Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-07-13
ATE A SACRED DEER.
The Offence OF Some Famfshed Cast
aways on n japanese Island.

Ihe Onenee OF some Famfshed Cast
aways on n japanese Island.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.J
Six of the crew of the sealing schooner
Matte T. Dyer, who were lost from the
vessel while hunting on May 13, arrived
yesterday from Yokohama on the steamer
China. The party consists of the two
hunters, William Peterson of Benicis and
Peter Hammel of Novato, and boatpullers
and boatsteerers John Greer, Gus Muller,
G. Hallock and Charles Godfrey. They
had very hard experience on the Japan
side and arrived penniless.
Seals are plentiful on the Japan side, 4"
said Hunter Peterson yesterday. "0n
May Is six boats were launched from the
Dyer. Hunter Hammel in his boat kept
me company. 1 had captured twenty-five
seals and he twenty-o -one when q fog bank
settled around us. The schooner was well
to leeward. We stopped hunting and tried
to reach her, but without success We
only had six large crackers in each boat
and small supply of water. Thinking
we would find our vessel in the morning,
We ate and drank. The next day nothing
was seen of the schooner; SO we decided
to make for the Japan coast, some one
hundred and sixty miles distant.
"There was nothing to eat but seal meat
Boatpuller John Greer was the only one
who could not eat this kind OF food, and
he came near starving to death in the siI
days that it took to reach land, We were
parching with thirst when a storm came
on. The sea ran very high, and we con-
stsntly had to bale the boats out. The
~, Aka& Gil
spread our sail and got q supply of wa
ter, and then, too, the rain kept the sea
down. We used the bodies of four seals
We had skinned as a drag, and the oil
that came from the carcasses also had
the effect of smoothing the water around
the boat. At night we passed a line to
HammePs boat, so as to keep the two
boats in company.
''On the evening of the sixth day /
sighted light and fired several shots from
my gun, thinking it was a ships light.
On getting nearer We found il to be a
lighthouse on Kingsssd Island. We all
landed and were given food and shelter
Greed was SO much exhausted that he
could not speak, and had to be carried
ashore. Deer were most plentiful on the
island, so Hsmmel shot q buck We took
the carcass to the lighthouse, where the
keeper cooked us an immense pot of por-
ridge. Hardly had we finished our appe-
tizing repast when the keeper of the is
land found out that we had killed a deer
He made a great fuss over the dead ami
NAL, and took what was left of the car
cass away. We afterward found out that
deer on the island We're regarded as sa-
cred by the Japanese. We were taken in
charge by several men and conveyed In
a boat to the main land. We could not
understand word said TO u.s. The mag
istrate before whom We were taken sent
three hundred miles to Yokohama for an
interpreter. When our story was learned
the Japs were very kind to us, and the
killing of the sacred deer was overlooked.
We were taken to Yokohama, where the
American consul took our skins and
boats, gave MS a suit of clothes apiece
and sent us home"
The hunters brought their guns home
with them. One of the firearms has
quite history. 1t originally belonged
to a paymaster 10 the United States navy.
who, while stationed in Japan, got into
trouble of some kind and sold the gun
to japanese. He in turn sold it TO a
sailor, who killed man with II in a
row. 1t next came into possession of q
hunter on the schooner Theresa, who
sold it to Donald Ross. the shipping
merchant, year ago. Hunter Peterson,
on the Dyer, got the gun last February,
and yesterday it came back to Mr.. Ross