The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-01-07
MUTINY ON THE BELFORD.
The Men Refused to Go to Work
Until They Got Their Advance.


The Men Refused to Go to Work
Until They Got Their Advance.
There was trouble on the British ship
BeIford yesterday. and at one time it
looked as though the police would be
called in. Captain McKinnon had shipped
what is known along the water front as a
"scab crew." The men went at lower
rate than is demanded by the regular
shipping masters, and also agreed to go
without an advance. Yesterday they de-
manded an advance and the captain re-
fused. Then the trouble began. The men
refused to work, and the officers were or
dered to put them in irons. The sailors
refused to be ironed, and free fight al
most followed. When the A. BIS at
tempted to quit the ship in body Cap
tain McKinnon capitulated and agreed to
paw the advance. Late in the afternoon
the men went to work and bent the sails,
and some time to-day the Belford will get
away with her load of wheat for Algoa
Bay.
ABE" Marks, the popular clerk in the
Merchants Exchange, had a narrow
escape yesterday. A professional beggar
was plying his trade among the mer-
chants who generally congregate on the
floor about l P. NJ, wnen Mr.. MARKS caught
sight OF him. He wasted no words, but
taking a firm hold of the intruder, started
to march him out. Passing the second
door, he met Officer Walsh and turned his
prisoner over to him. Later in the day
Walsh remarked to ABE: You had mar
row escape; that was the man that nearly
kicked my brains out year ago."
It appears that the loafer had gone into
an insurance Office on California street
and asked for enough to get meal He
was given a ticket that entitled him to a
meal and bed, but as soon as he reached
the sidewalk he tore it in two and threw
it away. Then he made bee line for the
Produce Exchange.
Walsh picked up the ticket, and seeing
what it was, followed the man. Finding
| him begging, he placed him under arrest.
The prisoner walked to the police patrol
box without making any resistance, but
before the wagon arrived he showed fight.
He bit and kicked, and for weeks Walsh
bore the marks of his feet on his forehead,
while his helmet was ruined. ABE is
now thanking his lucky stars that the
| tramp did not tackle him.
The British ship Helga arrived from
Cape Town yesterday in ballast. The voy-
age was an uneventful one. On December
15, in latitude deg. IL min. north, longi-
tude ia deg. 46 min. west, Jacob Palmer,
a native of Finland, died suddenly of
heart disease, and was buried at sea.
The waterfront burglars visited the big
tug Fearless last Tuesday night, They
got away with a suit of Captain Glenn
Randalls clothes, gold watch and chain
belonging to the first officer, and nearly
all the clothing belonging 10 the crew.
The men who did the work must be ex-
perts, as the vessel was robbed while the
sailors were asleep in their hunks.
The tug Vlgilant will take valuable
consignment to the Farralones to-day
Miss Doud. the young LADY teacher, Will
be the guest of Captain John Siiovich,
and forty-six carrier pigeons for use on
the island will also go out. The young
lady will teach the children of the light
house-keepers their A B C's and the
pigeons will carry news for the Weather
Bureau. Two at time they will be re-
released from their cotes, and they are
expected to return to their home in
Berkeley whence the weather news will
be telephoned to the head Office in the
Mills building.
Officer George Lake of the Harbor police
is back on duty again. He was Frustrated
for three weeks with severe attack of la
grippe.
Ed Gordon. owner of the plunger
George Washington, says that the parties
who went out on the memorable cruise
recorded in THE CALL yesterday morning
Wilson, William Smith and himself.
Gordon asserts that his lady friends
missed the boat and that he and Smith
volunteered to sail them over 10 San
Francisco.