The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-17
ALONG SEA And SHORE.
A Horrible Discovery on Board the
Barkentine w. II. DimOnd.
Unsuccessful Attempt to Launch the Big Lum-
Der Raft-News Of John orth-Rapid
Passage From New York.

A horrible discovery was made on the
barkentine ". II. Dimond at FOlsom-street
wharf yesterday morning. While the Di-
m0nd was in the haTb0T Of Honolulu a
dead Chinese, with marks Of violence on
LIS head, was found floating alongside Of
her Suspicion was fastened on Illinois
Wise, the c0l0Ted cook of the Dimond, and
on The departure Of the vessel Detective j.
LOckhart followed on the Australia to in
vesHgate. a hasty search of Wise's cabin
showed a few splashes Of blood on the
wall and on this shadoWy evidence he was
arrested.
Yesterday morning it occurred to Lock
hart to make more careful examination Of
the cabin, for there was really nothing on
which to ask for the extraditon or convic-
ton Of the prisoner, and few splashes Of
blood in q cooks cabin could not be con-
sideTed strong circumstantial evidence. In
the search there were found closely packed
beneath a thin false partition the entire suit
Of clothing Of Chinese, saturated with
blood. Beneath the lower bunk were other
large bl0odstains which had escaped notice
on the first examination and which Wise,
pTesuming him TO be the guilty man, had
forgotten TO wash off. The theory is that
the Chinese had asked Wise to stow him
away and shown him money. which tempted
Nise's cupidity and the murder followed.
THE LUMBER RAFT
The arrival of the steamer N0yO from
Fort Bragg yesterday with a raft in tow led
many persons on the city front to believe
that it was the big sea-g0ing raft which has
been awaiting launch for six weeks past.
The truth of the matter seems to be that
the launch is going Go be a very difficult
Job, and Captain DriSco of the NoyO, on
fyal harn Cd no ha had
able to pull the biR'''cigar" Of lumber into
the water. The raft which was t0Wed 10
yesterday morning was an ordinary boom
raft of about 500 logs such as the NoyO has
frequently tOwed down here before On
this occasion the storm Of Saturday caught
the raft with full fury up the coast and
nearly half of It was lost The Noyo went
over TO Oakland and the raft was left to the
tugs. The harbor at Noyo is quite shallow,
and to launch the big raft there must be a
conjunction Of favorable circumstances,
namely high spring tide. absence of wind
and a tranquil sea. The conditions pre-
vailing at Fort Bragg for the past three
weeks. have been just the opposite OF these.
ABOUT JOHN ORTIZ.
If there remain any doubts as to the Arch
duke OF Austria, better known as John
Orth, whose romantic story is familiar to
THE CALLS readers, these doubts are
likely TO be dispelled by the folIovinp
= y
Leopold Muller, first mate of the ship
Knight Commander, now unloading at Mis-
sion No. J. 1t has been supposed that the
presence Of the cruiser Fasana on this coast
was due TO the instructions of the Austrian
Government to obtain satisfactory assur-
ance of 0rth's death Said Muller: 81
was mate of the ship on which John Ortiz
sailed on his last voyage. did not 90 with
him, but remember the craft well. as | was
on board of her from 1873 to 1882. She was
what sailors call very dirty ship; built of
iron in 1876, and ] particularly recolleet
that the poop was faced with wood. We
had TO build a timber bulkheaG at sea to
prevent the poop getting smashed in. In
1883, the last voyage she made before she
was sold to John Ortb, the bulkhead was
smashed in on the passage from England 10
Melbourne. | suppose when Ortiz bought
her at DunkiTk from her owner,
John Rankin of Liverpool. that this
bulkhead was repaired after a fashion, but
/ will say this: If sea sweptit away and
flooded the cabin the craft was liable TO 20
down In 20 minutes, for the reason that
there were two grating matches in the
cabin, and through these the water could
get into the hold at once. John Orth went
over in her from Dunkirk TO The Pacific