The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-06-05
THUGS DO
DIRTY WORK
Shipping Master 0'DeII
Struck Down.
.ASSAI LANTS ARE UNKNOWN
Under Cover Of Darkness Brutal At
tack Is Made on the
Victim.

ty near earning his death Death look
ed him in the face, and O'Dell won't
get over the incident for long time to
come.
John O'Dell is a shipping master. 1t
Is his business to supply vessels with
sailors, and he tries to attend to his
business. 1t isn't pleasant occupa-
ton either. from standpoint of per-
sonal safety, or from the point of view
of strict responsibility. Still, this is
the way that O'Dell attempts to earn his
living.
There are others in the sailor traffic.
Lewis & Turk are shipping masters"
and both O'Dell and Lewis & Turk are
| called "crimps." They haven't any use
for O'Dell. He Is Il competitor. They
| have told him So Messrs. Lewis and
Turk and O'Dell don't speak as they
pass by, unless they have something
unkind to say to each other. When they
do speak they talk plainly, very plainly.
O'Dell was attacked on Kaahumalu
street He was felled to the ground by
a murderous blow on his skull from be-
hind. The gentleman or gentlemen
who struck him were modest and OBJ
jected TO getting an axe and planting 1t
! in the defenceless mans countenance
| in a straightforward manner; they
must needs use their fists, or crowbar,
whatever the deadly weapon was, from
behind.
| O'Dell has strong nerves and is well
| put together. 1t took most of his re-
| naming strength to carry his head
| around on his shoulders yesterday. 1t
was very heavy. 1t was an awful sight.
There was one spot that was not
| smashed; that was dimple in his chin,
| which showed up to great advantage
amidst the mountainous formations on
| his face He received several cruel
| blows on the back of his head. His
forehead bulged with bruises. Chips
were taken out of his ears. His eyes
were framed in all the colorS OF the
rainbow. He talked out of a corner of
his mouth His upper lip protruded ell
Ouuently and his general appearance
was that of man who had been kicked
several times in the head and face by
healthy mule.
ODel. said nothing. He seemed afraid
TO speak. Fear of another merclless
thrashing haunted his dizzy brain and
tied his tongue. He knows something
of who came near killing him, but Is
afraid to tell, although it Is said that he
made a statement to Marshal Brown.
ODell's wounds are not limited to his
head. His shoulders, arms, ribs and
whole anatomy bear mute testimony OF
the cowardly assault.
When O'Dell was attacked he was on
his way home. He had been playing
billiards up town for some time. lie
states that he was assaulted without
the slightest warning. Before he could
defend himself or get out OF the way
he was lying in heap on the ground.
More he will not say.
The unfortunate man arrived mere
not long ago as an officer on one OF the
deep-water vessels. He was connected
for a time with the Sailors Home. Re-
Gently he left that Institution and has
been engaged in the shipping business
since. He had made arrangements to
secure q crew for the M. P. Grace
which Is booked for the Sound. For
some reason or other 0'Dell gave up
the Grace contract and the captain OF
the vessel went to Lewis & Turk for
a crew.
Later It was learned from those who
had been talking TO O'Dell that the
badly damaged man was of the opinion
that he had been attacked by his busl-
ness rivals or by man or men en-
gagged by his business rivals to do the
brutal job. 1t Is known that Lewis d
Turk had been following O'Dell about.
He told them he would seek protection
from the police If they persisted In fol-
lowing him. Lewis & Turk thereupon
went to police headquarters and had a
summons issued for O'Dell to appear
Co. In ni r
This occurred on Thursday.
1t is also known that ODell was
closely watched and followed Thursday
night. A man Swallowed him for some
time and waited outside OF a saloon
until O'Dell came out in order to re-
sumo the trail.
Lewis e. Turk were interviewed by
an Advertiser reporter yesterday after
noon. 1--WE know nothing OF the af-
fair" they said, NOR do we want to
know anything about 1t. Yes, we saw
O'Dell this morning, he looks pretty
bad. We don't know how he came In
that condition. Very possibly he was
engaged In trying to get some men
aboard ship who didn't want to go,
and they may have done him up.
We've only seen the man occasionally.
No, we don't know where Kaahumanu
street Is. You've got us there, sure"
Lewis a. Turk have offices on Queen
street opposite the boat-landlng. Kaa-
humanu street Is within a few yards
OF their headquarters. o'Dell Is In the
habit OF occasionally dropping in at
the tobacco and soda-water establish
ment on the same premises as the Of
fees OF Lewis a. Turk. 0'Dell was
there yesterday. Lewis and Turk were
there too. o'Dell was the remark OF
whoever entered the place. HIS ap-l
pearanee clearly showed the rough |
handling he had received. When he was
picked up bruised and bleeding early