The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-28
REFUGE OF A PRIVATE BAND.
c.rIEORNIA DEsPER FINE
ASYLUM ON A COAST ISLAND.

only III ISAAAC~AAAh-
nJoy Their Leisure COmmittinG
small Depredations-EXpe
would Furnish Material For 81
cynical Dime Novel.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
A pair of pirates who would have fitted
With picturesque appropriateness into the
shapters of a dime novel are just now De
trr fitted into prison cells at Santa Mo
MICA. For these piratical persons are not
imaginary characters in lurid literature.
they are very much alive, and for some
time have pursued their lawless industry
with profit, mystifying the authorities.
whom they succeeded in eluding until the
other day.
Their names are John Nelson and lobe
Thompson. Their hiding place was ideal
from a pirates point of view Its loca-
ton could not have been more desirable
fer the maintaining of a fence and the
avoidance of capture. Who would think
o. locking for robbers roost thirty-fve
miles from anywhere, on an island so bar
rem of verdure that no animal could nib
ble a living from it's rocky surface save
IA few wild sheep? Who indeed but a
keen constable in search of a fee? To the
activity of Constable II. l. Pritchard of
Santa Monica the depredatory Nelson and
lis partner owe the breaking up of their
snug home on a desert island, where, in
safe isolation and with every convenience
dea ar to a real pirates heart they brought
their booty and distributed it in the va
ri0us hiding places afforded by as choice
and convenient collection of ocean cave
as ever were preempted for the slowing
away of plumber
\ Barren Resort.
Anacapa island has been the retreat of
Nelson and Thompson. Anacapa is one of
a group of desolate, uninhabited promon-
tories across the Santa Barbara channel.
The selection of Anacapa was made be-
cause nowhere else was the environment
so favorable to piratical prosperity. Here
were fish in plenty and wild sheep, OBJ
tainable at no expense, for necessary
food. An occasional foray to another is
and or to the mainland would supply all
other wants, and if, with perfect secrecy
a boat with one or two passengers might
he taken once in a while, surely that
would be part of true pirates accus-
toned business.
All along the coast from Santa Barbara
to Santa Monica the inhabitants have
been missing articles of value, which dis
appeared in the night and We're seen no
more. OF late the complaints became 50
numerous that number OF persons were
arrested on suspicion only to be released
as innocent. while the detectives sleuthed
in vain and the police were unable to To-
cate their coveted prey. No trace of the
offenders could be found until one day
resident of Redondo, l.. j. VALLEY, missed
particularly pretty boat of his, valued
at $125, and saw the foot prints of two
men in the glistening sand near The spot
where the property had been staked.
The footprints disappeared at the wa
ter's edge.
Disappeared From Sight.
Mr. Valley went at once to Santa Monl-
ca and told his troubles to Town Mar
shall NJ. *. Barretto. Now, it happened
that previous TO this one John Nelson had
been arrested and taken to Santa Monica
upon a charge of having Stolen a quantity
Of rope. A jury acquitted him, but Con-
stable Pritchard kept a watchful eye on
him. Nelson, however slipped adroitly
out of sight, The sudden cessation of
larceny along the coast line after this,
until the disappearance of the $l25 boat,
led Mr.. Pritohard to believe that the willy
Nelson was the culprit.
Then began the pursuit which resulted
in the capture of the pirates, the theory
being that Nelson and a companion We're
somewhere off shore and had used the
boat, to convey themselves thither. Con-
Guiding that the men would first haul
their booty up on the shore and then
cover the conspicuous yellow color of it
with a coat of dark paint, the constable
took a team and started up the coast in
specting all the bights and Irregularities
in The shore where it might be possible
for so small vessel to make a landing.
This explora ton continued for two days
and was futile. Then the constable
took the train and reached Santa
Barbara late in the evening. There was a
gasoline yacht at anchor off the wharf
called the Dawn. This was to leave al
midnight for Santa Cruz island where
il was to gather crawfish for a cannery
at Santa Barbara. They reached the island
al sunrise and skirted its shores all day
Anacapa lay out of the track, about ter
miles to the south. A fee induced che
captain TO change his course to that island
narrow wedge of rock eight miles long
having steep sides and little rim of SAND
around it for a shore.
Safe From MOIestatiOn.
Darkness hung over the place when the
yacht arrived and the fringe of foam
which skirted the rocks showed phospho
resent Fights against the somber back
ground. Into this pitchy blackness, witt
weather threatening, a little yawl, pullet
by the engineer and sailor of the boat
with Pritchard at the steering oar, mad
us way 60 the beach. A long search clos
into the line of breakers with spyglasse
charging every object on the sand re
Veaed no sign of a camp. Further in
Vestigation was impossible at that time
and the Dawn and the constable returne
- Santa Barbara.
But the search was not abandoned
Three days later the vessel and the OF
tcial were aioat again. This eXpeditio
was directed straight to the island, IN
purpose being to reach il in clear dayligh
and skirt the other side of the isanc
Information had meanwhile been obtaine
from Capt. Murray of Hueneme, the hes
hnacapa authority on the coast, that Their
were three huts on the north beach of IN
island.
The Dawn drew within 200 yards of tn
north beach, opposite the three old hut
hich were the past habitatons of fisher
men. The bright yellow boat was espie
anchored in the mouth of deep cave. bt
the pirates did not have time TO conce'
H. even if they had suspected the obje'
of the vessels approach Hastily armin
themselves with q shotgun and knii