The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1898-03-24
SORRY LOOKING CREW.
English Sailors Starved, Beaten and
Mistreated on Board Vessels.
Many OF Them Covered With Wounds, Run.
ming Sores, and Some showed Signs of
Scurvy-One Man Died From Mis-
treatment-To Prefer Charges.

NEW YORK, March 21.-The sorriest
looking crew that ever sailed into the
harbor of New York came on the Brit.
ish bark Ancyra, 1876 days from Hong
Kong, bruised, blackened, weak from
lack of food, some having broken
bones and others touched by scurvy.
They tell story of hardship and bru.
tality.
They charge even worse against the
captain OF the craft, /. H. Morris, and
say that as soon as they reach land
they will make affidavits of the facts
20 the British consul.
A reporter who went or board the
vessel found several berths in the fore
castle occupied by men who called
piteously for doctor. Most of them
were covered with unhealed wounds
and running sores, and several with
the sailors signs of scurvy. The men
will make charges against Capt Nor
ris, the first mate, =. c. Robinson: the
second mate, n. Cuno, and the boat
swain, Edward Shelluur.
Alexander McCaust said: From the
day that we left Hong Kong we have
been starved and beaten. | have. with
out prOvocation, been struck again and
again by the captain and second mate.
We have had no fresh vegetables, our
daily ratiOns being two sea biscuits
and little meat. If we asked for bet
ter food we were clubbed. | have seen
every sailor on the ship struck by one
officer or another.
THE implements used were a chain,
a large bamboo. a club, an oak club,
the handle of a mop or broom. have
seen as many as five men with black
eyes at the same time. We did not
dare TO strike back lest we be shot"
Edward Simpson said:
Peter Hansen was killed by brutal
ity and starvation. The second mate
seemed to have a particular grudge
against him. and so did the captain.
They used to take turns knocking him
about. Then they would do it to-
gcther"
Hansen finally got sick and feverish.
lie was covered with black and blue
marks and was weakened from lack Of
food.
"The officers said that Hansen was
shamming. They went to his bunk and
called HIM, but he was too weak to get
up. So the captain yanked him out of
bed and dragged him out on deck in
the presence of the second mate and
boa.swain. Then the captain picked
him up
"'You're sick, are YOU? he said, call
ing him vile names. III make you
sicker. When l speak TO you move,
and that quick
''Thcn the captain slammed him
down on the deck again. This he re-
peated three times, cursing violently
all the while. Hansen groaned, but
made no answer In half an hour he
was dead. This was last Sunday"
The truthfulness of this narrative
was vouched for by Sailors William
Smith, Edward Thompson, Pierre
Daniel, Fred Landstrom and Fritz
Streyer, all of whom declared that
they would swear to the facts as soon
as they had an opportunity.
Fred Landstrom, who was also one
of the bedridden men and whose right
arm was in a splint, said: 81 have got
three broken ribs, l think, and my
arm is useless. ! have been to sea for
years and never saw officers so bru-
tai as those on this ship. We have just
been bullied and beaten and starved
the entire voyage.
| have seen scurvy before, and l
know that Thompson has it. The
Frenchman, Pierre Daniel, and Nc
Caust have every symptom OF it.
Firstmate Robinson, who was in
charge Of the bark, the captain being
absent, when asked what he had to say
about the charges made by the men,
said it was true that he had been fore
ed to strike the Frenchman and others,
but never when they did not need 1T.
No particular violence, he said, was
done to the man who died. The crew
were a quarrelsome lot and continually
fighting among themselves.
Guns on the Vesuvius to BE Repaired.
WASHINGTON, March 2l.-Thc dyna-
mite cruiser Vesuvius which has been
ordered here TO have her guns re-
paired arrived at the navy yard Satur-
day morning, having remained at the
Indian Head proving ground over