The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-02-06
BEHEADED.
The Fate of Three South Sea
Pirates.

The remarkable piracy case of the
Rodrigue brothers, two ex convicts
who escaped from the penal colony
of New Caledonia several years ago
and went to Cape Town, Africa,
where they worked in the diamond
fields, afterward making their way
to Tahiti, at which point they laid
the boldest kind of plans for steal
ing Tahiti schooner and becoming
freebooters, must still be fresh in the
minds of our readers. Particulars
of this wild story of the South Seas
were published last August, includ-
ing the fact that the pirates, after
shooting the captain and supercargo,
and having the crew of four Tahiti
native sailors on the schooner pois-
oned by the cook, had been arrested
by officers of a Spanish colonial rev
enue cutter at Manila on complaint
of the native cook, Moloi, who made
confession duplicating the Rod
rigue brothers. His motive for tell
ing of the crimes of his masters was
not desire for justice, but one of
revenge inspired by the refusal of
the pirates to give him share of
the $4,000 of which they had come
into possession through stealing the
schooner.
No further particulars have been
obtained regarding the fate of the
pirates until the steamer Rio de
Janeiro arrived at San Francisco a
few days ago. Among the passen-
gers was Miss L. j. Wyckoff, a
medical missionary OF Singapore,
who brings the information that the
pirates were executed at Manila dur
ing the last of August, the news
reaching Singapore before she left.
Not only did the Rodrigue brothers
pay the penalty for their crimes, but
Moloi, the native cook, who was
an accessory through threats against
his life and his own desire to accum-
ulate wealth, shared their fate. The
men were executed in the native
way, by having their heads chopped
off in the same manner that Chinese
pirates are beheaded at Kowloon
city, opposite Hongkong.
The Rodrigue brothers were given
full trial by the authorities at Ma.
Mia, and were sentenced to death
upon the testimony of the cook, who
in his anxiety to convict his masters
so entangled himself that he was also
sentenced to die.
On the morning of the execution
the three pirates were taken from the
gaol and led into the public square
where the executioner stood ready
with a long sword in his hands. The
cook was the first to suffer the deatL
penalty. With his hands bound be
hind his back and his feet tied to
gether he was compelled to knee
before the executioner. Moloi begged
and cried for mercy, but found nc
one to intercede for him. The two
pirate brothers looked stoically on
never moving a muscle and taking
less interest in the tragic event thar
the spectators. Soldiers were drawn
up in double lines in the form of {
square, and outside the populacs
swarmed by thousands, attracted by
the expected scene of death. The
cook insisted upon keeping up hi:
cries and yells while a government
official was reading the death war
rants, and was only silenced by the
execntioner stepping up to him as h'
knelt on the ground and striking hin
in the face, knocking him over. Whel
he was placed on his knees again
everything was in readiness. Th'
executioner put his left hand on tn,
mans head, bent it forward a littl
that the neck might be in the RICH
position, and stepping suddenly bacl
raised his sword and with a clear
sweep cut the cooks head off, A
the head rolled several feet away tn
dead body fell forward.
The Rodrigue brothers, both big
powerful men, were then led to
spot few feet from the dead cool
and compelled to kneel. Their thick
sunburned necks were a little NOR
of job for the executioner. Eacl
pirate had two men holding him,
mark was put on each neck and at
word from the executioner the tw,
attendants of one of the brother
jumped back and the sword swept Of
the pirates head. Another word an
the same sword had beheaded tn
last of these fends, pirates who ba,
: shown such small regard for huma
+ life. Their offence was all the create
y from the fact that they were highl
educated, speaking a dozen language
as well as South Sea island dialect,
were men of splendid address, pos
sessed of a great deal of ability, an
Q at one time moved in refined society
Moloi, the Tahiti cook, in his cor
fession to the Spanish authorities
told story which, while highly in
teresting, shows what fiends in hu
man form these Rodrigue brother
must have been. After leasing til
l schooner yacht Niualoaiti, belongin;
> to the Tahiti native king, and gettinI
it fitted out for an extensive tradin,
voyage, the pirates put out to sea
The schooner was formerly the Dolly
and was built and for time oWne
Il by Captain Matthew Turner, Of Sa
Francisco. The Rodrigue brother
engaged a man named Costello a
captain, and Willie Gibson Hall a
supercargo. These two men had th
. confidence Of the Tahiti business me-
who had been drawn into the tradin
venture by the Rodrigue brother:
who proved themselves to be familia
with the language and habits of th
South Sea Island natives, as we'll a
being smooth takers.
!. One week out of Papete, Mole