The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-08
High Rippers Terror
lied the Passengers
Of the Scotsman.
JUSTICE DAY SHOULD TRY THEM
Striking Sailors and Fire
men Deserving Of
Sympathy.

Some weeks ago, in this column, the
story was told of the desperate Liver
pool High Rip gang which terrorized
the community for months, and which,
going from one excess of lawlessness
10 another, finally compelled Justice
Day to resort to fiogging with the cat
as the only means Of breaking it up
and inspiring the ruffians who COM
posed it, with some respect for law
ana order. Judge Day and the cat
succeeded III their task, but of course
neither could render extinct the breed
OF young criminals whose suppression
was matter of so much difficulty
TO be sure, they were forced to
abandon their highway garrotting in
broad daylight, and as an organized
gang the police of Liverpool has found
no trace OF them for some years. Com
peeled to work or starve the high rip
pers sought work as stokers on the big
ocean steamers, or as boiler boys in the
shipbuilding yards.
Ihe decent seamen and firemen who
belong to the Seamen's Union would
nave nothing to do with the treacher-
Gus and unprincipled crowd, and be-
lore long they We're known along the
line OF docks as Liverpool rats" with
whom the better class of seafaring
men would not associate or work.
They were always ready to jump
aboard vessel at the last moment
when member of the crew was miss
ing at sailing time, and somebody, no
matter Who had to be taken in his
place. Thus great many of the high
rip gang managed to get away to for
eign countries, mainly the United
States and Canada.
Not much had been heard about them
for ten or dozen years, until the sea-
mems strike now in progress in Great
Britain brings the Liverpool high rip
per once more to the surface. They
have been shipping all sorts of crews
on steamers crossing the Atlantic for
several weeks, and the captains and
officers know the difference some of
them to their sorrow.
The loss of the Scotsman a few days
ago, in the Straits Of Belle Isle, was
due largely, if not wholly, to the class
of men that comprised the crew both
on deck and in the engine room, and
the horrifying and brutal scenes which
followed the stranding of the ship,
when the sailors and firemen robbed
the women passengers of their jewelry
and money and in some cases their
clothing, at the very time they should
have been working to save lives, afford
sufficient proof that the Inflated Scots
mans forecastle was tenanted that
voyage by members of the defunctl
high rip gang, shipped to fill the places
of the men on strike.
1t is gratifying to know that so many
of the scoundrels were arrested by the
--1t
dence of their guilt was found upon
them. Let us hope that Justice Day
will be on the bench when they come
up for trial.
Strikes are not always defensible, but
If there is on this earth a body of men
entitled to the support of a sympathetic
public, in their efforts to better their
condition, it surely is composed of the
sailors and firemen now on strike in
Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle and the
other great shipping centres of Great
Britain. Following the most perilous Of
all occupations, and subject to condi-
tions that almost entirely debar the or
binary comforts of life, those poor fell
lows, as class the paost noble natured
that ever breathed, are paid wages so
wretchedly small that neither they nor
those dependent upon them can ever
rise above the level of the most grind
ing proverty. Fifteen dollars a month,
and very often much less, is the remun-
Grafton of an able seaman, who, to be
so rated, must be as intelligent mentally
as the average skilled mechanic ashore
Sailors have no walking delegates or
salaried organizers to do the talking
for them and to attract public atten-
ton to their cause. The politicians
never bother catering for the sailor
vote, for reasons that are perfectly OBJ
vious, and so poor Jack grubs along
through life, apparently uncared for
except by the little cherub who sits
up aloft" and somehow keeps an eye
on his boys who make their home on
the painless ocean.
What the life" Of the ordinary Brit
ish seaman is may be imagined from the
following extract from a report of the
British consul al Nagasaki to the for
eign office in LONDON:
1.-THE scale of food supplied to the men
in the forecastle continues to be exactly
che same as 1t was 30 or 40 years ago
the same unvarying round of salt beef
and salt pork, Notwithstanding the i'm
mense advances that have in that per
iod been made in the science of preserv-
ing and the low price at which pre-
served meats, fruits and vegetables in
great variety and of the best quality
can now be supplied in large quantities
Lime Juice continues to be the sole anti
seorbutic and the daily food of the
English sailor is the same in quantity
and quality whether in the North At
lantic in mid winter or becalmed, it may
be, on the equator.
1.-THE seamen's accommodation is an
other source of complaint. The men are
confined in small ill-ventilated spaces.
In heavy weather at sea even this limit
ed space must be kept closely shut, and
the atmosphere in the tropics, with
damp clothes and oilslzins hung every
where to dry. must be little short of
horrible. Neither table, crockery nor
cutlery are provided, lighting is of the
scantiest description and the food is
eaten from tin pannilxin on the mems
knees, seated either on bunk or
chest. Books, papers or magazines are
Unknown on board, nor is any provision
of any kind made for the amusement
of the men in such leisure hours as they
may have.
THE stringent regulations in refer
ence to leave to go ashore for time
4xr1iIa t. mort are felt RI no a f>riavniie