San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-03-27
F|[ND|SH BRUTALITY.
Seamen Literally Starved
To Death.
FORCED TO WORK NINE MONTHS
ON HALF RATI0NS, WHILE
THE CAPTAIN FEASTED.
Six Men Died And The Rest Are In
The Hospital. Some Of Whom
May Not Recover - The
Brute ScOffed When Law
Was Mentioned,

New York, March pa story of
alleged cruelty at sea told by the sur
vivOrs of the crew of the clipper L. f.
Cakes, is being put in legal form by
representatives of the Seamen's I'M
ion. 1t is understood that action will
soon be brought against Capt Reed
and the owners of the clipper ship,
which reached this port after being
259 days out from Hong Kong. The
emaciated Seamen now in the marine
hospital at Staten Island, allege that
Capt. Reed is directly responsible for
the illness of all but two of the crew;
that they were kept on half rations
during the greater part of the trip and
that the vessel could have made New
York harbor much sooner if the cap
tain had taken advantage of availia-
bic conditions which prevailed much
of the nine months they were on the
water
I'VE have not decided just what
charges we shall prefer against Capt.
Reed" said James H. Williams, secre-
tary of the Seamen's union, but we
shall make the most serious charge
against him that we can sustain by
the evidence"
Joseph Robinson made the state
ment which will be issued by the I'M
ion and the other survivors who are
with him in the hospital subscribed to
it. Several were able to sign their
names with difficulty and one, John
Benson, is still so weak that it is a
question whether he will recover. The
other men are Gustave Anderson,
Hans AFRO, Christian Peterson, Henry
Gustavson, Frank Weber and Edwin
FrOmplodt.
I'VE were forced to complain about
our food before we had been a week
out from Hong Kong" said Robinson,
land the entire crew went to Capt.
Reed on July Z, only to be refused
better provisions. Our condition be-
came so by the end of July that we de-
termined to make another demand
and again the entire crew complain
ed. From July 81 to September q
there was an improvement, but on the
latter date we were all placed on half
ratiOnS and so continued to the end of
the long journey.
THE captain did not supply the ship
with enough provisions before leav-
ing Hong Kong. We had been out "A
days before we got fresh meat and
we told the captain that it was illegal
for him to make no better allowances
to the crew. To this he replied, L am
not afraid of the law. The law can't
do anything to me-
There was no reason why we
should have been so long in coming
to New York from Hong Kong. We
had favorable winds much of the time
but the captain would not hoist sail
to take the fullest advantage of them.
In good sailing weather he often
hoisted such sails as most vessels
would carry in a gale. He said he took
this course because he was conserya-
tive.
while the men in the crew were
growing weak from lack of proper
food the captain was living on chick
ems and other good things. He had
two crates we'll filled with chickens
when we left port, and when we got
into New York harbor several chick
ems were still left. If the captain had
killed them and made soup for the
crew, if only once a week, the men
would have been able to retain their |
strength instead of becoming i'll and
helpless.
"Our condition was such that three |
of us could hardly do the work that |
one properly fed man should do"
The six men who died on the trip |
were a Chinaman named Choo, Tom
King, Tom Watkins, Steven G. Bunk
er, George King and Tom George.
The survivors arc especially indig-
nant over Kings case and they de-
clare that he was starved to death.