The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1900-11-23

the Cosmopolitan Line between Phila-
delphia and Rotterdam, and in time the
chartered boats now engaged in the
service will be released to give way to
those in which American capital Is
chiefly invested. The steamships, the
first of which will soon be in service,
will be huge carriers, built with all the
modern improvements for the xcono-
mical and rapid handling of cargoes.
Their terminal facilities at Philadel-
phia are at Port Richmond, and these
facilities at the piers where they dis
charge and load are unrivaled
AN INDEPENDENT NAVAL STA
TION.
The Navy Department has detached
the Island of Guam from the Asiatic
station, making it an independent
naval establishment 1t was found to
be cumbersome to have the Guam re-
ports go across the Pacific to the COM
mander Of the Asiatic station before
coming to Washington. By the new
arrangement the reports will be made
directly to the governor of Guam and
by him will be forwarded to Washing
ton.
ITO PREVENT BREAKAGE OF COAL
New machinery to prevent the break
age of coal in the course Of shipment
is being attached to the North Eastern
Railway Company's staiths at North
Blyth (says an English exchange). The
system. which has already been adop-
ted at the Cowpen Coal Companys
staiths, has as it's main feature large
cage or box, which receives the miner
al from the spouts, and can be lowered
into the ships hold, and swung into
various positions when there, thus re-
ducing very considerably the breakage
which is inevitable in shipping direct
from the spout to the hold.
ABANDONED ON NELSON ISLAND.
Three wayworn and exhausted men
arrived at Nome ch the Dora October
, 10th and told terrible tale of heart
less abandonment and of sufferings en-
dured in a brave attempt to force their
way back to civilization. The men are
, John Javerson, Chris Triemper and H.
b. Melvin. Early in September, as the
, Gold Digger tells the tale, the captain
of the schooner Caspar on the way to
Bristol Bay, left some of the prospec-
tors on Nelson Island, at Cape Van
, couver, and, after promising to call
! for them on his return. failed to keep
his word
A man named Scaggs, one Of the pas
sengers on the Caspar, tried hard at
the time TO arouse benevolent people
to make some effort to rescue the de-
serted men, but the captain declared
that they had been left near a Rus
sian mission, and 1T was also stated
at the United States customs office
that the Manning had gone down to
the vicinity of Nelson Island and
L. ,.-x@
Javerson, Triemper and Melvin are the
men who were left on the island. With
! them was also left an Indian guide
e and an interpreter, named Paul. Mel
0 vim tells the following tale of the mi
raculous escape Of the marooned men:
. We had a good outfit of provisions
when We were left on Nelson Island,
but we learned what want and hunger
e meant before we reached civilization.
$ We soon found that the Russian mis-
: sion had been closed for more than a
. year, and it did not take us long to
: find out that the Nuavak Indians did
not intend to let us escape. The rea-
son was that we had found out that
they had robbed seven bodies that had
been washed up on the beach, and they
> did not want us to spread the report.
!, I'VE could not tell what ship the
! dead men came from. The Indians had
Y looted the remains and had left the
I bodies unburied on the beach. They
, were wearing the shipwrecked mems
: clothes, and we tried in vain to find
the name Of the ship from a boat
l which had been washed ashore. The
Indians, however, had broken the boat
| to pieces and were using it for fire.
wood and building purposes.
I'VE begged the Indians to sell us
boat when we found that the Caspar
had abandoned us. but they only con-
sented to sell Triemper a little skif
that overturned the moment he got
into 1t. We were near the ma inland
on an island, and seeing that our pro-
, visions We're growing low We determin-
ed to make a supreme effort to get
away. l stole a good-sized boat and
lashing that and the Skiff together we
managed to get over to the main and.
Paul, our Indian guide who had
come with us from Nome, had been
educated at the Bethlehem Moravian
Mission on the Kuskaquin, and he ef-
fered to guide us across the cou try
to the Yukon. We went up the Il is
koquim 200 miles, and then through the
lakes over the divide, packing our
: boats wherever necessary. Paul lost
his way more than once, and there
were times when we had precious little
grub, but on the whole we kept in the
right direction, and were able to get
some fish from the Indians. The ice
finally cut through the bottom Of the
boats. so they had to be abandoned.
These kuskoquim Indians were
friendly when we succeeded in ap-
preaching them, but they were terribly
afraid of white men. We buried sew
eral Of them, for they were dying like
, sheep of measles / guess it was just
common measles. but they did not
know how to treat themselves. and
when they got the fever they would go
out and sit in the snow, and the re-
! suit was generally fatal. AS long as
I we had grub we generally gave the
= squaws and children some of it when
they came around and begged, which
> : they did when their fear of US wore off
: little. We had plenty of money with
l us. but they had never seen it and did
f not want it.
r When we got to the Moravian Mis-
4 sion on the Kuskoquim they sold us all
q they could, but they were short of
. grub themselves. Finally we got down
on the Yukon, where we had hoped to
buy supplies at Andreaofsky, but we
found that this year the Alaska Com
mercial Company had not stocked their