The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-05-04
A TERRIBLE VOYAGE.
LAKE PROPELLER BECAME FLOAT.
ING cAhRNEL HOUSE.

After Being Attacketl--A Cool Reception /
at NIiiwaulec--A Trcacherous Agent
The Allegheny was one Of the best pro
/ pCllers of her day. She piled between Buff |
! falo and Milwaukee One day i'm midsum- |
mer, 1850, she left Buffalo harbor on her |
| regular trip. She was in command of Cap |
| tain Morrison. The passenger list included |
40 cabin and $50 steerage passengers, the
| latter all Swedish immigrants. These were |
| going in body to Milwaukee, where sew |
! eral hundred of their countrymen had pre- |
| ccded them. They were being forwarded |
| by some colonization society and were in |
! charge of a Swede named Jansen, an agent |
! of the society. With the exception of Jan
/ sen, not one of these people could speak
word of English Their collective wealth |
amounted to 100000 in cash, which was |
| all in the possession of Jansen for safe |
keeping,
The Allegheny always stopped at Beaver |
! island, which was held by King Strang |
/ with his colony of Mormon and free love |
/ followers. During the prupellcr's stop on
/ this trip "A little girl among the stcerage |
/ passengers sickcued and died. her sickness |
coming suddenly and death resulting two
hours later. This little ones mother had |
died on the ocean voyage from Sweden and |
was buried at sea, The child was buried |
| on King Strangs island.
The propeller proceeded on her way, but
had got not more than AN hours sail from
| Little Beaver island when the father of the |
| child died in the same manner that she had. |
Before the Allegheny arrived at South |
| Mauitou island % of the immigrants had
died of the same mysterious disease, which |
was spreading rapidly among them. The |
| sudden appearance of this deadly plague |
caused panic on board.
The cabin passengers were placed in |
| quarantine in their quarters, and the crew |
of the propeller were kept busy caring for
the unfortunate Swedes. The propeller |
| landed at Manitou and buried in one large |
trench the score and "A half who were then
! lying dead ON board the vessel. From Mani |
tou there was no place where the steamer
could touch before arriving at Milwaukee,
and she left that island literally floating
charnel house Scarcely an hour passed
that an immigrant did not fall victim to
the terrible plague, the origin of which no
one at that time knew. 1t at last became
impossible TO attend to the wants of all the
sufferers, although the entire crew devoted
every minute, night and day, to their serv-
ice. There was no installing those who
were doomed to death among the immi-
grants.
The victim became hollow eyed and had
VACANT, ldIdNuN lOOh luuI was HtIu lOI
another to meet When that look appeared,
death was but an hour or two away. Death
always came with the most intense agony
One could look about among the stricken
and count to a certainty those who would
be dead within the next hour. The victims
were weighted and cast overheard as soon
as they were dead. Such thing as shroud-
ing or giving funeral service to a corpse was
an impossibiity They were cast into the
water just rs they died.
Up to the day before the propeller arrived
at Milwaukee none of the crew or officers
had been attacked by the disease but on
that day the cook fell n victim to it, and
was cast into the lake Us the Others had
been. The clerk of the steamer, Il young
man named Gardiner, about this time had
, found among the stores a cask of New Eng
land rum. The story Is that the engineer,
a man named Curtis, soon after the cooks
death, was attacked by the disease, and
= that Gardiner, without any idea Of the re-
, suit, had caused the doomed man to drink
glass of the rum. What the virtue of the
: rum was as II remedy for the disease no
t one ever knew but the engineer did not
die. Gardiner then dosed the immigrants
! with it as they fell sick, and in several
= cases the victims were saved. Gardiner, at
| the time he discovered the rum, discovered
gin of the deadly disease. 1t was barrel
r of putrid fish among the immigrant stores,
p of which poisonous food some of the poor
g people had eaten early in the voyage.
t The propeller reached Milwaukee in the
evening. There were then l2 dead Swedes
: aboard The captain sent for physicians.
c They decided that the disease was some
J kind of fever usual in ships where passen-
gers were closely quartered, but its exact
4 nature they could not determine The news
: of the terrible state of affairs on board the
Allegheny was not slow in getting abroad
in the town. No one, not even the officers,
e was allowed to remain anywhere in the city,
. and they were driven back to the melan-
:, choly surroundings on board. Next morn
. ing the authorities ordered the propeller to
a move away from the dock and out into the
e lake This was done.
e A new element then appeared in the I'M
fortunate situation, and it for time threat
e ened serious trouble The Swedes living
o in and about Milwaukee We're made &C
e quainted with the sad straits their fellow
n countrymen were in on board the Allie
y ghany, and they marched to the dock in
d body, 800 strong. They sent word to Cap
d tain Morrison that if he would run his YES
IS sci back TO the dock they would prevent
is any interference with mis- landing. For a
II time riot seemed inevitable, but a com
promise was effected by the authorities
making an agreement with Captain Nor
rison that he might land his passengers on
v scows and have them towed to an old store
Il house that stood on the outskirts Of the
It city. Three more deaths had occurred on
l. the propeller pending this arrangement
f The immigrants, or the Go that remained of
the $50 that left Buffalo, were quarantined
= in the storehouse, and the terrible disease
y was got in hand without any further
deaths.
Il The wretchedness of the immigrants was
n made still greater by the baseness of the
d man Jansen, who had them in charge. Be
II fore the survivors of the plague We're able
u to look after their interests Jansen dsap-
= peared, taking with him the 100000 be-
longing to the party. He was never heard
of afterward.
u The young clerk, Gardiner, of the ALE
!, ghany, whose prescriptions of New Eng
u land rum undoubtedly saved several of the
: stricken from DEATH among them Curtis
the engineer, is now one of the most con.
spicuous and wealthy of the citizens OF
=, Cleveland, of which city he has been sew
4 eral times mayor,-Butfalo Cor. New York
Sun.
His Feelings Wounded.
4r<@ty%ES B.
Ts%l \ ME "