Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-01
CRUELTY AT SEA.
oncisl Barbsrisn on shipboard-A Life
Sacrificed.

Sacrificed.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
What seems very much like another in
| stance OF the sly game klown 30 be fre-
quentlY prac.iced by British ekipp RS in
the interest of economy comes to the
surface with the arrival in this port
yesterday OF the British ship Star Of
Russ ., John Legg, master, 12S days
from Londoc. The practice referred to is
that by which ssilors who have shipped
| in the sold couutrY" for rourd-trip
voysges are systematically abused on the
trip out that they may be driven 20 desert
Immediately upon reaching this part,
thus FORGETTING ell claims for pay.
In the present instance the ship in ques-
ton, the Stsr Of Russis, had no sooner
dropped her anchor yesterday than three
OF her crew, Fred narshsll, William
Keers and John Mclean, left the vessel
and took Up their quarters at the Sailors
Home. There they were found later in
the dsY by an Examiner reporter, to
whom each had tale of most shameful
treatment While on board ship to tell.
| Marshall. the first spokesman, who is s
remarkably intelligent young fellow, for
merry n the English navy, stated that the
| trouble began when the ship was six
weeks OUT, owirg to the loss Of two chips
buckets. The Captain condemned the
whole crew to lose their watches below
/ indefinitely, because he could not discover
the Individual offender. To save his ship
mates from this wholesale punishment,
Marshall assumed the blame for the scci-
dent, and was for fourteen days deprived
Of his watch below. Duties impossible to
perform were also put upon him imme-
diately thereafter, the failure to accom-
plish which led to his being placed Sin
cells" on bread and water for four days.
His allowance Of food IVES three biscuits
End pint and a hslf Of water per day.
February 10, while the ship was OF
Cape Horn, the Captain engaged In an 81
tercation with him without cause, foally
8 riki, & him in the face with his fsts,
knock ng him down and afterwards kick
| ing him dozen times or more in the face,
st the same time calling him vile names.
"When you get to San Francisco" he
said, ''you c.n put this in all the papers,
| II you LIKE don't give a snap OF my
fiagers for shy of them. AS for the law,
I'll try and ges the worth OF it out of Your;
| hide b IRE we get there" <
The next day the Captain told the sec
ond mate in MsrshslPs hearing that if
any OF the men wanted TO fight to send
the m aft to him aud he would kick the
brains out OF taem.
During the entire voyage the sailors
clsim to have been most insufficiently
FEC, good part of their diet consisting
of rotten corn beef, utterly ~ a. for use.
During the last twenty-four hours OF toe
voyage the entire crew were Kept on
4 III rrJ,a
ever TO eat or drink.
William Keers, Tor fifteen years q sailor
| in the British navy, and at one time en-
ployed on the Duke OF E iinburgh's yacht,
corroborated everything which his ship
mate said, and also spoke of abuse in
aicted upon himself. At one time the
| Captain, becoming enraged at the seton
of some of the me0 who were aloft, cast
loose part of the running rigging, with
the evident intention OF letting them fsll
upon the deck, which would very probe-
| bly, have killed than. BY great agility
and G ffort they saved themselves.
John McLesn's experience was proba-
bly, the worst. Early in the voyage he
| became afflicted with rheumatism in such
8 manner IS to render him practically
helpless and unable to sit erect. This did
not prevent his being put in irons, how
ever, in one of the captains sudden
bursts Of causeless fury, the torture being
aggravated by the fastening Of mis- hsnds
behind instead OF in front of his bodys
When he asked the captain 10 remedy
this, that worthy grssped him by the
throat and flung him violently against q
bulkhead, severely bruising his head.
Lister on the voyage, when McLenn's
hands were horribly swollen with erisipe-
| las and number Of lsrge and painful
boils, the csptsin forced him to do duty
| in the most dangerous positions on board
the ship. As consequence, not being
able to hold on when the seas swept On
board, he had msny narrow escapes from
drowning, and WAS dresdiully battered
and bruised by frequent falls. On one
occasion the captain bfutally tore the
bandages from his sores, and laughed st
his shrieks Of pain.
| Others OF the crew are said to have re-
ceived very bad treatment, and on one
occasion Mclean claims to have pre-
vented seaman from rushing upon the
Quarterback and Draining the captain
with tackle block.
The first ana second mates, both OF
whom are said to have joined In fully
with the captain in his course Of conduct,
are named respectively Callahan and
Barron. The ship is owned by j. P.
Coyle & Co., of Belfast, and came here
loaded with cement and coke.
The most serious charge against the
captain Of the vessel is that the death Of
the sail-maker of the vessel, VIM Rodgers,
who wss lost overheard February 20, in
la itude s550 So south, longitude IT.
49, ;wes+, resulted entirely
from his slackness. The boats were in
tie act of being lowered to rescue the
man, who had been jsrked overheard by
tie swinging Of 3 heavy sail, when the
captain came on deck. He engrily or
dered everything to be stopped until
he should give the order, causing
delay which resulted in the mans
death. The seamen say he could easily
have been saved. No sympathy wh,tever
was apparently felt for him by the Off
GERS. Rodgers WAS native OF Belfast.
ALI three of the seamen mentioned will
make formal complaint against their cap-
tain.
More Brewers' TroubIc,
CryCv,r~.rr Ouro An-iI an -Caoncr