The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-04-12
THEY ATE THEIR COMRADE.
A TERRIBLE STORY OF STARVATION
ON THE THEKLA
The Sailors Drew Lots and Fate Selected
"Tbe Dutchman"-Pinioned and Put to
Death with a Knife-A Terrible Tale.
London Daily Nevs.1

narrated In the Dduy Nelrs, after drifting
about on the wreck oil the ship Thekla for
thirteen days In a starving condition,
killed and partly ate their companion. AL
three are quite young. Olaf Andersen OF
Tonsberg, in Norway. is twenty-five;
Christian Hjslmsr Jacobsen OF Christian
sund is the same age; Alexander JohRns-
sen. born in Fiskerbekskilde, in Sweden,
is in his twenty-fiIth year. The murdered
man, of whom all three speak as The
Dutchman," was the Oldest; be was
twenty-seven. A correspondent of the
Hamburger Nachrichten has interviewed the
prisoners, aud gives the following &C.
count:
The first to step into the small court is
Olaf Andersen. He is Of midling hight
aud of broad build, stoops slightly. and
has long swinging arms. His head, COW
cred with fair curly hair, is a massive one,
the forehead high. and his face, which is
not without some intelligence, is beard
lees. bloated and colorIess, and his fieshy
underlip hangs down. His steel gray eyes,
with the tired and sad look, only raise
themselves low and then, and very un-
willingly, from the ground The impress
sion that Olaf Andersen makes is not an
unfavorable one. One might imagine him
TO be an uncouth fellow, but by no means
a wicked one.
"Olaf Andersen. sit down and tell me
your story"
You mean about the Dutchman, sir?"
ayes. about the Dutchman,"
Olaf Andersen looks down and begins
to speak. His voice sounds hOarse, but
he speaks without hesitating, as if he
knew that there was only one thing now
and forever hat he could relate, and that
was about the Dutchman. Olaf Andersen
commenced:
1--WE left Philadelphia Oh the 1st Of De-
cember. Up to the 10Th We had q good
voyage. Then in the North sea the bad
weather began. Great seas broke over
the vessel aud the ship was lost. She
began TO break up. Two masts had gone
by the board, but that did no good We
were to take to the boats, but while they
We're being lowered they cspsized, ell but
one. Those who cou. d manage il jumped
in, the captain and some Other-altogethe
eight. Those who remained behind
climbed into the rigging. We did not see
much of each other. and at first did not
even know who bad stopped on the wreck
For what with the continual rolling Of the
vessel and the pillows dashing over her we
had as much as We could do 10 prevent
ourselves being washed away. When We
were able to look about a bit We saw that
there were Our OF us, Jacobsen. JOhans-
sen, the Dutchman and |. This wac on
the 22d of December. We all four had
nothing TO eat, not even tobacco leaf;
not a slice of bread. 1t had al happened
so suddenly. Besides being hungry, we
could not sleep, for we sat in the scuttle
and il was very small. When sleep got
the better of one a wave came and struck
one on the head and face, which caused
great pain, so sleep was not TO be thought
of This made us feel very bad. We suf-
tered greatly. Ships passed us. but did
not see US. for we had deal of foggy
weather. or il was night. We certainly
saw them, these strange ships. even in
the darkest night. for our sufierings made
our eyes sharp, but the others had not
such eyes, so they passed on and saw US
not"
Olaf Anderson, OF course, related ell
this in broken sentences. The questions
had TO be put 10 him singly, whereupon
be answered without any hesitation. In
his statements he made the impression OF
a man who, although not quite sure how
to express himself, was vet quite sure
about what be wanted to say. he contln-
ued.
ION the thrtieth dav-it was Friday
the sea had claimed down; the weather
was clear Dew had fallen in the morning
and we licked It off the topmasts and the
MANILA ropes as TAR as we could reach.
This gave some of us courage. But not all.
The Dutchman, for instance, was quite
desperate"
Gould you make yourselves under
stood with the Dutchman? Did you speak
his language, or he yours?"
There was not much talking going on.
Nobody cared TO talk, and had scarcely
the strength to do so. In order to prevent
ourselves being frozen to death We climbed
from the scuttle to the fOrecastle, which
at this time stood above water, and from
the forecastle back again TO the scuttle.
While standing there somebody spoke the
first time OF il. Who il was | don't know.
IL is sufficient to know that il was spoken.
One OF us was to die so that the others
could live. The Dutchman said he did
not care anything about his life. He
would die. But we others said that If il
had to be, it must be done fairly, as is the
custom in such cases"
Custom! Why, have YOU ever heard
of such frightful customY
Yes; and we decided to DO il that way.
First, we waited from morning till noon.
Perhaps after oil ship would come. But
none came. Then the DulchmRn began
again. lie said that we were to make an
end OF the matter one way or the other;
he could not bear it any longer. So We
descended again to the fOrecastle, one
after the other. When there one of US
tore oil piece of linen and divided 1t
into four parts, one of which was shorter
than the others. This short one meant
death. The man who drew that was to
die. and the Dutchman drew it,"
Olaf Anderson passed the back of his
hand over his brow. This was indeed the
only sign OF excitement shown by him.
He still spoke in the same hollow tone as
in the beginning. He continued:
The Dutchman became verv still, and
we remained so. TOO. All at once he
turned his face to the sea and his back to
Us, and that was the sign. None of Us
liked 20 look in his face. /, from behind,
passed my arms around his chest, Jacob
sen did the same with his legs. and Jo-
hansen stabbed AZ him with his knife"
And you really ate?"
ayes. We ate of il on that day and on
the others til the Danes arrived and took
Us OIL"
And YOU did not think OF anything
while doing so-not of God, not OF your
parents; not that you were depriving
vourseives of the riOht 10 live among men