Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-17

THE NAvAssA RIOT.
eax Survives Axrivo &C Phnnas1phia aud
| reu Of Ihelr Troat1snt ny lnsuhordi-
| PmIADE1rHIA, Oct 1.-THE British
steamship Dorian. which arrived here last
night brought six Of the white officers OF
/ the Navassa Phosphate Company. against
| whom the attack was made on that island
September Il They are Dr. c. d. Smith,
| C. W. Robey. b. A. Jones. h N Vail,
i John O'Rourke and John Jacobson They
brought with them three colored men who
| were among those who assisted in pre-
serving their lives. They sailed from
| Jamaica September %. having been res
cued by the British man-of-war Forward.
upon which they sailed from the island Of
Navassa to Kingston, Jamaica
c. w. Robey is an elderly man Of robust
! physique. He was the first one of the
| officers of the company assaulted by the
rioters. He was hit on the head with
| clubs and left for dead in a ditch where
| the negroes were working at the time. He
| has thirty stitches in his scalp where it
| was torn open by the blows. and the fact
| that he is alive seems almost a miracle.
| II. A. Jones has his facs SCARED with
ugly cuts and bruises and his scalp has
| likewise been sewed up in many places.
He is a young man whose people live in
| Baltimore. He was attacked by the riot
ers while attempting to arrest one of the
| ringleaders under orders from DR.. Smith.
knocked down. stamped upon, kicked and
nearly dubbed to death.
DIR. Smith said: 1--WE had no warning
of the outbreak whatever; we did not
| even suspect it. There are 137 darkies
| employed in the phosphate mines and they
were all sent from the city of Baltimore.
The worst element of them were ship
hands, who had been arrested for deser.
the United States shipping commissioner
instead of being sent to Jail, SO you can
see that they were a pretty hard class of
men and up to all kinds of viciousness
when the opportunity presented ITSELF IL
they had been uusophisticated natives of
that region it might have been an easy
matter to subdue them. but being colored
laborers picked up in an American city
they were an entirely different
class to deal with. There are no
natives on the island of Navassa-
1t is entirely barren. The house we
look refuge in when the attack was made
was no protection whatever from bullets.
The doors were only made of mosquito
netting and the walls wers a mere shell of
thin boards. Before we got into the house
I fired into the mob that had Jones on the
ground and hit one of them. They con-
cealed themselves behind trees and stones,
so that our fire had little effect on them
The dynamite bombs they threw weighed
a pound apiece and suppose the only
reason the building was not shattered to
pieces was because they were thrown on
the piazza instead of under it None of
our party had lost their lives up to this
point, although several of US were pretty
badly hurt There were eleven of us.
comprising the white officers of the
company. When we were com~elled
to abandon our shelter to escape
being blown to pieces by the blasting
cartridges we made a rush, but the blacks
gathered around us and closed in upon US,
using knives, clubs and revolvers. The
men who fell were Thomas o. Foster,
Joseph Fales and William T. Shea The
blacks literally butchered them with
knives and clubs. Mr.. Foster was the
superintendent We reached q small
house in which we hid for safety for the
time, and in the interval the negroes ran.
sacked and pillaged the superintendent
house, in which we first took shelter. The
shooting of James Mahon was one of the
most bloodthirsty acts of the day. The
negroes came to our hiding place and
promised Us safety from attack if we came
to supper. We came out and found that
some of the darkies were disposed to inter-
cede for us. We marched along in Indian
file, when of the villainous blacks
known as George s. Key stopped and
fired a revolver within six inches of Ma
hons face, the ball going through his
cheek. As he fell the fiend fred another
bullet into Mahon's back. which pierced
his heart. With the smoke curling from
the barrel of the weapon Key then
stepped up to Jones and said: 81 settled
that -" Jones felt that his time had
come, but if it had been the egro'siinten-
ton to shoot Jones something caused him
to hesitate and the mans life was spared.
IA ali hricy lvf off
the coast, but heavy storms were prevail
ing and we had no means of commune
eating with her. I, however got a note
to the captain and he sailed to Jamaica
and sent the British man-of-war to our
assistance. When the vessel came to the
island the negroes were thoroughly
frightened. A part of them were
still thirsting to finish the job by killing
those of us who had survived The cap
tain of the For ward got his Calling guns
ready for service and threatened to shell
the island unless every one of us was
turned over in safety. We were taken
aboard the vessel on Thursday, after be-
ing in imminent peril Of our lives since |
the previous Saturday when the insurrec- |
ton took place. As we assembled the steps |
up the side of the vessel the officers paid |
us the compliment of hanging the Ameri- |
can flag over the side. We were treated |
oyally by the officers Of the man Of war. |
They took us to Kingston where |
we were taken to the club house and en-
tertained as il we were distinguished |
people, and put safely aboard the steamer |
Dorian, destined to this port We have |
been treated like princes since the mo- /
meut of our rescue by the English cruiser. |
There was only one sad accident to mar
the journey. Samuel March. one of the /
men, who ha his head frightfully bruised |
and cut. died on the way to Jamaica"
The accounts of Robey and Jones were /
in the same vein as that of DIR. Smith. |
The survivors left by rail in the afternoon
for Baltimore.
"A Cronin Witness Captured.
CHICAGO, Oct 11-Dan Carroll, the rum
away witness in the Cronin case, was
brought to the city last night by the po-
lice. After making his escape the man
fastened back to Riverview and re-
entered the employ Of Con Sullivan.
Carroll's story is that he got tired |
of only walking around the streets, going |
to the theaters. sleeping and eating and
felt that he needed q little work to keep
him in good health, 80 when the oppor-
I'm init v I'D hns g.