The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1888-11-25
SAILORS GRIEVANCES.


Se1fDan's tuion-
There are two sides % the Port Town
sad habeas corpus ease which comes az
for hes-fng before Chief Justice Boyle
next Tuesday. and ss one side has beer
Published the other Is herewith given
Agent MeIaren. OF the coas; Seanen's
union, stationed here, says:
The trouble Il all about a sailor named
Carl Jackson, who formerly belonged tc
the Union. it was last May tha; Il occur
red The snmaira was here. and the cap
tain asked me II could get him a crew o.
men. told him ! could II be would take
union men and pay union wages. He
agreed 10 do that 40 furnished q crew fol
the run. Afterward the report came that
the captain was trying 10 foul bis
men, By getting them 70 load his
ship with them a. so per month. intend
ing 70 let them 90 afterwards, and 20 put on
other men 10 was said that the captain
hal given himself away, by telling this TO
some one who he supposed wouldn't let i,
go any further, bat the thing was brought
20 my ears. | was new here then, and
told the men TO quit work until the captain
signed proper agreement You see
wanted 70 have him down In in black and
white. We'll. the men quit. Then the
captain came % me and wanted
70 know what was the mat
ter. told him. He said he weuld
take the men aud pay them union
wages, If they wOHld sign the ship-owners'
nnion man should do that, for the laws Of
the United states were good enough for as,
and we weren't going 10 sign any other
Kind Of an agreement but what the laws of
thu country had provided for Us.
YoH see the ship-owners' agreement
allows the men 20 be paid of everywhere.
but e doesn't let the men leave the ship
q nv nj nd hnF Ia har too. mo
sided. Again. according to the ship
owners agrecmeGs II a man got sick. they
could leave him on any beach, there TO die,
may be, and wouldn't have 10 take him to
any hospital.
The captain said he would have the
agreement altered any way | wanted IT.,
aud could have any clause liked insert
ed. / objected TO that because writing
"a don't go Nothing but print goes. Well,
thought over the matter aud told the men
20 go back to work azd get their $40, think
Ing that $40 was better than nothing, any
way. They did so and got their pay.
wouldn't furnish another crew until the
captain would do what was right, so he
went 10 work shipping non-union men in
Port Townsend. There are lot OF those
deep water boarding masters and sa-
loon men up there, and they get
hold OF n fellow aud say. Come and
have drink and the first thing YOU
Q
aboard the ship. signed 10 any kind of an
agreement There's none Of that done in
seattle, | tell you. Here q man gets fair
PLAY. II IL the best place on the coast for
giving seamen fair play, Well, it was
then that I'd. Olsen, the agent at Port
Townsend, telegraphed me that Roths
child, the ship owner, was shipping men
for $40 for the run. No union men would
20 on her, but this fellow. Jackson, who
was union man at the time, was made
drunk. and was induced to
sign on the suma,ra. As soon as
Olsen heard Of Il, he went aboard
ami took Jackson OFF the ship, and told
Sherifsheehan to take care OF him until he
go; sober. He tool Jackson's union book
away from him. kOthschild's man Jones,
aud the captain were there, and Jones
pulled n revolver, but Olsen got Jackson
away all the same. The crowd of union
men which was around there very foolish
ly eheered him because he was taking
Jackson Off the ship, and then Rothchild
had Olsen and the men who set up the
hurrah. arrested for rioting. somehow or
other the captain got hold of
Jackson In the night and took
him aboard again. The men were
there was to IL, yet Judge Van Bokkeeln
bound the men over in $500 bonds each,
and put Jones under $50 bonds only.
Kothschild, Van Bokkelcn, aud a few men
have IL all their own way in Port Town
send. Judge Van Bokkelen told me after.
ward, tia, The men would he discharged.
asked him what he committed them for
then. | told him that Port Townsend
would suffer for it. that 1t would be very
easy for the men 20 come on TO Seattle
when they were paid of, and Seattle would
thus get the benefit OF their money.
How Is 10, | asked him. that while there
are only 20 or 10 seAmcn In Port Townsend
there was riot, and yet in Seattle, where
there are GO men. there is never any riot
Ing II l. simply because they don't get a
fair show IN Port Townsend. and they do
here. Now. what I've told you is all there
Is 10 the whole case. I've got Jackson
here for witness now, and I'm pretty
sure the men viii be discharged by Judge
Boyle