The Hawaiian gazette., 1893-04-04
PIRATES IN PRISON.
The Hesper Murderers in High
Spirits.

The following is taken from the
San Francisco Chronicle of a late
date. 1t refers to the notorious
crew of the bark Hesper, the par
ticulars of whose bloody act has
appeared in the ADVERTISER:
Among the inmates of the County
Jail yesterday there were none better
natured or more jovial than the five
sailors charged with the murder of
Morris Fitzgerald, second mate of
the bark Hesper, who was killed on
the high seas by mutinous crew.
The five pirates to man declared
that the city and county was giving
them better fare than they had been
getting at sea, and besides this they
found no little pleasure in stretching
legs and arms that had been so long
in irons.
The jail officials deemed it advis-
able to separate the prisoners. Thos.
st. Clair, the leader of the gang who
sought to kill off the Hesper's officers
and become a pirate chief, was put
into a cell by himself. Herman
Sparf, st. Clair's willing lieutenant,
was in an adjoining cell. Hans
Hansen, who stood by with Sparf
when st. Clair Drained the second
mate, and Thomas Green were in a
cell directly across the corridor. Ed
ward Larson was thrown into cell
with two other murderers.
Not one of the prisoners seems to
appreciate the enormity of the crime
charged. They talked freely yester-
day of the murder, and laughed over
their failure to secure the Hesper
and convert her into pirate craft.
Among the five men, however, there
is no intellect. too dull to attempt to
throw the burden of the crime upon
other heads. st. Clair, in his talk,
insists that the murder of Fitzgerald
was the result of a conspiracy favored
by every sailor in the forecastle. On
the other hand, his four accomplices
declare that he was the leading spirit
and that it was he who planned and
executed the murder.
Hansen told a reporter that the
idea of killing the bark's officers was
first mooted about two weeks after
the vessel cleared from the port of
Newcastle. st. Clair began the talk.
He and Sparf then exhibited two re
volvers and an ak. This was during
a talk in the forecastle at night time,
when the watch below was complain
ing of i'll treatment. Sparf, Hansen
says, declared that they ought to do
away with the second mate.
81 told Them" said Hansen, ''that 1
did not have the heart to do it. If
you fellows are so brave 1 said, why
don't. you go ahead and do it?'"
"1'm not afraid to do it st. Clair
said, and I'll suffer the consequences,
too.'"
Hansen declares that there was no
talk then about killing the captain,
the mate or the carpenter. He says
also that he believed the talk about
killing Fitzgerald to be all a joke I'M
til the night of the murder, when st. |
Clair told him that it had to be done
before morning. He admits, though,
that he entered into the conspiracy |
and that during the watch he went |
forward to cut the royal sheet, this
being st. Clair's scheme to bring the |
second mate forward. He did not cut |
the sheet, he says, but Stacked it away |
about foot. This brought Fitzgerald |
forward to his death.
After the murder the other mutt |
1eers weakened. st. Clair and Sparf, |
Hansen says, were the only men will |
ng to carry out the murderous plans.
Thomas Green, one of the conspira
;ors, ran into the forecastle and
stayed there until he was called out
oy the captain, when he told the
master the whole story of the con-
ipiracy and the murder.
Green declares that he is innocent
md that he should not have been put
n irons.
The mora Chambar1oinIc Couch |