The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-18
PRISON LIFE In SUMATRA.
The Story of the Terrible Sufferings of
Second Mate Leonard X. Moore.
One of the Crew of the Steamer NiserO De-
scribes Their Wreck. Their Treat
ment and Their Ransom.
New York Sun.

The British steamship Nisero of Sunderland,
was wrecked Nov. 8, 1885, on the southern coast
of Sumatra, and Capt. William S. Woodhouse
and his crew of twenty-seven men were taken
prisoners by the natives They suffered great
privations for ten months, and were finally re-
leased by the efforts of the English and Dutch
governments. One of their number, the second
officer, Leonard K. Moore, was an American
He arrived in this city by the City of Berlin lass
Saturday, and went to the house of his uncle,
Captain James Moore, in Rockville Center, Long
Island.
Captain Moore's house is a quaint old two
story frame building, about a block from the
station. 1t is much weatherbeaten on the out
side, but within it is costly and comfortably
furnished A reporter of the Sun. found young
Moore there last evening. Heis tall man. about
twenty-sx years of age, with blond hair blond
mustache, blue eyes, and aorid complexion.
He has pleasant and intelligent face Hesaid:
81 kept daily diary after thewreck, and en-
tered in it all that happened to us. 1t would
take hours TO go over it, so | will tell you what
/ can from memory. l hope to get the diary III
shape for book.
traa as second mate of a ship | stayed there
for some time in the coastng trade, and then
went to England i'll the steamer Skyro. On
June l, 1883. / was transferred to the Nisero of
the same line, and on June s we sailed for
Straits Settlement We loaded with sugar, and
on Oct % we left Sourabaya, Java, to go to
France. We intended to put into Point de
Gale, Ceylon, for coal, but our surplus ran
short sooner than we had expected, so we headed
for Acheen Head, Sumatra During series Of
light squalls on Nov. 8 ran aground off
Pungah at $50 o'clock in the evening.
1t was quite dark, but we lowered the
had heard the noise of escaping steam, and had
the lights of the vessel that as we lapN1ed
we wero surrounded by great crowd of Chem.
They were armed with swords and spehrs, as
they thought we might be Dutchmen, wit, Il whom
they were at war Other natives, armed with
rifles, were in the adjacent woods. By3 the aid
of our two Chinese cooks, who acted as inter"
prefers, we told them that we wer5 English
They wanted us to go to their village 1but we re-
fused to do so. 1t was raining at tlae time and
they went away and came back in a short time
with wood, with which they built fires
They then gave us some bananas and left us.
They were quite naked. except for a breech
Goth
'In the morning they returned and said the
Rajah wanted us. We went with them to the
village, which consisted of few bamboo huts,
covered with straw and leaves and were put
into one of the huts An armed guard was set
over us, and it was very lucky for US that this
was done. News of the wreck spread rapidly
and the savages from the mountains came down
by hundreds They danced around and shook
their weapons and wanted the Rajah to let
them put us to death. They did this because
they did not see any difference between us and
the Dgtchmen, their enemies. They went out
in their surf boats to the wreck and carried off
every portable article. They dd not understand
the chronometers, and picked them to pieces
with their daggers we made ourselves as
comfortable possible in our hut 1t was forty
feet long by thirty feet wide and we wera
forced to sleep on the bare floor. The weather
was warm, but it was the rainy season, and it
was very wet and uncomfortable. Our only
food was rice and salt. The Raiah said we
should have to stay there until he could send
word down the coast His plans however. were
INTERRUPTED by the unexpected arrival of the
chief Raiah, Tuku- -Immu- Muda of Tenom, whe
at once took charge of us.
One morning he gave the order to march,
and we had a hard days tramp through Cdngles
and rivers until we arrived at Lower
Tenom river. This was on the coast at the
mouth Of the Tenom river, We put into
another hut and our treatment was the same.
"In the meantime the stranded Nisero had
been seen on the coast, and the Dutch govern
ment sent gunboat from Acheen Head to make
inquiries. 1t went to Buben, and spies were
sent out to learn if the crew was held in cap
tivity. These spies came to lower Tenom in the
disguise of peddlers of fancy wares. and while
selling their goods they managed to slip two let
ters into our hands. They were addressed to
the captain, and one was from the commander
of the gunboat He said there were two men
ofwar III Buben bay, but they were afraid to do
much for fear the Rajah should massacre all the
prisoners. He advised the greatest caution, and
said the Raiah was merciless scoundrel. The
second letter was from the Dutch Resident at
h-leh, and he told US to be patient as every
thing possible would be done for our release.
Captain Woodhouse wrote reply, and the spies
took it with them. We now removed to
Smpang OHM, village short distance up the
river, where the Rajah resided with his five
wives. We were divided into three parties and
1Olo GOD. IL hx.f, n1A o{z1,
kept over
'rhe Dutch, having learned our location, sent
two men of-war TO the mouth of the river, and
soon afterward the British ship Pegasus
anchored there. The Dutch at once opened
communication, and offered heavy ransom for
the release of the crew. The Rajah refused the
offer, and demanded more. The Dutch would
not give more and the Raiah told us that they
had threatened to lombard and burn the village.
Bang bangr he called it. Then the second
engineer Alexander Kidd became so i'll that he
was likely TO die. Captain Woodhouse induced
the Raiah TO ransom Kidd for $40, 600, and allow
him to be taken on board OF the Pegasus where
he could have medical treatment The Rajah
consented, and the money was paid in silver.
The captain then persuaded the Rajah that it
would be we'll to allow him to accompany the
engineer SO that he might make arrangements
for the ransom Of all the crew. The Rajah was
reluctant to do this saying that lie did not wish
to part with the most important man of the
crew. One of the crew, boy, was the captains
nephew, but he had represented to the Rajah
that it was his son. We were all around when
the captain talked with the Rajah, and we heard
him promise to return in two days He said
81 leave my son and the crew with you as
hostages, and if do not return you can cut their
heads off,
1--WE all assented to this, as we had no idea
that the Captain would ieopardize our lives by
breaking his parole. The Rajah finally con
sented, and allowed the Captain to take the first
cook with him. The sick engineer was placed in
canoe and taken TO the Pegasus. That was
the last we say of the three men When the
Captain did not return, the Raiah was in q terri
BILE rage and we felt certain that We should be
killed. We received very little to eat, and ons
day we had no food at all. We were told that
we were to be killed that evening, but our lives
were saved at the last moment by the arrival OF
other messengers from the Dutch, bearing more
favorable offers This induced the Rajah