The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-03-18
'stfHE TALE Of SEALER.
Gold and a Mystery We're Found
Y on the Island of Sag
II halien.
He Sailed Ostensibly to Catch
Whales but in Reality for
Seals.
Being Dissatisfied He ID sorted and Was
Left on an Island, Where He Met
q Turk.

An American seal hunter has arrived j
Shanghai. China. on the United State
steamship Marion with a story of adventur
as remarkable as anything ever printed il
the orient. His name is George L. Wilson
and he claims TO have come in the frs
place from San Francisco, where he says h
was at one time employed in the Unio
iron works. His marvellous tale, as told ii
B the North China Daily News is here synop
sized: y
Jan. 8 Wilson and a companion signe'
articles to sail on the schooner Mar y Il
Thomas. ostensibly for q whaling cruise
but really to shoot seals off the Japan
coast. After several weeks of hunting tn
vessel ran into a blight on the west coast O
the island of Saghalien for water. Wilson
having been badly treated, schemed to de
sert, but was detected and put in irons TO
a week. On his release he tried
again, and succeeded with q oom-
panion in escaping from the vessel,
remaining concealed in a fishing village
until the schooner had sailed. The two
then started on foot for the port of kar-
acky, but were arrested 0 IN the way by Rus
sian soldiers. The military official at kar-
Rcky before whom they were taken ordered
their detention as spies. They spent sew
eral days in prison and were then set at
liberty under surveillance. In their wan
.dering about the convict stockade they ran
across a mystery.
Some OF the convicts, by sigEs or other
means, explained that they wished to es-
care, and that they thought the two
strangers might help them by drawing
some kind Of q map. In return for this
they promised money. That convicts
strange, but it was brought about by the
fact that convicts are permitted to work
upon the steamers which arrive, and in
exchange for their clothes they obtain
v~odka-all the more valuable because it is a
forbidden article on the island. The vodka
il disposed Of to the soldiers, and rs much
Wilson. however. rejected the oyertures
made to him, thinking that it was a trap.
The %strangest incident Of the stay was,
perhaps. the meeting of a man said to be-
long to a Turkish royal family. who
was UNDERGOING . sentence OF twenty
years. That the man was q Turk Wilson
is positive. In addition to his own
language he spoke Spanish, German,
French and Russian n had a number of
important looking and apparently genuine
documents. He had quarters to himself,
plenty Of attention. and WAS we'll furnished
H W1tu luOA0fs AL uSlud1AtduVV bOOA kkcW
up between him and Wilson, and they had
many conversations in Spanish.
~, Under q promise of secrecy be told them
that the island WAS very rich in gold, and
Ito prove what he said produced two mug
gets worth at least 800. He pointed out
that the quartz rocks had rich veins of
gold. and Wilson, who had some knowledge
aof mining gained in Nevada, was able to
i5corroborate this. One day they we're in the
Turks apartment talking about the gold
quartz and examining the nuggets when
they were surprised by a Russian officer en-
fterinQ. Two soldiers were at once called
ttgand the Turk was at once put into heavy
double irons.
The Americans were told that the mug
gets were brass and the Turk was a swim
der. They were invited to see him pun
ished.
They were shown into a large auadran-
gle, around which were the prison build
inRs. Here was q slopinR board about
eight feet long, with fastenings at the head
and foot. Upon the board the Turk was
placed. face downward, first having been
stripped. His hands were fastened above
bis head and his legs were drawn down and
also secured. A lictor then came forward.
carrying a cat-o'-nine tails made of leather
thongs about eighteen inches long, having
small brass balls upon each. A hun.
died lashes with this brutal
weapon wers to be given to the
culprit. and if the lictor failed to
draw blood ut each blow he was to nave FIVE
lashes himself. The effects of this severe
punishment were horrible and the victim
vas removed moro dead than alive.
That" said the captain to the Ameri-
cans, lis the way we treat convicts here.
Mind you don't have anything to do with
him in the future"
Before this Wilson had learned from the
mysterious prisoner of a place two versts
from karacky, where there was ~alluvial
gold. and on irving it found that the dust
yielded from 81 to $1,50 a pan.
At last the mail steamer arrived and the
Americans were put aboard with ten pounds
through the voyage. Aug. 5 they reached
Ale1androcsk, whence they were shipped to
V~ladevostock Aug. 10. The report Of their
wenderings to the authorities there caused
their immediate imprisonment, the charge
still being made that they were spies. For
two days they were left without food. All
efforts to send letters out of the prison
were f1uitless. Wilson learned from his
fellow conviots that the authorities had
captured i've or six men belonging to on
American vessel under the erroneous i'm
preston that she was a sealer.
sWllson knew some of the men and asked
tbs %convicts to make them understand, if
thaY, could. that they were wanted at the
jail. some of the men who belonged to the
Cape Horn Pigeon went and Jaw Wilson
and his companion. but the authorities re-
fused to recognize the identification, point
ing ont that the men from the Cape Horn
Pigeon were prisoners themselves.
A little later the Marion put into Vlade-
yostock and through an English speaking
resident laid their case before her com
mander. Sept. 81 the men were released
and went aboard the walship.
Yuckien's ArnIca salys
The Ralt SuIun in tho upr11 fov ~rAz
Bruises, Sores, Ulcers, Salt Rheum, Fever
Sores, letter, Chapped Hands. Chiiblains,
CONS and all Skin Eruptions, and POSI-
lively curaa Piles or 10 mOnaY renrircd IL