The San Francisco call., 1897-02-03
THE CAPTAINS STORY.
How He Learned the Outlaw Was
Among His Men.

How He Learned the Outlaw Was
Among His Men.
To CALL reporter yesterday afternoon
Captain Fraser told the story of Butler 81
connection with the Swanhilda. from the
day on which he first signed articles in
the Sydney shipping office until the ar
rival of the vessel in San Francisco Bay
yesterday and his arrest by the officers of
the law.
Captain Fraser discussed the subject
with proverb biai British sang froid, and If
outward appearances may be said to fur
nlsh any criterion the sensational denoue-
ment of this remarkable chapter in crimi-
nal history left him absolutely unmoyed
The latter fact is all the more noteworthy
when 1t is remembered that Captain
Fraser was aware of the identity of the
supposed Lee Weller ten days out from
Sydney, after speaking the steamship
Taupo and reading the particulars of the
Blue Mountain murders published in the
Australian papers brought on board the
Swanhilda by one of the Taupos officers
why, then," was asked" didn't you
clap Butler in ironsP'
81 had absolutely no legal authority to
do So" replied the captain, land, more
over, had no wish TO de prive myself of
the services of good man as he proved
himself to be throughout the passage. He
was always well conducted and orderly.
l gave Butler no intimation that l knew
who he was and confided my knowledge
to no one on board except the first off,
cer."
Captain Fraser then related the circum-
stances under which he first saw Butler
in the shipping office and shipped him as
an able seaman.
Men were very scarce at the Tins"
said the captain" and our crew was not
made up. My first orders were to call at
Honolulu and then come on to San Fran
cisco. Later, however, q change was made
and l was told to come here direct. 1t
was at this time that Butler or Lee We'll
Ter, asked me if 1 was going to San Fran
cisco direct. | told him yes. Then said
he, Tu go with you ] looked at him
ana found him a well-dressed man. His
face was somewhat flushed as though he
had been drinking.
Are you an able seaman?' / asked.
oh, yes,' he replied.
Have you any discharges? was my
next question. If so let me see one of
them
HE pulled a large envelope halfway
out OF his pocket in such manner as to
conceal 1t from the gaze OF the Others in
the office and / then saw that the con-
tents OF the envelope were either mas
ter's or mates certificate. OF course
one or the other was good enough for me,
so told the shipping-master TO sign him
on. After he had signed, he came to me
where was standing at the end of the
counter and pulled out his certificate,
when found that it was q masters GER
tifcate passed some ten or eleven years
ago. My supposItion naturally was that
he had fallen in the world through drink
and so forth.
'He came aboard almost at the last
minute on the Monday morning we sailed
and said TO the mate, we have man
in the forecastie with q masters certifi-
cate. The mate asked me who he was
and l said, 'Welder, or something like
that After We had been out couple of
days the mate said, You must be mis-
taken about that masters certificate, be.
cause the man is no sailor
There is no doubt about his having a
masters certificate, replied, because l
saw it,
This incident passed over and re-
marked to the mate that if Weller couldn't
do one thing he could do another. Use
him. said l, the same as the other men,
Nothing further of interest happened
until the Taupo came along, bound for
Raratonga. When first sighted she was a
long way off. When abeam of us l
thought She will be able to read our sig
mails, so we hoisted the NUM- bers, but they
were not answered for over half an hour.
at last she got so close that could plainly
distinguish her signal halyards, when I
ordered The second mate to report US all
we'll.
"She answered that signal, but still
came closer to US. Said l, What the devil