The Red Cloud chief., 1889-10-18
THE o


SIX Survivor Arrive It ~Phil.delphis and
Tell Of Their Treatment BY lnsnbordi-
nate Negroes.
PHILADELPHIA. Oct 1.-THE British
steamship Dorian. which arrived here last
night brought six Of the white officers of
the Navasss Phosphate Company. against
whom the attack was made on that island
September II. They are Dr.. c. D. Smith,
c. w. Robey. II. A. Jones' II. N. Vail,
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
Navass to Kingston, Jamaica.
G. w. Robey II 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 Q 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 q miracle.
H. 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
r~ingieaders 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 1877 darkies
employed in the phosphate mines and they
were all sent from the city of Baltimore.
The worst element of them we're ship
hands, who had been arrested for deser.
tion and other offenses and sent there BY
the United States shipping commissioner
instead of being sent to Jail, SO you can
see that they were q pretty hard class Of
men and up to all kinds of viciousness
when the opportunity presented itself. II
they had been unsophisticated 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 10 deal with. There are no
natives on the island of Navassa.
1t is entirely barren. The house we
o. 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 int 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 l suppose the only
reason the building was not shattered to
niocos vroa hoOonco fhov ev,oro fhrnuwn nm
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 q 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
knive aud 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's
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 u hiding place and
promised u safety from attack il We came
to supper. We came out and found that
some of the darkies were disposed to inter-
cede for u. We marched along in Indian
fi,e, when one Of the villainous blacks
known as George s. Key stopped and
fired q revolver within six inches of Ma.
hons face the ball going through his
cheek. As he fell the fiend fired another
bullet into Mnhon's back. which pierced
his heart. With the smoke curling from
the barrel of the weapon Key then
stepped up to Jones and said: II settled
that - Jones felt that his time had
come, but il it had been the negro'ssinten.
ton to shoot Jones something caused him
to hesitate and the mans life was spared.
The English brig Amorette was lying of
the coast, but heavy storms were PREVAIL
ing and we had no means Of commune.
eating with hex. L however. got q note
to the captain and he sailed to Jamaica
and sent the British man f-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
the vessel on Thursday. after be-
ing in imminent peril OF u 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
royalty 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, n put safely aboard the steamer
Dorian, destined to this port. We have
been treated like princes since the mo-
ment of our rescue by the English cruiser.
There was only one sad accident to mar
the Journey, Samuel March. one OF the