The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-24
ALASKAN SEAL PIRATES.
TINE TO HEST. MOST UyPRINcI-
FLED LIARS ~ ALL THE WORLD,

How One Gang stole y Railroad and
lowed n House 20 Sen-piuck Exhibited
IN - Bear 1hunt-The Only Ohe That n
Revenue Captain Ever saw Finstered.
An oficer OF the United States Marine Corps,
or of the revenue cutter service, who has ever
seen service In the seal patrol or customs duty
in Alaska will tell you that of all the unprln-
cipled and untruthful men In all the world the
seal pirates Of the westward are the worst. In
Sitka they tell n story of q gang on a steam
schooner that put into n little place over beyond
Kadiak. where q coal company had been opcr-
atinG n mine. The mine was idle when the
schooner came along and no ono was living In
thecompany house. IL not being considered necos-
sary to keep n v Waterman in that out OF the world
place. The company had built q lite railroad,
about n third of n mile long. from tho mine
down to the water. After the pirates had looted
the house OF everything that could in any way
be of service TO them. they took up the railroad.
The rails and oil the iron werc put aboard the
schooner and tho ties burned up. Then the
schooner put TO sea. But the Captain wasn't
isatished. Before he had got very far he put
about and went back. A good stout cable was
Ahltched about the company building, It was
hauled Into the sea, aud the schooner started
out with the house in tow. After two or three
days towing the pirates came TO the conclusion
that tho game wasn't worth the candle, SO they
SASb tuC Ou III ~ u
These pirates arc a plucky lot. They will en-
'dure all sorts Of hardship and privation with
remarkable patience IL they como while they are
doing what they want to do. They are
i'm patient only OF restraint. A year or two ago
n gang of them hauled their little schooner out
on q bit OF sandy beach over beyond Cooks inlet
to do some caulking. Some seams had opened
IN her bottom and she leaked badly. They made
camp on the beach. and while the rest OF the
. "a, ,,,ra - ,vn.t t,rn ~ thn ~ ,rant harE
into the scrub. to hunt for bear. They kept
going for nearly two days before they found
their game and then killed ono of two bears
that they ran across, and wounded tho other.
THE wounded bear crawled into a clump Of I'M
dergrowth and scrub and one OF the hunters
went after 1t. II he had known anything about
the ferocity of the Alaskan brown bear he
would not have tried it, but he didn't. When
he came up with the wounded bear it was lying
down, and the hunter ran up to 1t and tried to
cut its throat. The bear made q last desperate
struggle. caught the man by the right thigh and
pulled the flesh from the bone. breaking the leg.
The other hunter came along and killed tho
to be done with the wounded hunter. A small
creek ran near the place where the man had
wounded man was carried by his comrade. He
was placed on the ground with his back against
pulled OF and 6itched by astout cord to his
belt. Then the uninjured hunter started back
'IoE us bulptlhttb- IL was u W uhyo mhTCn 10
tho beach where the schooner lay, and when he
got there he found that the work on the boat
for a tide high enough so they could get the
schooner into the water. and when that was
It was unsafe to try TO take her up the creek.
So she was hauled out again and caulked tenn
shape, and put her into tho water and worked
their way up to where the wounded man had
All this time the poor devil with the horribly
injured leg had been steadily hauling water out
,p ps 1hs creek f over with fbs hi, we sSos for { G %ss wand sna
weather, and the mosquitoes and Enab, and
life u horrible agony for a man who was sound
and could make some show OF a fight. 1t was
man pluckily sticking to his work, They got
their camp on the beach. The schooner was
hauled out again and thoroughly canlked. and
after he was hurt the pirate was landed at In
alaska That day his leg was amputated. In
the fall he was in Juneau stumpinearognd on
got and died.
summer. has had some curious experiences with
much TO say usually, but what ne does say is
always directly TO the point. He wears very
preston. of his eyes, so that his face rs seldom
betrays his real thought a. his words do. Capt.
out near Kadiak on one occasion with the Bear.
and had hardly let 70 his anchor before there
that was Tying in the harbor. Capt, Hooper's
suspicion that the schooner was a pirate had
began on board her as soon as the Bear came
into the harbor. She evidently was anxious TO
get i, a sssSs as ia far c and Fl Ho Sqisk iSa as i PS'. .eheoner,s
boat had hardly got alongside when n man
scrambled on the deck of the Bear and an
nounced himself as the schoonerS Captain
come to pay his ~resrects to Capt. Hooper,
How do you do. Capt. Hooper, he ex-
claimed. with n nervous smile on his face, - I'm
very glad to see you. was Just going out when
] saw your smoke. and as ! knew you were ex.
pected here ] thought I'd wait ana pay you my
am all ready to get out"
time, and the pirate was lust taking a chance.
Ihst 81 he s fs9 sba IL made ' sS H. h1oPsT al the more
Well. the qnicker you start the quicker
so that he went on his lingo again. and wound
NJ. with:
quicker you start the quicker you'll get away
The crestfallen pirate went back to his
heading apparently to the westward. That
night the Bear steamed on to the eastward.
When she put into another harhor the next
afternoon 200 miles or more east OF where she
had stopped the day before. the first thing Capt.
Captain had been so anxious to, get started for
the westward. The schooner's Captain saw the
Bear. too. ana he thought he was in for IL. He
got out his boat and set out again 10 SEE Capt.
Hooper. The revenue cutter officer said after
ward that when. the pirate came aboard the
Bear he for the first time in his life saw one of
those men fustered. The pirate fidgeted a bit,
and then evidently made un his mind to put a
shld very frankly.
damDedcst liar In the world"
No" answered Capt. Hooper promptly. "you
And Alter hi there wasn't any aronnd on
which the pirate could be seized.