, 1898-07-26

ed to be on the market, hired a master
and shipped u small crew. This was
~Sorenson's suggestion. He concealed
his ignorance of the ar. of navigation,
and protested that thus they would
have a check upon the honesty of his
dealings with them.
The Albert was navigated to the
Solomons. Once in these extensive
archipelagoes of the Pacific n boy
can navigate by landmarks of the peaks
in sight. There was no longer any need
of the captain and Sorenson promptly
disposed of him by turning him adrift
with one companion in the dingy. The
rest of the crew were locked in the
f]orecastle. The next step was to re-
cruit a crew of islanders. This was
easy to such a man. A native chief
was invited aboard with his paddlers.
The chief was asked below into the
cabin to get a pannikin of trade gin
and you can do anything with a South
Sea Indian if only gin is in prospect.
The chief was firmly dashed, his pad
dlers were driven into the sea with a
rifle, and then Sorenson announced his
plan. The people could have their chief
if they would yield up all the shell they
had, and would provide a crew for the
schooner; otherwise the chief must suf-
fer. Such is the regard for rank among
the islanders that the infamous trans
action was faithfully executed. Sail
ing then to the next island, Sorenson
sold his Melbourne crew of white men
to a chief of the cannibals, with no
stipulation as to the uses they were to
be put. The payment was in pear shell.
Fortunately the dingy drifted into
the sight of a trader who had some hu-
manity and who rescued the captain
of the Albert and his companion, and
fed them back to life. By another
stroke of fortune a British gunboat, the
Dart, came along, and as o o as the
first of these deeds became known pur-
suit of the schooner was prompt. The
crew were rescued from their captity
before they had gone to the oven, the
Albert was overhauled and Sorenson
vas captured. He was tried in Cook
town, in the colony of Queensland, i'll
1884, and was sentenced to ten years
at hard labor. After his release, in
1894, for such a mar can never earn
good conduct credits, he disappeared.
The only thing known of his doings
is that he appeared on a trading
schooner in the German Solomons, and
was deported with that prompt dispatch
which characterizes imperial colonial
administration.
Early in 1897 he was in San Francis
co with gold speciments of marvellous
richness, nuggets and flakes of virgin
gold, and chunks of quartz in which
there was far more gold than rock. He
was not telling people in general where
he got it, but he let it be known that
there was plenty left behind, and he
was seeking a companion with some
capital to work the deposit. A negro
was the first to take the bait-a negro
with some few thousands saved. Just
how the transaction was worked no
one knows, but in a short time Soren-
son had the money and the negro blew
his brains out.
Then SorensOn fell in with a lot Of
young mechanics, each of whom had
saved some money and all of whom
were regretting they had not taken the
first chance at the Klondike. At this
time last year gold was in the air at
San Francisco, and any man who could
show such specimens as Sorenson had
was sure to find listeners. He would
not tell them whence came his gold
until they had formed a company and
put up the money. In this company he
was to have one-third interest in re-
turn for putting the adventures on the
ground. Captain Mclean, who had
just finished the Sophia Sutherland
when the bottom dropped out of the
seal-poaching business, in which it had
never been proved he had been engag-
ed, contributed his vessel in lieu Of
cash; a man named De Witt, a mining
superintendent, put in his professional
knowledge as his share. With these
exceptions the capital stock was rails
ed among a number of intelligent me-
chanics, who put their hardwon earn
ings into a scheme as visionary as the
first South Sea bubble. 1t is no re-
Election upon the intelligence of these
young men Of San Francisco that they
were led away. Remember that the
riches OF the Klondike were OF the lips
Of the whole world. This man O only
talked gold to them, but his buckskin
sack held hundreds of dollars worth
of the virgin metal. They could not
help noticing that he wore a ring in
which was a pearl as large as a marble.
and they would be less than men IL
they failed to be impressed by his OFF
hand statement that he found it Gin an
oyster down there where the gold
comes from" Few men can accustom
themselves to speak %flippantly Of jew
els; when they do they make a dis
tinct impression.
What was Sorenson's ultimate pur-
pose in this great scheme of delusion
no one knows but himself. The South