
then, striking light, he appeared to be
. contained the stuff. Thinks l to myself,
What is he going to dop Blow us all upi
So l watched his every motion, and soon
he found can that seemed to suit him,
and without moving it, by the aid of q
sma, knife, he cut in at the top, and care.
fully removed quite quantity, LAYING il
t noiselessly in his own can. Tlis finished
| ba lierhI md f,,11t
ing his treasure, walked back to his bunk
taking care to hide it in some of his c.othe.
i that hung in his quarters. 1 thought thi
Q a queer procee ling, and the next day
s found it so. At first thought would re-
Q port it to the Captain, but on reflection
h determined to keep an eye on Bowsher anG
= await developments"
Sand they soon came~
!; "Yes; sooner than l expected. Thenex
day Bowsher worked hard, and at nigh
|. got permission to go ashore, assuring the
6 Captain that he would be ON hand early IL
the morning. With some reluctance th,
Captain gave his consent, for on the NOR
6 row there was to be a granl performance
: in one of the joss-houses that stood neal
| ohO pOiSOiuih VOWoIs Az was q uuu oul uCG
" ure, made Of bamboo-wood and on a raiseC
n stage was a huge wooden god, all carvet
% with snakes, lizards, dogs heads and mon
v keys. The bull ling was light structure
IL but capable of holding ten to fifteen thou
sand people. In the morning no Bowshe
10 appeared, but nothing was thought of this
e as it was a general holiday. We all wen
@ ashore except the watch in charge, an
+. after taking some arac, the drink of tn
country, proceeded with the crowd to tn
joss. house, which was the center of attrac
2 tion. Chinese bands we're making thei
:. bag-pipey, squeaking noise. Everybo
d had on holiday costume, and the store
Il and booths were livelier than usual A
70 last we reached the grounds. a
IA strange sight greeted us. On top Q
Z the porcelain tower, two hundred feet !
'f the air, stood Browsher, waving the Amer
II ican iiag. How he got there was the quel
8, tion everybody was asking, and what /
g. heavens name his object was none coul
le guess. The pig.taiis gestlculated an
n pointed, and Bowsher drank somethin
Is out of bottle and waved the stars an
stripes. There was no entrancs to th
tower and no possible way of reaching th
top, as it was too high for Ladder, an
= the pig.tails were dumhfounded at th
p cheek aud daring Of the man.
- nRut he was n sailor and had succeede