Smyrna times., 1900-12-05

Lnd shriveIed until they were of the
size and weight of boy.

Lnu Snr1Veled until they were or the
size and weight of a boy.
In the forecastle and cabin we found
Others-enough to make up a crew Of
IA. There were IA dead men and not a
living thing aboard of the Santa Maria.
On the cabin table there were the re-
mains of breakfast, and in the fore
castle were the kids with food still in
them. Whatever had occurred was in
conjunction with the morning meal.
AS there was no fever smell aboard the
derelict, our captain came over to
try bis hand at solving the mystery.
The ships papers and log were soon
found. We got her manifest and port |
and date of sailing, and the last entry |
on the log had been made five days be-
fore. At that time all was well. The |
bodies in cabin and fOrecastle were of |
course in better state of preservation, |
and after an inspection the captain
gave it as his opinion that the entire
crew had been poisoned. The attitude |
of each and every man went to prove
! it. Their eyes were open and rolled
back, their fingers clutched and their
knees drawn up.
That derelict was a great find for us.
| Her manifest showed a cargo valued
at over $2,O0O000 and the ship was all
right above deck. AS to the water in
her hold, we manned the pumps and
had it out to the last pint in two hours.
Then we made an investigation to find
the leak, and we soon discovered that
a single auger hole had been bored in
her bottom. The orifice had become
more or less clOgged with seaweed,
and it would have taken another three
or four days to have filled the ship.
We argued that the man in the boat
must have come from the ship. AS he
had got away alone and had provision
ed the boat, it must have been after
the others were dead. He it was, then,
who had brought about the wholesale
death of the crew, and he must have
had strong motive. That motive was
discovered when some of the boxes of
treasure were hoisted out of the laza-
rette and broken open. Aside from
one or two boxes, the whole treasure
business was a fake. Lead had been
substituted for silver and gold. The
furs were a cheat and a fraud, and
the value of the dyestuffs was not
One-Quarter of the sum they were in
sured for. A second and closer search
of the stateroom evidently occupied by
the supercargO gave us the key to un-
lock the whole mystery. He had left
behind him a letter of instruction sign
ed by Alvarez at the City of Mexico,
and from that we learned that the
name of the dead man was Prado.
That letter, written in Spanish, was of
no aid to us except as far as the two
names went but later on. when trans
lated into English, it's contents were of
a nature to make a man turn pale.
The instructions were to do just what
had been done. After the Santa Maria
had reached a certain position he was
to poison the crew with a certain drug
prepared and then scuttle the ship and
take his leave i'm small boat. 1t was
doubtless figured that if not picked up
he could easily reach the coast Of Chile;
but. as l have told you, we found him
dead in his boat How his death came
: about cannot say, as he had food and
water and had not encountered any
D bad weather. have always believed
r however. that in his remorse for the
' awful deed he had done, coupled with
q the terrors of his lonely situation. he
' deliberately drank of the poison which
0 had laid the others low. 1t was before
e the crew became too i'll to move about
t that sail was taken off and she was
s made snug against the weather.
n With the auger hole plugged and {
t part of our crew on board the Sants
h Maria. we laid our course for the pOr
+ of Valdivia, and in due time boil
5 craft arrived there in good shape
o The dead had been given burial, o
k course but there was no lack of Othe
d proofs. AS soon as the plot was un
J. raveled steps were taken for the aT
s rest of Alvarez in Mexico and ou
d claim for salvage was also filed. Gov
5. ernments move slowly in internationa
e matters. 1t was months before the
p got ready to arrest the man who ha
p plotted this sea tragedy. He ha
q meanwhile continued his career of dis
0, sipation and extravaganza dependin
1t upon his insurance money to make eN
IS erything good. News got to him some
a how from Valdivia of the derelict bC
a. ing towed in. and he left Mexico an
in hid away in Bolivia. There he was q
ar last found. but he cheated the hans
G. man by committing suicide. Year
ut later the crew of the Homeward got
he few dollars apiece as salvage none!
er The ship herself was lost at sea with
y full crew. You may ask why Prad
s. did not make a thorough job of scu
ID Ting the Santa Maria while he was
D. it. He must have been alone at til
1T time, except for the dead around hin
OF and he had a sharp auger to wor
ly with Had he bored half dozen hole
at instead of one the ship would hay
at gone down before being overhaule,
It, and in that case we could have mad
IT, nothing over finding his corpse in IL
in boat The fact would have been el
hit tered on the log and reported. bl
he would have caused no comment on
ot side of marine circles. Prado Wa