The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-08-31

letter to the WdlcHIHan lnStructlnS him to allow the Intending purchaser to Inspect the vessels interior. Armed with this letter, which Mrs. Johnson unhesltatingly gave him, Bartels visit ed the Star of Freedom again the fol- lowing day, closely inspecting her from stem to stern, below and aloft. He was careful to cultivate the good will of the guardian of the little craft, and when he left the two men were on very friendly terms. | A few days later Bartels went aboard the schooner again and told the watch man that he had agreed upon terms for l the purchase of the boat with Mrs. Johnson and would begin to get ready for sea at once. Two men were sent aboard to tend the sails and place eve- | rything in readiness; provisions were stored away, and in a surprisingly l short time the Star of Freedom was all ready for her voyage
 One night Bartels and a Russian Finn named Alexander Lundisshef put off to the schooner in a small boat, and told ] the watehman they were going to take her over to ship her cargo; that the sale had been completed, and Mrs. Johnson had given them permission to take pos session at once. But the watchman de- murred He had not been notified by ] Mrs. Johnson to surrender the boat to Bartels, and until he received such or- ders the boat could not be moved | Lundisshef had gone forward to cast off the mooring lines, but was ordered | to desist by the watchman. He paid no attention to the order, but cast off one of the lines. The watchman made a step forward to prevent the vessel from | being set adrift. AS he dld so Bartels sprang upon him from behind, pinioned his arms to his sides and dragged him | to the railing. The watchman strug- 1 gled desperately, but his efforts to free himself from the pirates viselike grasp were without avail and he was thrown headlong into the water.
 It was the work of only moment to cast off the remaining mooring lines. hoist the jib and mainsails, and head the prize down the estuary The night was dark and stormy, a stiff south easter was blowing, and by the time the unfortunate watchman had crawled, half drowned, upon the Ala meda shore the Star of Freedom was we'll down toward the open waters of the bay. It was a long distance to the Webster street bridge and to Oakland. but the faithful fellow hurried as fast as he could and notified the authorities of the daring piece of piracy.
 Messages were sent to the San Fran cisco police, who thought it would be an easy matter to capture the ocean bandits as soon as daylight broke. But they did not know Bartels. Darkness l fba hact tn lnprlf and instead of dropping anchor and waiting until morning to pass out to sea, he headed the little craft straight for the Golden Gate. When daylight broke the Star of Freedom was far out of sight of land on the broad bosom of the Pacific.
 The authorities aI along the coast | were notified to keep a sharp lookout for the pirates and their prize, but Bar tels kept well away from American ports. Captain Johnson returned home l about week after the disappearance of his vessel and devoted himself to running down the thieves. No trace of them was found, however, till nearly two months later, when Captain Won Helms of the steamer Orizaba (then called the Willamette Valley) saw a suspicious-l looking craft at Cape St. Lucas. He continued on to La Paz, and While he was lying In thattport the stranger he had seen at the Cape came in. The name Nathalie was painted on her stern, but Von Helms, who knew Captain Johnson well and was familiar with the stolen schooner, was not sat isfied so he notified the Mexican au- thorities of the piracy in San Francisco T Bay.
 il A demand was made for the schoon- CTS papers, and Bartels (for it was he) promptly produced the papers of the schooner Natalie, which he had stolen before leaving San Francisco. An ex- animation showed he had painted out the name of Star of Freedom and re- christened the schooner Natalie, to cor respond with his stolen papers.
 Captain Von Helms wired the facts to Captain Johnson, and the latter replied asking him to request the Mexican au- thorities to hold Bartels until requisi- tion papers could be sent from Wash- ington for Bartels' return on a charge of barratry, the penalty for which is death. The request was granted, but Bartes was never brought back tU San Francisco, owing to the stupidity of some attache of the Attorney Generals office, Olney then being at the head of the department. District Attorney Foote certified to the papers and for warded them to Washington for trans mission to the Mexican government through the State Department.
 Several weeks later the requisition papers were returned to the district at torney with the statement that they were irregular, in that they were not accompanied by demand from Cover nor Budd for the return of the prisoner. Barratry being a Federal offence, why the signature of the governor of the state was necessary could not be under stood, but the omission was corrected and the documents rushed back to | Washington.
 But though he had slipped out of the clutches of the United States govern ment, Bartels still had to answer to the Mexicans for taking the vessel into one of their ports under fraudulent papers. They also remembered how he gave them the slip once before, and the strongest dungeon in the La Paz bastile was considered none too strong to hold him.
 That was in April, 1895. A dispatch from La Paz, dated July Ii last, states that Bartels and his accomplce, Alex ander Lundisshef, had just been sen-