The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-03-20
WANTED TO Be PIRATES.
Five Seamen Of the Bark Hesper
Taken to San Francisco
in Irons.
They Killed the Second Mate and
Meant to Do More
..". Murder.
Being u Little too Slow With tho Re-
snainder OF the job, Their Plot
Was Discovered.

1
| Was Discovered.
| BAN FRANcIsco. March 19.--'rhe ba,ken-
tine Tropic Bird arrived yesterday from
Tahiti with the five mutineers OF the bark
Hesper. They are Thomas st. Clair, Her
man Sparf. Thomas Green. Hans Hansen
and Edward Larson. They we're brought
here on the Tropic Bird in charge of two
French soldiers, who delivered the prison-
ers to the United States marshal. Tho
men are charged with conspiracy and with
| tho murder of the second mate, Morris Fltz-
gerald. The killing of the mate was but
the first step in plot which included the
| killing Of five or six men and the seizure of
the vessel and the large amount of treasure
she WIS supposed to contain. After the ao-
complishment of this part of tho pro-
gsamme the seoundrels intended to either
go pirating in the China seas or take to
tropical island after laying in supply Of
luxuries, and finish their days there, The
story of the affair, as told by Capt. J. +.
o. SoderRren, of the Hesper. has been re-
ceived by mail via Honolulu. where the
bnrk put in after the suppression of the
| mutiny.
The Hesper loft Port Townsend on Aug.
. last for Adelaide, South Australia, lumber
laden, and carrying fifteen persons all told.
They were Capt. SoderRren, his wife. First
Mate John Lucas. Second Mate Morris
Fitzgerald, Carpenter John Langlais, a
Chinese cook. steward and eight seamen.
The identity of all the forecastle hands was
changed at Adelaide. and again at New
castle, n. s. W.. where the Hesper went to
load coal for Honolulu after discharRinR
her lumber. 1t was in hurriedly shipping
this last batch of ~ en- that the mutineers
were picked up. Their ringeader was
Thomas st. Clair. He and Sparf we're old
shipmates and cronies and the smartest
sailors in the crew. They talked loudly of
theis bloody deeds in the forecastle, but
| excited no suspicion on the part of the
/ officers. though there was q little wonder
ment at. their unusual politeness. With
both of them it was always Yes. sir.'' or
mo, sir" when spoken to, and the "sir''
with either captain or mates. They obeyed
with hlacrlty. and were never surly.
The vessel sailed from Newcastle with a
full hold and deckload on the 22d of De-
cember, and nothing occurred to break the
| serenity OF the voyage until the night of
thirty south. longitude ITO west. The
weather was fine, but the skies were as
black as ink. Fitzgerald had the watch on
deck from eight till midnight, and the
sailors on duty were st. Clair, Sparf, Han
sen and La, sen. Capt. sodergren was be-
Clair call Fitzgerald forward by the Motif
cation that the fore royal sheet had carried
away. The mate ran forward and went to
his death. ST. Clair assnilcd him from the
rear when he was about amidships and
buried the cooks hatchet in the bnck of
his head. Fitzgerald staggered few feet
and fell. but st. Clair continued to hack
at him with the hatchet until he was bleed
ing from q score of cuts. The murdered
man uttered one shrek, according to Capt.
Sodergren, but 1t sounded SO much like
some of the tackle creaking that it at
tracted no attention.
Shortly after midnight First Mate Lucas
called the captain, saying he could not find
the second officer. Search was made hioh
and low, and the carpenter assisted IN it.
On the deck load of coal they came across
spots of blood on the starboard side and on
fully alive to the fact that there had been
foul play, and taking the first mate aft they
armed themselves. st. Clair and his asso-
ciates were below in bed at this time. They
were aroused and ordered aft as soon as
they dressed. When they he'd done so
Capt. sodereren questioned each of them
as to what had happened during their
watch and told them of the discovery of the
blood stains. st. Clair and Hansen
said they had slept during the
greater part of the watch on the
deckload and knew of nothnp unusual hay-
ing occurred. .Sparf, who was on the look
out during the watch said that the second
mate had gone up the foreri0gng about IL
O'Clock and that he had not seen him come
down. This was said to lead to the belief
that Fitzgerald had fallen and been
smashed on the rail. Larsen. who had the
trick at the wheel from 10 O'Clock until
midnight. said that Fitzgerald had gone
forward somewhere about 1890 and he
didn't remember seeing him afterwatd
Tho men were told they could turn in
again. and the captain went on deck TO
question the Others.
The frat information of impo. tance came
from one of the watch that had relieved st.
CLAIR and his men at midnight. He said
ho was below at the time the second mate
was being murdered, and that at about IL
O'Clock the three conspirators Game and
aroused him, asking him to give them
hand to kill the captain and throw him
overheard. The captain. the rst mate
and the carpenter armed themselves and
when ST. Clair's watch came on deck at
four O o'olock in the morning they were put
under arrest and placed in irons. The
heavy club, which it was afterwards learned
had been welded by Hansen. and the
hatchet with which st. Clair had struck |
Fitzgerald. were found on the forwatd |
deck. Under the main yard were big spots |
of blood, which the murderers had vainly |
tried to wash away. In two or three places |
III n line were other blood spots, proving |
that the poor fellow had staggered back |
several feet before he died and fell. The
braces and rigging on the starboard side
were stained with blood where the bleeding
body was heaved oves the rail into the sea
1t was not hard to unearth tho entire plot
after the three leaders were secured and
Capt. Sodergten had shown himself master
OF hls vessel. st. Clair planned every thing,
and Spntf. Hansen. Larsen and Green
agreed to take an active part or remain
passive. JonH Olesen. II lad of ~. was in
formed OF what waa going on, but was
afraid TO speak on account of the threats of
the Others. ST. Clair worked the others
MP with the story that the captain had
Sl2.ooo in treasure in tho cabin, and Han
sen mado several attempts to locate the
money boxes by questioning the Chinese
cook. Ah Hung. The plan was TO kill the
captain and First Mate Lucas az oppor-
tnnity offered. and then Pnndy Xacatiah,
M unfriendly sailor. The Others, 1t was ex-
pected. could be coerced into Joining the
iitnds in their future movements. When
the hvo men had possession of the ship; they
were TO divide up the treasure and sail TO
tue Chilean coast. There they expected to
sell the cargo, and after rigging the bark as
q schooner st. Clair was to navigate her TO
the emma coast. Their idea was to arm
her heavily, become pirates and intercept
Tho small AteAmara carry n aDaDia hat ,.an. |