The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-24
coon STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY.
The Murder Done by Thomas Hope. Mate
OF tho Nomnd.
rcspyrsgh 1898. ~ cnrt,, n. 1>,ei.l

,bip on board the English bark Nomad tina
We lay In tho port OF Bombay waiting for
bhartsr. l was only lad then. and as Their
were many things connected with my stor
which did not understand then. shall con
bect the chain OF events to make things NOR,
-intellirible to you. At an early date In thu
great uprising In India, commonly known nj
"The Mutiny." the wife and three children o
nm English Sergeant stationed at or nea
Hyderabad were cruelty murdered Will
bthers From that hour the Sergeant whose
rs was Thomas Hepc. became a iiend
Several books have been published in wlic'
he ia referred to- but only his comrades knew
his hatred for tho natives and the number OF
l,vee he demanded In return for the four taken
Ihave heard men who were In his detachment
eny that the number OF his victims was above
200, He not only killed in battle. but when
.there was q lull he acted MS scout. and
showed no pity for sex or age. He came to be
known to and dreaded by the natives. and dur
ling the last three months OF the war they
would rather have captured him than any
!.English General IN the field.
In the space OF two months there were six
lfeen murders OF which his comrades believed
thim guilty. He was finally discharged from
tthe army and got place In the public service
Mt Bombay. After awhile his mania died out.
4 Or seemed TO. but several mysterious murders
sln Bombay were laid at his door
~ On the other hand. many attempts were
( apsde to assassinnte him. and twice within a
fear no was almost fatally poisoned. He had
been sailor before entering the army. and
his friends finally induced him to return to that
!, sballing and leave Bombay. He made several
I, voyages and at the time my story opens was
I mate Of tho Nomad. This was the first time
he had been in Bombay for three years. and no
one aboard except the Captain knew his his
/ tory. The Custom House officers no doubt
. knew OF his presence. and no doubt Capt.
Strong was advised against allowing him to
20 ash oiebt the weather was so oppressvely
= hot that among others left the ocastle for
the deck We were In the dockyards at the
, midnight the voice OF the Waterman warning
away q prowler awoke me. and 1t was
% IN time to see h fs' ashole
knew him by his figure and ~, could u d, have M
to him n snd n sRg an
2 was that he Intended to surprise some fellow
lurking about It was bit curious that after
nSW at exactly oeooE S By the sams
\ cause as before The Waterman was on the
was after junk. / sat UP and looked around.
I: and Just then Mr.. Hope came aboard from the
Ct the to pS
Better look at him This ti%e, though he did not
and hat had never seen him wear before:
A sailor has no right to question the action
looked upon the mates action as bit queer
It never occurred to me that 1t was not all
msn eoel n the mornns
Of the crew whS had been ashS ore Oh night
blooded murder which occurred the night be-
fore native Of wealth and promi nence. who
home on foot had been stabbed to death in
front OF the Government Savings Bank. There
snd tho and peops
were passing at short intervals.
the S9ay GssS
conscious. The police had three Of; foul, clues
trayed his profession had passed an oeii,cer
coming from that direction, and the officer
Furthermore asserted his belief that the man
For q week the police force. assisted by
VARIOUS soSia1 specifies e. and by scores OF in
efforts to discover the, murderer. The VIC
\ tim had not been riged Of money or jewelry.
nude. but nothing came Of them. and after after
Murdersr had MAIDS good his escape Csrtain
members OF the club to which the victim be-
sS h cpds ns hasnH SesT %
he Te the murdey thsr
together and figured out that he was the man.
but had nothing to say to any one about it.
storehouse in the yards after some oakum.
While getting 1t heard police officer asking
hurried aboard the ship at once to tell the
mate. but he was IN the lower hold Whatever
ds DO e. as has wsys Resn Is
could not have told what was looking for. but
gailows. Under the mattress in his bunk I
found set o. false whiskers. and In a locker
have use for. / pocke ted the two articles and
ran out, and five minutes later the mate was
%s he f
was giving his stateroom an overhauling he
looked pale and anxious. I moved around to
derstood. Yes. I was an A accessory a%" after
tiiis murderer. The only. excuse / could
have urged IN court was tina that Mr. Hope had
se ss I tie story Of caWnporo until beeved
that every mutinous, native should have been
swept off the face Of the earth. They took, the
was back with us. Nothing had been found to
ineriminate him. and the watchman when in
ner that no one could have left or returned to
the ship that night without being seen,
end thrown the knife into the water. Wien
Mr.. Hope came back he did not ask me one
single question. nor had | any information to
volunteer. was satisfied that he knew what
] had done. He also knew that regarded him
as the murderer. He either felt perfectly Sc
cure or utterly reckless. While the crime had
not been brought home to him. the natives be-
lieyed in his guilt, and determined to get rid
OF him at any cost. The Captain got an offer
OF u charter to the Cape and return ut such
figures that he Mt once snapped 1t up. and In
due time we We're loaded and ready to sail.
Outside of Captain. mate. cook, and apprentice
we shipped a new crew. Tho men were a
mixture OF nationaiities. as is usually the case
while the second mate was a Swede.
In tho crew were two Spaniards. both able
seamen. 1t turned out that these two men
had been hired by the native club In BON bay
TO take ship with us for the sole purpose Of
killing Mr. Hope. They Were to receive the
sum OF 5000 between them and got portion
Of the money in advance. The plan, us CON
fessed. was to strike the mate down during his
watch some dark night and throw him over
board; l do not know that Mr.. Hope sus-
passed away. and the Spaniarls though both
happened to he in his watch. found no oppor-
tunity to carry out their plot.
We were getting well down toward the