The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-06
AFLoAT WITH A MADMAN.
An Insane Chinese Cook Holds q
Ships Crew at Bay.
From the Ner York World

hoTk narDor, thirteen months ago, bound
on long cruise through China seas, a
meek-looking little Chinaman named All
Sin occupied the cooks galley. He was a
strange little man aud positively refused to
have anything to do with any Of the crew
As the voyage progressed it was found that
All Sin sat all day long in his galley smok-
ing opium. ana that often he continued his
debauches far into the night.
One raw, clustering morn ing, when the
| snip mad been out Seventy-slx days, All Sin,
whose duty it was not only to cook, but to
attend the fore-shest was ordered up bv
the second mate. He positively refused to
| leave his galley and, closing his door with
a bang, went back TO his bunk and his
opium. The wind increased to a gale, and
all hands were ordered aloft.
In the meantime the second mate had re-
ported All Sins characterization 10 the first
mate, Donald A. Nicholson, who deter
mined to investigate for himself All Sin,
| intensely excited, met him at the galley
| door. Before Nicholson could say anything
the Chinaman yelled out in broken English
| that he was going to kill three men-the
| captain, the steward and the chief mate
and then, quick as thought, he pulled pis-
tol from under his long blouse and fired at
Nicholson. The bullet passed under the
chief mates arm and the interview was
| to the captain and reported progress.
And now AhtSin set to work to defy the
whole crew and to make of his galley an
impregnable fertilization. The galley
stands amidship. 1t has three doors and
four windows, and it virtually covers the
deck; the windows sweep fore and aft, and
the doors cover the sta-board and larboard
sides. All Sin had a lot of carpenters tools
In the galley. and with these he sawed off
the boards of his bunk and nailed them
| up against the doors and windows,
| taking care to leave a small
space between the boards through
which he could stick the muzzle of his
pistol and likewise watch any hostile ad-
vance. Having taken these precautions
against an attack, he began to carefully
load several pistols which were in the gal
! ley. In some way a number of boxes OF
cartridges had found their way into the
| galley, and when All Sin surveyed things
| ne saw he was pretty well able to endure a
long siege. He had any amount of pro-
visions and ammunition and as many pistols
as he could handle.
By this time the crew was hungry. Thew
had had nothing to eat because there was
no one to cook, and to add to their discom-
| fort cold rain was mingled with the wind
| The men were thoroughly drenched and
unhappy. A consultation was held, and
Capt Bailey promised that if All Sin would
only come out and go to work all would be
| forgiven him The steward. who was also
Chinaman, was dispatched with this mes
sage and flag of truce. AS soon as All Sin
| caught sight of him he opened fire and the
| steward promptly retreated. A couple of
sailors who were toward attempted about
this time to go aft and the vigilant All Sin
made 1t so hot for them that they were glad
to give up the attempt. All that day and
| all the next things remained in this condi-
md h1c flDln
swept the deck. Whenever head was put
up he blazed away at it.
All this time the wind was blowing a
| gale, and the Southern Cross was bounding
along, with the waves breaking over her
and practically no one to direct her. The
sailors were afraid to move about, for the
vigilance of All Sin was never-ceasing. and
whether the men attempted to climb
mast or creep forward or aft, bullet
| whlstling by their ears warned them that
| their only safety lay below.
On the morning of the second day a
keener edge was added to their apprehen-
! sions First mate Nicholson heard a sound
| of cutting and bammering at the deck COM
| ing from the galley He knew that there
was stored away just beneath the insane
Chinaman some 500 cases of gasoline and
twelve tons of cartridges. He also knew
| that the cook was aware of the location of
| all this dangerous material, and that he was
| cutting his way down for the purpose of
blowing up the shipl 1t was not pleasant
thought away out there in mid-ocean, not
sail in sight, with a gale every moment
increasing in violence behind them.
A little council of war was held, in
| which it was decided that All Sin must
be got out of the galley. Various plans
were suggested; but it was finally deter
mined to attack him from the top. Over
the galley was a skylight which All Sin had
tr,Ir SloI
pry this off and shoot down through it.
While this was being done several of the
crew could fire at the galley to divert
the Chinaman's attention. First Mate
Nicholson went to work on the sky
light, and just as he had pried it open three
or four shots in rapid succession whistled
by his ear and ahe determined to push his
assault no further He went aft to get some
ammunition for the party attacking in
front and stole forward with it along the
starboard side. 1t was lively trip, for All
Sin popped away at him every foot of the
way. Fortunately none of the shots took
effect, though several cut holes in his
clothes. There was breathing spell for
few minutes after this, and then All Sin be-
up, thinking the Chinaman was surely
! stricken.
BE careful; think he is deceiving you"
called the captain.
1t was lucky he spoke, for Nicholson,
glanclng up, saw the Chinaman's eyes peer
ing through one of his portfolios and he
fell on his face just in time to escape a bull
let From this time on it was give and take
pretty lively. At last Nicholson managed
to get into position from which he could
shoot down into the galley. After couple
of shots the Chinamau suddenly ceased fir
ing, and the crew thought he was playing
them some other foxy trick 1t was not for
several hours that any one could be found
bold enough to approach the galley. When
they entered they found All Sin lying on
the floor with a bullet in his heart, pistol
IN his right hand and freshly opened box
of cartridges in his left.
They buried him at sea that day, and
when the ship came into Sydney the cap
tain and all the crew told the story to the
American consul. He made thorough in
vestigation and forwarded the papers to
Washington. Yesterday morning when
the Southern Cross let anchor fall in this
harbor, couple of United States officers
went on board and arrested the captain and
first mate for murder on the high sea. They
were taken before Judge Lacombe. who
fixed their bail at 81, 500 each, which was
furnished by Frederick Alexander, of No.
100 Cherry street.
The Southern Cross, which is at anchor
off Liberty Island, was visited by World