The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-23
SAILORS Will now
Fight TO THE END.
The UNION FEELS IT MUST
WIN OR Go OUT OF
EXISTENCE.
CALLENDER'S "SCAB" DOG
THE CYRUS WAKEFIELD NOT TO
Go TO SEA WITH Nom
UNION CREW.

The leaders of the Sailors Union &C
knowledge that they are now making the
fight of the organizations life, and upon
the result of the present contest with the
Ship-owners' Association hangs its further
existence. For months the union has been
preparing to move and the withdrawal of
four or five hundred men for the whaling.
fishing and canning season in the north
was the signal for the beginning of hostili-
ties.
Having a membership on this coast of
between five and six thousand, which in
cludes the better class of seafaring men,
scattered along the shore from San Diego
to the Sound, the union feels itself sutii-
GENTLY strong to settle the coast seamen'S
wages now or give up the ship. The
Owners Association relies upon the present
stagnation of the labor market and the
ability of shipmasters to procure crew ma
terial from the great troop of idle men
drifting along the shore. Secretary Wal
thew does not anticipate lack of sailors
consequent upon the departure of the
whalers and fishers, as large number are
union men, whom he cannot expect to
handle while the fights on.
Secretary Furuseth of the union is
pleased with the fact that vessels are lying
idle at their anchors or going to sea with
few Japanese and eX cooks and walters in
their forecastles. He resents the statement
that falling freight rates and the unemploy-
ment of coasting vessels justifies the lower
ing of wages.
''There are no idle vessels" said he.
every schooner, bark and steamer is
either at work or preparing to be so. When
times were at their best the sailors wages
were at their lowest ebb, and the argument
Of ha 10
particular by facts. Vessels may go to sea
for while without crews, as not a union
man can be shipped, but it is losing
game, and in the end we will win"
Early yesterday morning the association
notified the Harbor Police that the schoon-
ers Annie Larsen and Rebecca would tow
from Mission Bay to sea, and that crews
would be taken to the vessels in the tug
Monarch. Sergeant Mahoney with ten
officers took passage on the boat as an
escort to four white men and five Japan
csc. No demonstrations were made by the
union lookouts on the wharf, but picket
| boat from a safe distance watched the
| transfer of the men to the vessels closely
| The Annie Larsen went to sea and the
Rebecca will sail to-day
The deck of the Palmyra, one of Pope e.
| Talbot's vessels, was the scene of trouble
yesterday morning. Calender, the colored
| boarding master, supplied non-union
|
| the union men. He was getting the poorer
portion of this war of the races when his
| faithful dog went into the fight and saved
| his master. The animal chewed one leg
| half off one man and got several mouthfuis
| of union sailor flesh out of the shoulder of
another before the strikers concluded that
| a very healthy dog was a "scab' argu-
| ment not to be debated. 1t is thought
| that the bark will complete her crew to-
| day and go to sea.
| The steam schooner Alcatraz is lying at
Main-street wharf waiting for a crew, and
while the association says she will be sup
| piled to-day, the union SAYS she will not
and a lively time is expected that To-
cality when the pickets report the appear
| ance of the "scabs'
The barkentine Charles F. Crocker.
bound for Hilo, in ballast, has been lying
at Harrison street for three days, unable to
get crew. She is being closely watched
by the union lookouts
The ship Cyrus Wakefield is at the Mail
dock dIscharging, and she is short two
men. 1t is reported that a couple of non
union sailors are kept safely slowed away
in hiding for her, and the strikers are de-
termined that these two "scabs" shall not
go in that ship, and that sharp fight will
! take place when they are brought out. The
union evidently feels that the Wakefield
| must be kept back at all hazards, or forced
to complete her crew with $35-men. Her
| owners are as determined to take the non
union men, and are prepared for war.
Yesterday morning boat of strikers went
| down to the schooner La Gironde. living
| off Black Point, to take off the vessels nom
union crew. Mr.. Furuseths men were
making affairs interesting around the
| schooner's decks when the Harbor Police
boat was sighted. The union men took
| to their whitehall, and warm chase took
| place. Sergeant Bunner and Officer Fer
gueson made their oars crack with the
muscle they put on them, but the old
| union boatmen were too much for them
and escaped. The officers hung around
the vessel till she hoisted her anchor and
headed for sea.
The union has three boats patrolling the
bay, closely watching every coaster that
lies at anchor in the stream. A complete
line of pickets from Meiggs wharf to Third
street keep watch day and night. So thor
ough is the lookout system carried on that
the slightest move along the water front is
Immediately known at headquarters, and
force can be dispatched without DELAY to
any locality if needed to hold ship to the
dock or club the ''scab' crew from her
deck.
The bark Robert Levers, loading for
Honolulu at Mission-street wharf, took on
board yesterday $4,000 Hotchkiss gun,
shipped to the Hawaiian Islands.
Charles Stump, a non-union sailor from
the ship Robert Levers, was assaulted by
three union men, in saloon at the north
west corner of Kearny and Jackson streets.
Thursday night, and severely beaten.