St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-25
MODERN BUCCANEERS.
Robber Fishermen Who Poach
Upon Chesapeake's OYSTER Beds,


Maryland's most profitable industry
is the sale of the fish. terrapin and Oy-
SterS that abound in Chesapeake bay,
says the Brooklyn Eagle. The dredg-
ing grounds that supply the canning es-
Establishments of Baltimore with oysters
are private property, and considerable
labor and expense is entailed in cult
waiting this sea food and protecting the
bl valve from its natural submarine enc
mics. The efforts of the star fish to de-
Stroy the young and defenseleSs oyster
are ably seconded by organizations OF
robber fishermen, who poach by night
upon the most productive pre-
serves along the sandy shores of the
bay. Special legislation was effected
making oyster piracy crime, and
the state supports maratlme police
force that has assumed the formidable
proportions of a navy. This form of
buccaneering is so profitable, however,
that lis promoters continue to be undiS-
mayed by successive encounters with
and defeats by the authorities, and their
numbers have recently increased to an
extent that emboldens them to seek
rather than to avoid the exchange of
bullets. Ali these oyster outlaws are
armed, and but fol the moral advantage
that the defenders of right possess over
the perpetrators of wrong, the police
would be unable to cope with them.
The enormous area of CheSapeake bay
and the accurate knowledge acquired by
the robbers of all the inlets, creeks,
islands, capeS and shoals that diversity
the tortnOus shores, afford them every
facility to escape arrest, if so disposed.
On Saturday night Capt. Clark, of the
al DOT,
fleet Of seven vessels that were plying
their noisy dredges under the shelter of
Sandy point. which is only few hours
sail from Annapolis. The odds were
overwhelmingly in favor of the thieves,
but Capt. Clark steered his solitary craft
into the little bay, where he was sur
rounded by larger vessels filled with
armed and desperate men. A general
engagement being out of the QueS-
ton, he selected the schooner AL
bert Nickel, commanded by William T.
W hitehouSe, who answered a demand
to surrender with an order that his
crew should open fire on the Folly. AT
the same moment another piratical
schooner ran up against the Folly and
bowling horde of ruffians boarded her.
Owing to the darkness many of the
shots from the rifles on either side pen
NIltlCu lliC VI lllC DOdlS VI ucW
wide of their human targets. Several
of the marine police were wounded,
however. and Capt. WhitehouSe was
killed. The hand to hand conflict on
the deck Of the Folly resulted in the
discontinue of the outlaws, and after
they had been repulsed the police
boarded and captured the Albert
Nickel. The Leary, another piratical
vessel. was also seized and the other
five escaped.
1t is doubtful whether Capt. Clark's
daring maneuver will permanently dis
courage future raids on the oyster
grounds of Chesapeake bay, because
the men employed to defend the prop
erty OF others are called upon to risk
their lives for a small monetary con-
sideratlon and the glory of victory over
common thieves is inadequate to the
misery of gunShOt wounds. Capt.
Clark is already famous for his exploits
in these waters, but his men are prob
ably not different from ordinary pol
icemen. who could not be hired to en-
force the law if every time they made
an arrest they had to take the chance of
sudden death. 1t is one thing to lay
hands on disorderly victim of intem-
perance or to deprive of personal liberty
fugitive from justice. whose only de-
sire is to escape. and quite another to
engage in rifle practice with an over
poweAng number of bloodthirsty pi-
rates. who are benton the determination
of their purSuers. Collisions like that
of Saturday night are not frequent, for
the illegal business of trespaSsing on
private oyster beds off the coast of
Maryland is prosecuted by hundreds of
vessels, that are not liable to seizure I'M
less detected in the act of violating the
law