New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-12
A TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.
TIE STORY OF THE TIIEKLA.

from starvation, they Killed ana ATE 'ne hcSh vi
the fourth member Of their CHASTITY party. All 'hr'e
are young Olaf Andersen. OF Tonsberg. IN Norwhy'
* TWENTY-FIVE: Christian Iijalnar Jacobsen OF Chris
,,.nsund &c ne same age Alexander Johanssen, born
in Fskerrkskildc I'm Sweden, Il I'm his twenty-nfth
vear The murdered man, OF whom all three speak
as the Dutciman" was TIE eldest; he was twenty
sevcn a cores ondent Of the Hamburger Nachrch-
ten" has interviewed the prisoners. ana gives the
following account:
The first TO step into the small court IS oiaI
Andersen. lie Is OF middling height. and Of broad
buld. stoops slightly and has long swinging arms.
His head. covered with fair curly hair IS massive
one ,he forehead high and his face which Is not
without some intelligence, Is beardless. bloa'cd nnd
colorlcss. and his feshy underiip hangs down. his
steel gray eyes. with the tired and sad LOOK only
raise themselves now aud then. and very unwi'ingly'
from the ground The Impression that OLAF Amer.
sen makes Is not an urfav0rlhlc one. one migh'
means wicked one.
. Olaf Andersen, sit down and tell me your story.
"You mean about the Dutchman, sir ~
ayes about the DLtchman.'
Olaf Andersen looks down and begins to speak
His voice sounds hoarsc hut he speaks without hcsi
Eating. MS II he knew there only one thing now
and for ever that hc could relate and that was about
the Duchman. Olaf Andersen began
Nv. left philadelphia The Isl Of December
IN 10 the Goth had a good voyage. Then I'm
the North Sea the bad weather began. Great seas
broke over the vessel. and the ship was lost. She
began TO break mp. Two masts had gone by Nh"
board but that did no good. We were 10 tab" TO
the boats hut while they We're being lowered they
cepsizcd all hu one. Those who could manag" II
jumped In. the captain and some otl"rs-altoe"thcr
eight Those who remained behind climbed into tho
rigging. We did not much Of each other. ana
at first did not even know who Lad stopped on tie
Jnr yyh at he
vessel and the aiows dashing over her We had ~
much n could do 10 prevent ourselves being
wa she'd AWAY When We were able 10 look about
bit we saw that there were four ~ IL. Jnr"bscn.
Johars.en. fine Dutchman and J. This was on tn"
ord Of December We all four had nothing 10 eat,
not even a tobacco leaf: not n slice 81 bread II
had an happened 80 suddenly. Besides being hungry
W., could rot Sleep for We sat In the scuttlc. and
vns very small. When sleep got the better %
one wave came and struck on the head and
face which c;nisrd great pain. 50 sleep was not 10
be thought 81. This mad" MS feel very bad. We
suffered greatly. ships passed ~. but did not So"
H.. for had deal Of fOggy weather. or II was
night. We certainly saw them. these strange ships
even In the darkest night. for suiferines made
our eyes sharp. but the others had not such eyes,
50 thcy passed and saw Nc not"
Olaf Andersen Of course related all this I'm broken
sentences The questions had 10 BE- put to him
sngly. whercupon b" answered without any h"N''a-
ton. In III, statements he made III" impression "'
u man who. although not quite sure how to express
himself, vet quite sure abont what ne wanted
TO say. lie continued
.on tie thirteenth day-t was a Friday-'h" sea
had calmcd down the weather clear. Dew
had fallen In III, morning and We licked II oh the
topmass and the manila ropes rs far as we could
reach. This gave Of MS courage. But not
all. The Duchman. for instance. was quite des-
perate.7
"Corld Won make Yourself understood with th'
Duichmanl Did You speak bis language OF ~
yours -
There was not much TALKING going on. Nobody
cared 70 talk and had scarcely the strength 10 do 50
In order 10 prevent ourselves being frozen 70 death
We cmhc, from tn" scuitlc TO the f"rrcnStl" when
AZ hi, time stood above water. and from the fore
castle hack AMIN 10 the semitic While standing
there somebody spoke the first time Of II. VINO j
was don't know. II Is sufficient 10 know that II
was spoken one OF us was TO die thnt the other
could live The Dutchm,n said he did not car
ANYTHING about his HE. lie would die. But W.
Others said that II 1t had TO be It must be done
fairly, is the custom In such cases.
"vustom why, have yon ever beard OF such 4
frightful customl"
Yes: and We decided to DO II that way. FRS
We waited from morning iii noon. Perhaps nfte
all n ship woull come. Ent none came. Then th'
Du'chman began again. lie said that We were Il
make IN end Of III" matter, one way or the other
he could not bear II any longer. SO we d"scend''
again to the foiccastIe one after the other. WhcI
there one Of rs tore of n piece OF linen and divided
it into four parts. one Of which was shorter than tI
Others. THIS short one meant death. me maj
who drew that was TO die, and the Duchmar
drew it,
Olaf Andersen passed the back Of his hand owe
his brow. This was Indeed the only sign Of ex
element shown by him. lie sin spoke In the SAM
hollow tone in the BEGINNING. Ne continued:
mt. gftll ~
maIncd 50 too. All at once he turned his fnce 10 IN
and his back to rs, and that WIS the s,gn Nom
my arms round his chest. Jacobsen ola the SAM
with his legs. and JohanSsen stabbed at him Will
And you really ate bml'
"yes. ate Of II on that day md on the other
And You did not think Of anything while doin
sono, Of Cod no. Of yomr & Init not v ,naa So
men. aye. even of calling yourselves human beings J
No sir, aG, WE n%,"1a ,n Of nothing
THIRST hunger ard slecplessness-these were al
could think Of"
the memory Of those awful days.
Gs az n %r",d% ms s 5 s'Sa
but thck-sei. and much more versatile than az
S a 3D. and '' sS l his na1 III. 5
coarse and dark Is coinbcd over his low forehcnd
his eyes are black ard piercing and very rsst",s
and somewhat swollen round the chp. Ills mnnne
IS more determined than hts comrades, and hi
statements also miro decided. lie atcompanie
his words with lively gcsticiilations but his hcarcr
do not gain the impression that the remembrance O
his crime makes him suffer. as We noticed now an
then in his companion Olaf. The general impression
that this fellow makes Is much more nnfavornble
| especially when. while speaking, Its thick lip
part and show his powerful set OF teeth. But th
| third man Is the most mncanny looking. namely. III
Swetc, Alexander JOhansscn. He Is thlcksct, Will
| figure resembling somewhat that Of Jacobsen
| but much more agile The hristIng reddish ligh
| hair surrounds square forehcnd His face. GOV
| cred with spots, is set In thin beard OF Hight
color: his eyes. Overshadowed by short yellow
| brisiling "yeashcs. are washed out and ccorlesS
| flicker like a Hight blown by the wind This wicke
| eye seems with one look TO try 10 learn the IN
tentIons OF those present Alexander JOhnnssen I'M
| on landing been sent 10 the Scaman's Hospital o
account OF his frosbitcn feet. and has only Jus
Alexander Johanss"n are both convinced Tint wha
| they did Is natural and cxcnsablc under the cir
| the others were to i've
AT such price Are your lives more val