Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-26
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
THE FORTUNE. LEFT BY A YAM
KEE IN THE. ANTiPODES.
The Captains Successful Work at Trad
ing-His Establishment at the Island
nj Yap-His Death at the Hands of
Isianders.
FROM IL ve,n York Sun-


CRANKY, about tfteen miles from Hart
ford, there has lived since colonial days a
family OF HOlcOmbs. They were farmers,
| like almost every BODY else there. Into
one branch OF the family there was born
about sixty years ago Clayton p. Hol-
comb. He had a brother and a sister.
Clayton when a boy resolved to leave the
homestead and seek mis- fortune out in
the world. He had passion for the sea,
though he had never seen it, and before
he was 20 he went to New Bedford
and shipped in a whaling vessel before
the mast. His brother remained on the
homestead, while his sister, when she
grew up, married cigar maker in Sut-
field, Conn, named Manuel Gutierrez.
Yesterday Mrs. Manuel Gutierrez came
to this city TO seek information in the al
tempt she is making to claim from the
Spanish government the fortune which
her brother, Capt. Clayton W. Holcomb,
is reported to have left, mainly at the
Caroline Islands in the south Pacific. 1t
has been reported in Spanish papers to
have been rs great as $4,000, 900.
1t was not long at er young Clayton
went before the mast that he became
Captain of the whaling ship Chandler
Price, which was sold at the time OF the
war and taten South as a part of the
''stone fleet" lie atterward commanded
other whaling vessels, and cruised all
over the world. He was lucky and shrewd
and made money. He never forgot his
home. and wrote often to his mother and
sister. AT long intervals he came nome
to CRANKY. The last time was seventeen
years ago. One day while on this last
visit he went TO Hartford, and when ne
returned home he told his sister that he
had made mis- will.
Il don't expect to die for some time
vet," ne said, ''but can't tell what may
happen. | wanted to fix it so that if |
SHOULD die my mother should have the use
Of my property till her death. when, after
giving little to my half sister, you shall
have half and my brother half. There is
enough of 1t, so that you will not need to
work any more. All 1 want YOU to do is
to take care Of It,"
After that he was heard of from all
quarters. He traded IN furs from Alaska,
and made regular trips from san Fran
CISCO. He wrote that he was growing
richer, and owned his own ship. Ten years
ago he started out from Hong Kong TO find
the wreck of the Pacific Mail steamship
Japan. He was the lucky one, and spent
some time in trying to raise her. He sent
to England for cable LAYERS, but The under
current was too strong aud the work
had to be abandoned. Then he turned
his attention exclusively to the Caro-
line Islands, the large archipelago in the
Pacific about five hundred miles east of
the Philippines. He had been trading
with the inhabitants OF the Central Car
dimes for some time before, but his
shrewd head conceived the idea of i'm
proving the islands for mercantile pur-
poses. The islands bad been claimed by
Spain since Saavedra discovered them in
1928, but Spain had done nothing for them.
W hen he first went there there were no
white men on the islands. He selected
the Island of zap for mis- headquarters
and built trading station there, which
was the first building on the island. Yap
is one OF the largest Of the four hundred
or five hundred islands which form
the Central Caroline group. 1t is ten
miles i'll length. From time To time
letters came to the little post office in
CRANKY for the Captains aged mother,
telling about his progress. He wrote that
there was an excellent harbor on the
southeast side of Y ap, that he was bring
ing goods from Hong Kong to trade TOR
the coacoanuts, arums, betel nuts and
beeswaX of the natives. He said in one
letter that he had become owner of a large
| fleet of merchant vessels, which piled
about among the islands and went back
| ippines. He wrote that he had built two
wharves and was constructing a third.
and about 1873 he wrote that he had
| bought from the Spanish government the
| island OF zap. 1t was still to be under
| Spanish government, but all its revenue
was to accrue to him. The nearest Span
| ish Consul was at Manila, in the Philip
| pines. Then ne went on building stores
/ and dwellings. The inhabitants of zap
oiN
bors. Villages were laid out regularly
and streets were paved. and the Spanish
papers began to talk of the fabulous
wealth of Capt. Holcomb.
Brother-in-law Manuel Gutierrez, who
| had meantime moved his cigar shop to
this city, saw the papers and kept them.
| One winters day IN 1894 Mrs. Gutierrez,
| who still staid with her mother in the
| old homestead, got letter from the
| CRANKY post office which brought the first
| bad news. Capt. Holcomb had written it
| from Manila, where he had gone to ask
| protection from the government, Capt
| Holcomb, in improving zap. had lined
his pockets, but had also made Yap a
! place to be coveted. In 1884 a German
man Of-war sailed in, tore down the Span
| ism flag from the Captains station and
set up the flag of Germany. The Spanish
papers began to take up the outrage, aud
| prominently mentioned Capt, Holcomb,
| whose name stood at the mead of petit
tion TO King Alfonso to look out for his
/ flag.
All through the first part of 1885 no let
| ter came from Capt. Holcomb. At last one
+ uay Mr.. Gutierrez saw ia Los Novedades
the bare announcement that in MAY he had
been assassinated in the island of zap. 1t
las about the time that the dispute be-
tween Germany and Spain regarding zap
| and other islands was referred to the
| Pope for arbitration. The Pope decided
IN favor OF Spain, though Germany was
allowed to keep coaling stasiOns and
| some plantations on the islands. Mrs.
! Gutierrez waited in vain for some infor-
nation regarding the death of her brother.
| In November she wrote TO Secretary Bay
| ard, and he replied that he
had heard nothing OF Capt.
! HOcomb's death. Capt. HOlc0mb ad
! claimed an American citizenship all his
! life, and at every port ne entered. A few
| moutAs later SHE wrote TO the American
Consul at Manila, who replied that he
| had had no official information. she wrote
| To Secretary Whitney, TO the American
Consul at Hong Kong, to the Minister at
Madrid, and to all points that could posi-
by give her information. Officially she
could yet no information. secretary Whit
ney said thata man-oi-war had reported
Capt. HOcombs death at Washing ton and
he advised her TO write to Capt. McGlen-
sey at Yokohama. She did so, and re.