The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-09-22
TROUBLE ON
. SHIP BOARD.
Capt. Hart of FiIibuster
Fame Has Trouble
With His Crew.

%hS o''Se iiAup u oiISiS DiS"
struck and there would have been
bloodshed, probably death, at Cal
lowhiIl street wharf. Philadelphia,
yesterday. For an hour or more
it seemed to the onlooker as if vio-
lence could not be averted ON board
the steamship Ask, which vessel
has just returned from Jamaica load
ed with fruit. But the danger pass
ed after two bodies OF fearless men,
the crew Of the vessel, some armed
with revolvers, and crowd of
stevedols, not a few of whom
carried knives, had faced each
other as if for a desperate
encounter. When the collision
did not occur, the trouble was
shifted to the courts on a libel
against the vessels, likely to be
followed by other similar legal
proceedings.
Excitement was intense at the
wharf where Ask lay all morning.
She had brought up from the
tropics cargo OF fruit, including
81 barrels of oranges and over
$1,000 punches of bananas, tine
whole shipment being valuei at
about 10000. The consignee and
owner was the John d. Hart
Company, of which the famous
Cuba 6iibustering agent is the
manager, The steamer was
commanded by Captain Bernard
Hansen, and it is said that the lie
refused 10 permit the unloading Of
the vessel because Captain Hart
had not lived up 20 a certain
agreement. Then it also appeared
that another firm claimed the cargo,
SO that things we're decidedly
mixed.
Eventually Captain iIart went
to the Custom House. where he
showed that he was the real
consignee and owner and obtained
the papers necessary to unload.
When his men, under Boss Steve
dore John ]. Nolan, were ready to
go to work it was found that the
matches had been closed by order
Of Captain Hansen, and then came
the Crisis. Nolan instructed his
party to open them again, and a
rush was made for the deck of the
ship. Some one among those on
board drew a. pistol, and then it
got hotter and hotter as knives
were flashed. and collision
appeared to be inevitable. The
Scclcr heads, with the excited men
cursing and threatening al! about
them. saw tbs sdapser, for, as an
eye witness describes it,had blow
been struck no one can tell what
might have followed.
lIar's men had their way, and
the matches were reopened. The
stevedores got to work with will.
and it looked az though the cargo
would all be taken out without fur
ther difficulty. But Hansen had
not been idle. When he found that
lie could not hold the cargo, ac-
cprding to the story by govern
ment official last night, he hurried
to the office of H.R. Edmunds and
soon Lawyer Proctor Toomey was
driving up to the, United States
Court in the Postoffice building.
There he saw the clerk ofthe court
and quickly secured an attachment
or libel against the Ask. Deputy
Marshal Sol Foster was given the
paper to serve.
Just as soon as he stepped
up to Captain I'art and showed
him the writ the manager ordered
his men to quit work at once. With
two more hours in which to unload
the vessel the entire cargo would
have been out. AS it is a consd.
able amount OF it is still on board,
while cars on the Philadelphia &
Reading and the Pennsylvania X.
R. floats are partly filed and great
piles of fruit lie all about the wharf.
Last night baiifs ofthc court were
on guard to see none of the pro-
perty was disturbed. To-day's de-
must be very interest,"