The sun., 1891-02-09
OUTRAGE ON AMERICANS.

OUTRAGE on AMERICANS.
CAPTURED IN BEHRNG SEA BY A
RUSSIAN MAN-OF-WAR..
Their Vessel Fired Upon aAd Seven japan.
csc Sailors Kiiied-Ths RemainAer or
the Crew. . Americans ssd i6 Japanese,
Sentenced 70 Three Years In the Siberian
Mines-The Horrors OF That sensenee
Depicted By Capt. Morris, the Only
Known survivor-workine for Days a.a
Dsys while Chained 60 the Corpse OF His
Companion, Who Haa Diea ofstarvation.
BOSTON. Feb s.-Ons Of tho greatest outrases
ever inflicted upon American citizens BY the
decree OF foreign power has been the i'm.
prisonment OF four New England sailors-one
OF them born IN Boston-for two years and ten
months IN Siberian coal mine.
One American died. after starving upon rice
soup and being eaten BY vermin. This seems
also to have been the fate OF the twelve or
fifteen Japanese who made up the rest Of the
crew.
The first member Of this little party to reach
home after being mourned Is dead Is Capt.
Joseph W. Morris OF this city He suffered
unheard Of cruelty Is punishment for
poachine in Russian territory. and is
ono Of two survivors OF the awful punish-
ment inflicted upon the crew. The fact that
he was poaohins invalidates his claim for in
demnity from the Russian Government. He
had made one successful expedition to the
islands In BshrinE Sea, and then he tried it
again.
Tho second time he had an experience which
has sfeotually cured him OF poachinR on Rus.
sian territory. Tho schooner was the Helena
and was manned by four American and twenty
two Japanese sailors Capt Morris was In
command.
F.C Croker Of searsport. Me-. was second
mate. Buck FolRer Of Nantucket was third
mate. and J. @. Colder Of Bath WAS ship keeper.
The schooner made q successful run to the
islands, secured full cargo Of skins. and was
headed for Yokohama. whom Russian man.
of-war overhauled her. Tho result Is told by
Capt Morris as follows:
We were afraid Of being captured on &C.
count OF the sealskins We had on board. and
we quickly made for fog bank. steering south
southeast, going through the water at the rate OF
about eleven knota. Tho man-of-war was
probably making twelve or thirteen knots,
and a. she came out Of the fog ana sighted US
she was about six miles distant She immo-
QlHg6Iy uE0V buOS lOE uS W uoAV0 To- 4uBt6Nu
OF heaving to. however. We cracked ON every
stitch Of sail but 1t did little good. for the Rus
sian soon began to drop shot around us pretty
close. We hsid consultation and considered
tho chances OF escape and capture. The rest
thought We could make the fog bank and elude
our pursuers. though I felt doubtful about It
myself but We decided to try It But It was no
use. When about one and . half miles from
the fog bank the-man-of-war began to shoot
clean over us. and at last ono shot cut the main
mast In two. There was nothing to do then
but to heaye to.
Our twsnty-two Japanese were huddled to-
eether In bunch forward. and the Russians
opened on rs with their riHes and shot straight
into the bunch OF Jsps. killing seven at the
first volley. didn't understand this at first
but in looking up saw the flag flying and
knew at once what tho MISTER was ssizing
hatehek I ran and cut The down haal
and lot the nag overheard. The firing
then ceased. The msn.of-wsr proved to
be the Rasabonach III that 10 the way to spell
It, Of 800 tons. and manned BY 400 or 500
men. She lowered her boat. and sent .
Lieutenant aboard In answer to his
questions told him we were bound from Yo-
kohama to the AroIic Ocean. and wore making
for Robbins Bank for water. At this point he
sent his Sub Lieutenant below to SEQ about our
8uDply OI Wdt0E. cLuoiuk olA OuE C0SAb luu Uut
one he thought my excuse rather slim.
He then asked to sec my log book. Now. I
had two log books. one written for the owner
and Custom House in Yokohama. the other
Sss;SS HoSs a Ssna S
~ showed him re other one. He over.
very % %cIeveriy done. but i did. not ACCOUNT for
the 5000 ,sealskins We had below, This fact
was told him BY the oficer he had sent into
II told him that they were from the Japanese
as1 hs Ws9s. as %ers
out Of 4; had 70 lie. ~ Al.
Ocean. He asked no more questions. but or
dsred me to lower one OF my boats and 60
and We qsscSsd 1s2eos Hx NJ %sou
s9ol ss 70 to 60
ieasa myself looking down tho muzsis 81 eight
nesTIS TSs s1nsa men behind them wanted to know
stiects. They referred me to the Goysrnor oi
nsh sas WI sSs
$Ss,:: = NY g s,sss
were forced to live as best we could on the
We dug holes IN The banks ana slept upon
dried grass. Although We had been taken into
port as prisoners We were not allowed to par.
toas oGs npovGss o. GSs fTn ~ sS es
ourselves. We were allowed apparent freedSm.
But everywhere We went We found q soldier
close at hand watcning our movements. Nv
cs ss s s IL Ii. .HS 5Su. te' ws
The only thing We knew vas that we bad
me- men laws. TVu W. we're ~ TAKEN to the town jai
small stone building With cemsnted floor.
and lighted With sits In the wall with bars
About twenty others were there ,yhsn We
came. mostly Chinsmen. with few Russians.
searched. even % The lining q our clothes and
"At the end OF week we were taken out
wet and hungry. and started on the road for
Gulf OF Pen Jinsk.
we eli walked. guard included. We slept
under cover only TWO nights Of the march.
'NWhan wa reached NicOlRnEf Wa learn 0d that