St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-28
A Maniac DiSembOwels the
Steward With a Huge
Knife.
Prevented From Sui eide and
Taken to England to Be
Set Free.
Very Sad Scene When the Vic
TINS Widow Boarded the
Ship.

tertained until she arrived at Tory
island. Ireland, a Well-known Chicago
journalist said:
81 crossed the Atlantic from New
York to Glasgow in the Ethiopia in Sep
TENDER. 1888, and she was an old boat
then. In fact, was told that on her ar
rival in the Clyde she was to have the
machinery and boilers taken out of her,
and to be entirely retitted She is a
medium-siZed vessel, but broad in the
beam in proportion to her length, and,
L should judge, good sea boat. On
this passage. however, the sea was like
a mill-pond the whole way across, so
there was no opportunity of seeing how
she would behave in dirty weather.
The trip was marked by one tragic Incl
dent, which shall never forget.
1--WE left New York at O'Clock on a
Saturday morning and reached the
Clyde exactly eleven days later, so that
you can see she was not a fast boat. 1t
was at the end of the season,
and there were only nine cabin passen-
gers, including the four who composed
my own family, so we had plenty of
room to move about in. There were
something like ninety steerage and in
termediate passengers. The captains
name was Campbell, land the chief mate,
also ScOtchman, was named Wilson.
The names of the second and third Off
GERS l have forgotten, but they, as well
as the first mate, held masters GER
tlficateS. and each one was qualified to
navigate the ship. There were
Five Boats.
enough to provide room for all then on
board, but far from sufficient had the
ship been full of passengers. We had
boat drill once during the voyage, and
everything was run 'shlp-shape and
Bristol fashion, as the sailors say. The
crew, with scarcely an exception,
were from Glasgow or Belfast. The
Ethiopia was not crack ship by any
means, but she was comfortable one,
and, as my wife was unaccuStomed to
the sea and the children very young, l
had no desire to cross in greyhound
for the sake of saving fOrty-eight hours.
"We were well out beyond Sandy
Hook by breakfast time. On the Sun
day afternoon my wife came on the
quarterdeck for the first time. | left
her seated in a steamer chair on the
raised deck, and when returned few
minutes later she pointed out to me a
man on the lower deck, who. she said,
had been creating disturbance. 1t ap-
peared that he was Steerage passen-
ger who had come further aft than the
ship laws allow, and had been ordered
forward by the chief officer. My wife
was alarmed at the wild appearance and
the crazy mutterings of the man, and
expressed the hope that he was not a
cabin passenger, subject on which 1
was able to reassure her. On the Mon
day night, about o'clock. was sitting
in game Of whist with the doctor and
two passengers on deck, when wild
eyed woman, the Scotch Stewardess,
rushed in, crying: Doctor, come quick.
MaginniS has been stabbed by one of
the steerage passengers We all ran
hastily forward in the dark, and by the
mainmast we found the chief mate
holding
BY the Throat the Murderer.
whom he had just grappled with as he
was going over the side. At the foot of
the fore companion was group of
frightened occupants of the steerage,
end among them at full length lay the
first steward. groaning in agony. A
rapid examination disclosed knife cut
nearly ten inches long. which had ripped
open the abdomen. and as the doctor
discovered at once, had severed the
lower intestine. A passenger who had
had some experience in accident cases
in Massachusetts cotton mill assisted
me to administer chlorofOrm to the
wounded man. and the doctor did what
he could to replace the intestlnes and
sew up the wound. The poor steward
begged piteously to be put out of his
misery, and, although an enormous
quantity of the anpsthetic was used, it
WA jn0nnccihln To urnf
under its influence.
Capt. Campbell. kneeling by the side
of the poor fellow, asked him who had
stabbed him. and he identified the man,
who had in the meantime been hand
cuffed to a post in the cabin. 1t seemed
that few minutes before the murderer
asked MaginniS for light for his pipe,
and was given one. At 9 O'Clock, the
hour at which Storage passengers were
expected to retire, the steward laid his
hand on the mans shoulder and said:
Now, my lad, it is time to go below
Without a word the man drew clasp
knife and struck at him. The steward
fell, crying out as he fell, and
into the sea and attempted to fol-
low, himself, but was bounced upon by
the chief mate. Maginnis died twenty
hours after he had been stabbed, and in
the afternoon the ship slowed up for an
instant in mld-ocean. A Scupper was
opened in the side of the ship, hasty
command was given, and rude pine
box, bearing the remains, was cast
overheard. Holes had been bored
I'm the Box to Sink 1t.
But. so far as l could see, it danced
away on the edges Of the waves until
lost our wake. There was no religious
service or ceremony of any kind, and [
could not help but contrast the affair
with what | had read of the solemnity
of burial at sea.
The murderer was confined on deck
in little cubby, sometimes used as
hospital. had several conversations
with him, and satisfied myself that he
was insane. He professed that he
thought he was going TO be robbed, but
it was found that he had only so cents
in his possession. He was the same
her fear. We took up collection for
the family of the murdered man, and
realized pretty well. considering how
few we numbered. On the Tuesday we
sailed into Tough Foyle boat came
alongside, and hailed the ship. 1t con-
tanned the wife of the murdered stew
ard. who had obtained passage in one
of the Anchor line ships from Glasgow,
and had come to meet her husband.
never witnessed more distressing
scene than when the news was commu-
nicated to her.
The facts were telegraphed from
Lough Foyle, and, when we arrived in
the Clyde, four Glasgow policemen
came on board and took the prisoner
into custody. learned afterward that
he was aTraip ned for trial and IL VOC
shown that he had been an inmate of
lunatic asylum in Canada, and that the
authorities had shipped him to his home
in Scotland TO get rid of him. The jury
found him not guilty on the ground of
insanity and made the customary
order that he be confined in a criminal
lunatic asylum during her majerty's
pleasure which. of course. means for
life. Such is my recollection of the