The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-14

me. We went ahead i moderate speed,
as ] did not want to alarm them. The
natives on board gathered in the bows
and began waving cloths and hats as a
warning to the junks. The people on
the latter must have argued that the
steamer was in the hands of their
friends, for they fired their jingais and
waved their cloths in reply.
] held for the junk headed to the
southeast, and she at once lowered her
sail to wait for the steamer to come up.
When within a quarter of a mile of her
| rang the bell for the engineer to go
ahead at full speed, and the steamer
started off like a wild locomotive. We
were almost upon the junk before the
people OWNED our object, and they had
only time to utter one long drawn shout
of terror. | held the steamer for her
broadside, and she divided that Junk
like the two halves of an apple falling
away from a knife. / expected a great
shock, but there was non 1t was no
more thane as if we had run down a
l believe she held at least fifty
men. A great cry went up as we passed,
and when | had headed the steamer
around not more than half a dozen of
the poor wretches were in sight, and
these We're clinging to fragments OF the
swreck and tossing about. I gave the
engineer information of how we had
succeeded and told him I proposed to
serve the other junk the same way. The
natives aboard the steamer seemed help
less and terror stricken at first, but
when they realized my plan they moved
to prevent it. They ran down and
opened the furnace doors to lower the
steam, and a gang of six or eight attack
ed the wheel house. A second party
made an attack on the engineers room
at the same moment.
The second junk, seeing the fate of The
first, had gone about, and was standing
due north with ali sail set. The wind
was light, however, and we could run
five feet to her one. We had q large re-
serve of steam, and after / had her nose
pointed for the junk l gave the gang out
side a little attention. They were bang
ing at the door and the shutters with the
capstan bars, and | wounded two of
them before they would desist. The en-
gineer, also using a revolver. killed one
and wounded two. The fellows then
drew off, beaten at every turn and dis
gusted with the job, and now | was close
up with the junk. She also held about
fifty desperate looking fellows. Aware
of my intentions, about twenty of them,
who were armed with muskets, gathered
aft and peppered away at the pilot
house, but the few bullets which hit it
fell harmless. When the bow of the
steamer was within q cable length of the
stern of the junk every native began to
howl and wall, and most of them threw
themselves PROSTATE on the decks.
White cloths were held up in token of
surrender, but in answer l rang the bell
for the engineer to pull her wide open.
He did SO, and we seemed to lift out of
the water and be flung at the doomed
craft like q missile. The steamer struck
her square in the stern, crashed into her
for ten or twelve feet, and then the junk
fell apart and became a heap Of wreck
age, which was cast aside from either
bow. / ran on for a quarter of a mile
and then turned. Not a living man was
to be seen in this last disaster, / ran
over to the other heap of wreckage and
saw two men still hanging on, but the
sharks pulled them under just as I rang
to stop our way. The steam was about
exhausted, anyhow, and the time had
come for a move against the pirates OF
board.
Believing they were badly frightened,
/ reloaded the revolvers and stepped out
on the deck with one in either hand.
The only man i'll sight was the leader of
the band, who stood in the bows looking
up at me. As | stepped out he said:
Don't shoot me! We meant you no
harm! We have thrown away our
weapons!'
| went down to find them covering in
the passageways, every mans pluck COM
pletely gone. The captain and second
mate were in the armory. | let them
out, and then freed the engineer. The
four of us were the only white men left
alive. We collected the prisoners in the
mess room, held a short consultation
and then proceeded to act. While I re-
NAMED among them to check any new
ambition, the captain took his station at
the forward port gangway. The engi-
neer then led the pirates out to the cap
tain one by one, and the latter put a bull
let through each mans head and pitched
him forward into the sea. 1t was retri-
button with a vengeance, and certain
writer's, who were q thousand miles from
the scene, and underwent none of its
perils, have termed it ''the massacre Of
the prisoners"
Invent out with the last one. Like all
others who had preceded him, he went
humbly to his death, not even uttering a
protest. When he had been disposed of
we turned to and prepared the bodies of
our dead for burial, cleaned the decks,
and, by two of us acting as stokers, we
worked the teamer up to Kiu-Siu.
For a few weeks the natives kept won
derfully quiet about the adventure, but
it then leaked out that about 1870 lives
had been lost i'll the attempt to capture
us. Had they got possession of the
steamer it was their intention to run her
up to the head of the Yellow sea and
make use of her in their piratical excur-
sions from the coast of Formosa. AS
none of them understood how to navi-
gate ''the wingless devil" as they called
her, it is likely that she would have been