The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-20
PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEA
a Steamer Captured, Her Captain
and Several Others Merci-
lssaly Shot Down.
Rumors Of Great Treasures on
Board tho Naoma Excite
nfe the Buccaneers.
Half = Hundred Villain Gus Cntthr0ats
Surprise tbs Ofsasrs and Plum
der tho Passengers.

tuFoO n plunOereQ ny plfateey neF CAptaln
Shutdown and MORALLY wounded, . pnssen-
Rsr and a member Of the crew ruthlessly
murdersd~-altogeth or, the incidents Of tho
crime form a chapter long unread outside
the pages Of old-tims sea
The morning Of the eleventh Of December
had dawnsd bright and lovely, whom at eight
o'clock the steamer Namoa Of the Douglas
line left Hong Kong bound for coastwise
ports with I general cargo and also having
on board 22b passengers. OF these but
i've we're Europeans, Capt. j. q. Saunders,
marine surysyor at Foochow; and Il. X.
Chandler, A. Peterson, 9. 10. Wshts and
Rev. Il. NJ. Wales. The officers Of the
steamer wore Caucasians, Capt. Focock
having been for hftesn years In the service
Of the company, but tia crew were all Chi
native passengers wero Chinese who had
been abroad for years, either In California
Or elsewhere, nmassihH money, with which
they wee on their way to their native
provinces to live at ease.
Manifestly, in the light OF what subse-
Of money on board must have gone abroad
before the vessel left Hong Kong, but GER
tKinly none OF her officers had reason to
suspect that among the great crowd Of
peaceable passengers who boarded her
It that port we're fifty or sixty Of
morselessly shed human blood. At
one O'Clock, when the Eamoa WIS nearly.
fifty miles On her course, the gong sounded
for tim. and nearly all the passengers and
officers repaired to the main saloon, where
the rspast was served. Only n Of the
preferring to have his repast brought TO
him there, as he WAS feeling Ill. The nm
fortunate mans earthly ailments were soon
and suddenly to be ended.
As the passengers strolled slowly down
into the saloon one OF them, the Rev. g.. M,
at the head Of the companionway. For
what are these intended" he asked. Cap
the past" he said. "Years ago, when law
lessness was rife about these seas, We used
frequently to need them. Now they. are
thereafter the speaker lay dead in his cabin,
shot down, perhaps, by one of these very
weapons.
Up through the vessels h%atchways sud-
denly swarmed a mob OF savage wretches,
every face aglow with ferocious delight ut
brandishing sword or pistol. Mo- q man of
them but was armed, and the number Of
their weapons was in an instant added to
by the seizure Of the stacked carbines.
Upon this deck sat the Invalid, Mr.. Peter
sol, his startled eyes turned upon them in
rash might mean. They gave him
no time to wonder. A dozen mus
kets and pistols cracked, and
Peterson fell dead upon the deck. the blood
streaming from four CHASTITY wounds In the
head. The work Of murder had begun. A
tall Chinese, we'll dressed and advanced in
years. though yet strong and vigorous, sud
denly uttered Il sharp word OF command.
Instantly the mob of dark-skinned sayages
separated into four bodies, and each rushed
awey to do it, appointed work. One party
sped to the officers and engineers'4uartersin
into the engine room. while the third and
fourth assaiied the bridge and the So
loon. In the officers quarters sat Second
Engineer Ramsay and the second officer OF
the steamer, taking titin. They were
startled by a rattle Of pistol shots. and
3 shower Of bullets. simultaneously a
number of lighted and vilely smelling
~stinkpots were flung into the loom. Then
with q rush the Enlscreants crashed their
way in and fell upon the officers.
One OF them, Engineer Ramsey, already
to the engine room, but the second officer
was Immediately made a prisoner. Evil
IDENTIFY the pirates knew that he carried the
key to the treasure room, and marching
him thither they commanded him to open
it. He did sc. but it contained nothing to
reward them for their trouble.
meanwhile the tragedy was progressing
elsewhere on the vessel. Through the sky
light overhead and from the companion
way a shower of bullets was poured into
the saloon, and suffocating stinkpots were
flung into the apartment. Passengers and
officers rushe at last to the staterooms
and locked themselves in as the only means
of escaping the murderoug fire. Now there
was \ parley.
Captain, come up," shouted the pirate
leader in pigeon" English, ''.and we talk.
We no hurt, but we take all the money.
ard, whom the miscreants had captured,
WAS sent down with the same message.
But don't You go up. captain" he added,
they will kill you." But Captain Pocock
deemed 1t his duty to make the best terms
no could for those under his charge and
stepped on the deck n Of the wretches
shot him through the breast. He staggered
to his own cabin.
A Malay quartermaster stationed on the
bridge was snot through the head mud his
yet quiyering body thrown overheard. The
third officer. who was with him, was wound
ed IN the ARM: but escaped to the engine
room, where he found the second and third
engineers. They tried to fix the hose
to pour hot water on the pirates, but the
native iremen would not assist. The SEC
ond engineer. Mr.. Ramsay, WAS the only
officer armed when the attack began. He
had a revolver, with which, as he fled to the
engine room, he shot and killed one Of the
pirates. Two other Malay auartermasters
were shot in their hunks, one MORALLY.
while two of the cooks were wounded in the
same manner Chief Engineer Macintosh
rushed from his own room to the CAPTAINS
cabin in the midst of 4 shower of bullets,
non OF which touched him.
After o time, by threats and promises, the
pirates induced all tho surviving passen-
gers and officers TO 90 to tho captains cabin,
where they locked them in and kept them
guarded crowded together and sufocating
until eight O'Clock in the evening. Then.
having ransacksd all the baggage on board,
and gathered together between $4,000
and 10000 of money and booty, tho mis-
creants left the vessel, going on board of
several junks which they had siqnaled to
approach them from the n~eighborhood of
Pinghoi, toward which they had steered
the steamer after capturing her. The off,
GERS and passengers then broke ont OF their
prison and sailed the steamer bach to Hong
Kong. Her boats had been stove in and
much other damage done by the pirates be-
fore they left.
Captain Pocock died in his cabin shortly
after the door had been locked upon him-
self and his companions. Garry my fare
wells" he said, ''to my wife and children"
His thoughts as he died, were evidently OF
these.
The pirates are believed 10 have all been
Hong Kong outlaws. Her majesty's man.
rf--oe Ttrruat atapeaN f-w Abo - A..