The San Francisco call., 1895-11-16
to burn his ship while in the harbor Of
Honolulu on March 3
WILLIAM GEHRMANN.

to burn his ship while in the harbor oil
Honolulu on March 3.
Captain Shorey went before United
States Commissioner Heacock the day
after the vessel arrived and swore to d
complaint, and yesterday the men were
arrested by Deputy United States Marshal
Moffatt when they went to the office oi
James Latin at 104 Mission street to draw
what was coming to them. Their names
are Walter Ekerenkutter, William Bres-
ling and William Gehrmann, all under 80
years of age Ekerenkutter says he is a
native of this City. and that it was his first
sea trip. He is the youngest. The other
two men have spent several years on the
deep as whae-hunters.
All three were identified before the Com
missioner late in the afternoon, and he
set their preliminary hearing for Tuesday
morning, fixing their bail at $1,000 each.
Not being able to procure bonds they were
lodged in cell Al of the County Jail.
Their prosecution is attempted under
Sc ction 5367 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States. This offense is not called
larson" in the Federal laws, the statute
simply reading: every person, not being
an owner, who attempts to burn an
American vessel belonging to a citizen or
citizens of the United States," ETC.. and
the penalty is from three to ten years I'M
prisonment at hard labor
According to the story told by Captain
Shorey the three white men are accused OF
conspiring together during the vesseI s
stay at Honolulu to set it Oh fire and de-
stroy his cargo, and that on the night of
March 8 fire broke out, another white
man, Jerry Sheehan, discovering it. Shee-
l. J. l~. fph hot \, mo n
observed smoke issuing from the lore
castle about 10 :15 P. NJ. He at once gave
the alarm and First Mate w. L. Baker
ordered all hands to turn TO Immediately
and put out the fire at all hazards. The
captain was on shore at the time, and the
vessel was about four miles out from the
dock, being just inside of Diamond Head.
All the men formed into line and by
passing buckets of brine along the line
they succeeded in extinguishing the fire
in about four hours, saving the ship, but
at great damage to the cargo.
just what motive prompted the three
accused men to attempt to burn the ship
and cargo he does not know, he says. His
witnesses are another colored man named
Sidney Rigby and half-Malayan, who is
called McGill. Both Captain Sherey and
Rigby are natives of the Barbados Is
lands. Rigby was sort of boatswain.
The Gayhead left this City on December
19 last for cruise in the South Seas and
along the Asiatic Coast. She first touched
at the Isabella Islands and about week
before the attempt to fire the ship she
put in at Honolulu for some supplies. By
that time six sperm whales had been
caught and the oil was stored in the hold
He was surprised when he returned to
the ship the day following the fire and
learned from First Mate Baker, who is
white, the report Of the narrow escape of
his vessel. Rigby told him that Ekeren-
kutter, Bresling and Gehrmann had con-
spired together to burn the ship, and had
accordingly placed some infammable
oakum in the hold and set fire to it. Cap
tain Shorey, in course of time, went ashore
and informed the Honolulu police of what
had happened. He also made report to
Consul Mills. The vessel was moored
alongside the dock the next day and the
CAPTAIN pointed out the three suspected
men to the Hawaiian police, and they were
at once arrested and put in the Honolulu
Jail.
There was no prosecution, however.
Consul Mills refused to have anything to
do with the matter for some reason and
about two weeks after the incident the
bark put off from Honolulu with the same
men on board as part of the crew and con-
tinued on her Whaling cruise. During the
summer months she sailed around among
the South Sea Islands, particularly the
Ladrones and Philippines and finally went
over to the Asiatic coast. She caught
quite number of bowheads and several