The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-11

| S"4N uO. anu went OuL LhIoo5h sAS SSAA-
posing room.
lie returned in few minutes and SAID
That he HAD left word with boy TO call him
when the police station should answer.
| had nothing n ore to say. didn't even
ask where they kept their telephone or
what sort of machine it could possibly be.
simply awaited developments. ready to be
surprised at nothing that might occur
In about five minutes Goodwin had fin
ihsed that strip of proof and went out at
ter another. When he came back he was
| actually excited. He even damned the boy
in good round English style and said that
the police station had replied some time
ago and the ssfool OF a niger" hadn't known
enough 10 tell him.
Let's have another whack at the thing"
said he.
still had nothing to say. but simply fol
lowed him. He went out through the com
posing room, out through the back door and
down flight of 81 one steps, into narrow
alley, ON the otner side of which in another
| building was the press room. He turned at
the foot of the steps and disappeared into
a black pit underneath them. l stopped
| short at this doorway in the solid masonry.
In side was abs olute darkness.
s'Where are you going" says l?
| Have you a match?' says he.
| What are you trying to do?' says 1.
81 can't find the handle of the blooming
| thing says he.
| I struck match and there was my friend
Goodwin cropping desperately at telephone
box high above his head on the blank brick
wall about six feet IN from the dool way.
! He finally rang the bell and after some
waiting got response but could under
stand nothing.
''You try it, said he. 81 can't make out
what they're saying. hayn't got much
used to this thing YETI
| went in and rang the bell with many
misgivings. demanded the police station
| and finally got an intelligble 'Hullo" from
| that place.
| / mentioned the fight and asked for news.
| confused gutteral jabbering was the re-
Spouse. Now jamaica Negro talks English
very much as a duck would quacke!, if that
feat were possible to tho broad billed biped.
| He pronoun5es Boston "BWaston' with an
| indescriba le accent that suggests the vocal
utterance of some wild bird or animal. Of
course they were all Negroes at the police
station, and to converse with them through
a telephone was like trying to understand
| French, having never studied the Ian
guage. Finally by getting monosyllabic an
swers TO my questions. learned that the
police station had heard of the fight, that
the three injured men had entered Il COM
plant, that nothing had been done about
| it, and tnat if we came over they would
tell us what they knew.
| Goodwin conferred with the foreman and
| decided TO go to the police slaton. about
| half mile distant. A carriage was pass
| ing as we stepped into the street. II 9 hailed
| that and we soon reached the station.
| 1t was full.of big. handsome Negroes in
| white duck uniforms. We were usbered into
| small room in which some superior officer
was sitting. We stated our Grand He said
that Constable summebody oI-other knew
about that. We waited while he was sum-
moned and appeared. He said that the
three men who had been ut the hospital had
had their wounds dressed and came to the
police station, with their heads tied up,
to enter a complaint. Then they had gone
away. He didn't know where they went or
what their names were. They had not
made any arrests and should do nothing
about the matter tAll the next day lie
knew nothing bout the circumstances of
the fight and had not asked the three men
anything about it.
"A tempest in teapot" said MY friend
Goodwin as we re-entered the carriage
l simply said that if the marines from a
foreign man-of-war, had been engaged in a
free fight. with 1aborers in an American
port, every detail of the event. to the ex-
tent of columns. would have been described
mar nd hay
been telegraphed all over the country.
''Well we'd make moro of it in England, ~
said he. but it's different down here
| / thought it was. We reached the Office
again. to find the typesetters in condition
of open rebellion. Goodwin wrote out the
| facts that we had learned and made about
| a stickful out of it.
| In the morning the Cleaner had sccoped
| the three other papers and l truly believe
| that it vas due to that stickfnl that the mat
| ter was brought up in court and argued
| that day and the next, with the result that
| the whole thing was dropped. The most
| that ! could learn form the brief newspaper
reports was that the captain of the coal
schooner had had trouble with the gNegro
coal beavers. who We're unloading his vessel
| and finally kicked one of them. This led to
| the gneral conflict between the sailors and
the Negroes in which the former were out
numbered and getting the worst Ct it when
someone on board the New York shouted
that the Negroes were killing the sailors
and ordered the marines to make a rush
to the rescue of their countrymen, wbic h
| they did with the result above mentioned.
| Two days after the event l was at the
| end of the Market wharf where The steam
launches from the four American msn-of-
war were coming and going at frequent in
| tervals.
| My attention was drawn to tall. fine
looking Negroe the entire top of whose head
was bandaged. He Was standing in the
midst of an interested group of Negroes
and was addressing them with great yebe.
mence of speech and excitement of man.