, 1897-11-15
DEADLY CREESE
1T WAS IN THE HAND OF THE MAlA'.
SAILOR WHO RAN AMUCk.
Six Dead and Two Wounded the Record
Made by the wild Man In Ten Minutes
A Terrible Scene Described by . Sailor
Who Was An Eyewitness.

"1n four voyages to the East Indies,
two of them to Malay ports, l have seen
but II instance Of nat native perform
aIice called running amuck. Fortunate
ly l saw it from a position Of perfect
safety, but the sight was enough tc
make me steer clear of all Malays after
ward and any vessel that has them on
board, - said Erdix Dccring, who az
boy and man sailed many seas in deep
water ships. 1t was in 1868. when ]
was Il boy, on my first voyage, on the
ship Harry Warren, which sailed from
Boston to India with IA cargo of ice.
We wor" lying at anchor in the roads
off Madras, unloading our middle deck
cargo into lighters, and 100 vessels of
all nations were anchored about us, dis
charging or taking on board their car
goes. The ship nearest us, about two
cable lengths away, was the British
ship Mahratta, which had come from
Singapore i'll ballast with II crew of
Malay lascars. 1t was one day at noon
that, as our crew lay round under the
awning in the furocustle waiting for the
order to turn to, one Of the sailors sit.
ting on the capStan sung out:
Hi, mates, just look over to the
lime j|uiCor! They're having some kind
of a rumpus there, See en- going. l be-
lieve it's one of those Mialays running
amuck.'
"Wcall jumped to our feet and looked
ut Ii Mahratta, and som of us RAJ up
into the rigging to get a better view.
From the tupSail yard | could see all
that was going ON ON the deck of the
British ship. Amidships IL l~nscar, naked
to the waist, was slashing and stabbing
at "a European officer who had tried to
grapple with him, while everybody else
i'll sight on the ship was running fore or
aft or taking to the rigging. On the
quarter deck the captain vas hurrying
i've ladies down the Companionway into
the cabin, supporting in his arms one
Of them who had tainted. AS the officer
fell l~ifcless to the deck the Malay
bounded past him. following three sail,
orS who had run aft. along the port
gangway, upon the poop. AS he ran he
swung before him Il long, slender knife,
its crooked blade c~urving in and ont
like the writings of II snake. He over
took the rearmOst man on the poop and
cut and stabbed him, as he had done
with the officer, until the man fell.
Meantime the second man leaped over.
board, preterring to take his chances
with the sharks and water serpents to
remaining OH board. and the third man
RAJ across the quarter deck and up into
the miZZcn rigging like a cat. The man
in the water swan for our ship, and
some natives in il lighter picked him
up ahead of the sharks.
"Thc Malay left the man he had killed
and looked around as if for fresh VIC
tins, but he himself was the only liv-
ing person i'll view on the docks. He ran
fore and aft, searching, but found no
one, and he tried the cabin door, but it
was closed fast. Then he went to the
mizzen rigging and started up the rat
lines after the man who had taken
refuge there. When the Malay had got
rs far ms the mizzen top, the man he
was after took to the topgallant fore anG
aft stay and began to go down it hand
over hand toward the muinmast. The
Malay kept tn up to the ~topgallant
crosstrccs and began to follow the mar
down the stay.
"Ihcrc was something friGhtful in
the relcntleSsness of his pursuit. He had
got about ten feet down the stay when
the captain appeared on the poop with
II revolver and began firing at him. One,
two, three shots he fired, and the Malay
kept on down the stay. He was two.
thirds of the way to the foot when at
the fourth shot the arm that held the
creese fell helpless by his side. though
his hand still clu,ched the weapon. He
chung to the stay by one hand and his
feet and kept on down it almost as fast
as before. \ fifth and sixth shot, and at
the last the Malay stopped still, then
fell like a lump of putty to the deck,
full 10 feet below. Whether he was
dead when he struck the deck l do not
know, but the mate, who must have
been watching from his room, ran out
from the cabin to where the Malay was
with u handspiie and made sure work
of the fellow before he could rise. Then
the lascars came running from the fore
castle and down the rigging, and with
capstan bars. Delaying pins and knives
struck and thrust at the dead Malay un
til if he had had a dozen lives in him
they would have been hammered out of
his body before the officers could re-
strain the excited sailors.
"Our captain got the full story Of the
affair from the captain of the Mahratta
the ncxt day. The Malay had been
%brooding and sullen for days before,
though no one knew what his grievance
was. On this day as the men were pip
ed to dinner he had gone into the fore
castle, got the creese from some place
where he had it concealed and had flu
riously attacked his mates without IA
word. They raised the cry 'Amuck,
amuck!' and scattered, hut not until
three of them had been killed or NOR
tally wounded and two more of them
seriously cut by the crcese. Running
forward, he had encountered the second
mate, and tine rest of TIE affair l saw.
Five men dead and two Lady hurt by
tho Malay and himself killed at the
end was the record of ten minutes
business in tanning amuck. Malays in