Evening journal., 1891-02-09
CHAINED TO A CORPSE.
The Awful Fate Of a Yankee
- Seal Poacher. ,.,.,
SENT TO THE SIBERIAN MINES.
The Horrible Experiences Of Capt. Nor
rir. One Of the Survivors Of an Ameri-
can ship which Was Fired Upon and
Captured ny Russian warship.

Captured by Russian warship.
BosToN, Feb. 9.-One of the greatest out
RACES ever inflicted upon American citizens
by the decree Of a foreign power has been
the imprisonment OF four New England
sailors-one Of them born in Boston-for
two years and ten months in Siberian
ceal mine One American died, after starv-
ing upon rice soup and being eaten by
yermin. This seems also 70 have been the
fate Of the twelve or fifteen Japanese who
made up the rest Of the crew The first
member q this little party to reach home
after being mourned as dead is Capt. Joseph
" Morris, Of this city He suffered un-
heard Of cruelty as punishment for poach
ing IN Russian territory, and is one Of two
survivors Of the awfnl punishment in
ticted upon the crew The fact that be
was poaching invalidates his claim for in
demnity from the Russian government.
No More Poaehing for Him.
He had made one successful expedition
70 the islands in BehriDg sea and then he
tried it again. The second time he had an
experience which has effectually cured him
OF poaching on Russian territory The
schooner was the Helena and was manned
by four American and twenty-five Jap
anese sailors. Capt. Morris was in com
mand. r. e. Crocker Of Searsport, Me-,
was second mate; Buck Folger, Of Nan
tucket, was third mate, and j. c. Colder
OF Bath, was shipkeeper The schooner
made successful run to the islands, Sc
cured full cargo of skins, and was headed
for Yokohama, when Russian man n-of- -waf
oyerhauled her. Tue result Is told by Capt
Morris as follows:
Fired Upon by the Russian.
I'VE were afraid Of being captured on
account of the sealskins we had on board,
and we quickly made for a fog bank The
man-of-war was probably making twelve
or thirteen knots, and as she came out Of
the fog and sighted US she was about six
miles distant. She Immediately fred q
shot for us to heave TO. Instead OF heaving
to, however, we cracked on every stitch Of
sail, but it did little good. for the Russian
soon began to drop shot around us pretty
close We held a consultation and consid-
cred the chances Of escape and capture
The rest thought we could make the fog
bank and elude our pursuer. though 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 t.
shoot clean over ne, and at last one shot
i rnt the mainniast IN two. There was moth
ing to do then but heave to.
They SHOT Seven Prisoners.
"Our twenty-five Japanese were huddIe,
together in bunch forward, and the rms
slams opened on us With their rifles. ana
shot straight into the bunch OF Jams XIII.
iuu gnqpu M fha G,af r+aTIn.-
derstand this at first, but in looking M I
saw the flag flying and knew at once what
the matter was. Selling a hatchet / ran
and cut the down haul and let the Aag
overheard. The firing then ceased. The
man-of-war proved to be the Rosabonach
(if that is the way to spell I'D Of 500 tons.
and manned by 400 or 500 men She low
cred her boat and sent lieutenant aboard
In answer to his questions told him we
were bound from Yokohama to the Arctic
ocean, and were making for Robbins Bank
for water. At this point he sent his sub
lieutenant below to see about our supply
Of water. Finding all our casks fun but
one, he thought my excuse rather slim.
He Had to Lie.
He then asked 70 see nay log book
Now, ! had two log books, one written for
the owner and custom house in Yokohama.
the other written expressly for such people
as he. Before he came aboard had taken
the one written for the custom house. tied
q hand line TO itand dropped it overheard.
showed him the other one. He remarked
that he thought il very cleyerly done. but
1t dld not account for the 1900 sealskins
we had below.
Il told him that they were from the
III iGla Fr. g.. -
This he found hard to believe, and asked
if the walrus were from the ,Japapese
islands. Seeing no way out of it. / had 10
lie. told him we captured them IN the
Arctic ocean. He asked me no more aues.
tions, but ordered me to lower one Of nv
boats and go aboard the man-of-war. The
man-of-war took the schooner in tow and
we reached the Viadioos Tock without in.
cident. As soon as we landed started 10
50 aboard the schooner, but when / came
near found myself looking down the muz. |
zle Of eight needle guns"
A Horrible Fate.
The crew were then made prisoners. but
were compelled to live out Of doors nearly
two months while awaiting trial. No food 4
was given them. The trial was conducted
in Russia, and the prisoners were not told
what the evidence against them was. The
only thing they knew was that they had
been convicted Of violating the seal and
fishing laws. Capt. Morris continues:
AT the end of a week we were taken out.
wet and hungry, and started on the road
TO Nicolaski, $50 miles to the northward.
We all walked, and slept under cover only
two nights Of the march, which took us
twenty-three days When we reached our
destination we learned that we were sen.
fenced to work in the mines three wears.
Our rations were pound OF dry bread
day. Each OF us received from the in
lerpreter paper stating that each must
Zig and send up from the mine five car
oads of coal day IL tlN stated amount
u coal did not come up no rations would
be sent down, so that if any Of us were sick
We would have to starve to death. was
he first to go down and did not again see
ihe light Of day for two years and ten
months was left in a pit 300 feet long
md about 20 wide
The darkness was so intense that was
lever able TO see more than q few feet in
ront of me. After had been down a lit
lie while ! saw a light at the other end Of
he pit. | at once went toward il and
here beheld one of the most woful sights
ever saw in my life. Il was a man six
eet tall and built in proportion. He was
oyered with coal dust from head to foot.
rs clothes were in tatters, and he looked
ike fiend. The light that 1 had seen
anne from the miners lantern on his
Iead.
Chained to a Maniac.
"On seeing me he let forth a savage veil
nd came toward me rapidly, talking in
Sussian, to which could only reply with
shake of the head Later AN officer nar,a