The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-05-09
TOBLAGNAIL SODERGREN
HIS SENSATIONAL STORY OF HIS
ARREST.
Lewis and Turk and Their Propositions.
Eight Years of Union Persecution of
The Captain.

per makes a startling statement of the
events that preceded his arrest on the
charge on which he is now under SEN
tence of six months, that of assaultlng
the seaman Carpenter. The captain
states that he first heard that he was
in danger of arrest from Lewis and
Turk who came to him with PROPOSE
ton to fix the Job for $50 When he
asked them what the $50 was for he
was told that one of his men was going
to have him or his mate arrested. Ire
proposal was rejected and another one
made, with a threat that arrest would
follow quickly if it was not accepted. A
second refusal to put up money was
quickley followed by arrest.
The imprisoned ship-master also tets
a strange and significant story of pei
secutions that have followed linn since
! the famous murder trials that resulted
| in the hanging of two men from the
| Hesper some years ago. The men On
| the Hesper mutinied at that time ard
murdered the mate, between here and
! Newcastle, and two of them were hang
/ ed, since which event Captain SodCr-
gren says he has been constantly per-
secuted and pointed out all owe" the
world as the man who hanged two sea-
men.
The bark Hesper had been in port
here six days before any charge WAS
made against the captain, he stats.
The men all stayed on the vessel doing
the usual work that follows the arrival
of a vessel in port. What happene q
just before the arrest is told by the
master of the vessel as follows:
Il was called on at the vessel by two
men who introduced them] Il IS az
~.
before but had not met them up TO that
time. We stood and talked near nv
companionway and my wife, who was
sitting below doing some necdl2W 0rk
overheard what was said.
They proposed that l pay them $50 to
fix a charge that was to be brought
against the mate or me. l told them
that 1 knew nothing about any charge,
and they said one of my men was go-
ing to make trouble for me, mentioning
the mate as the one mostly to be in
volved. 1 replied that l didn't propose
to encourage blackmail, didn't know
who or what they were and wasn't 60
ing to be bled. / remarked that " y
men were all right and that l feared no
charge.
up to this time 1 had heard nothing
about a warrant for my arrest, IND
understand that none had been issued.
Two hours later Lewis and Turk met
me again. They called me aside, as
! was with another man. When ne fol-
lowed they excused themselves on the
ground that they wanted to see me
alone. l can now see that this was
their game. AS long as l was alone
there was the testimony of the two
against me and / could do nothing 10
bring them to justice for blackmail.
"At this time they came down $40 in
their price. l refused to pay anything
for the same reason as before. Lewis
who is quite a smooth talker, told me
that the paper calling for my arrest
was already made out, but not signed
If l did not pay over the $40, he said
it would be signed at once, and 1 should
be under arrest in two hours.
Tell the man who is going to sign
it to sign right away and sign it in
triplicate,' 1 replied. and those were the
last words 1 had with Lewis and Turk
Things happened as they predicted.
returned to my vessel and two hours
later Deputy Marshal Hendry arrived
with a summons for me. l went with
him to the United States district court
and was released on my own recogni-
zance. All this happened on Satur-
day the 9th of April.
"On the following Monday the Fede-
raj grand jury was called and l was in
dicted and tried, with the result as
known. l have not any doubt that the
case against me was made up. The
second trial showed it, where the same
witnesses tried to do the same thing
again, but lied so badly that twelve
jurors unanimously refused to credit
what they testified to at all.
''At that time l should have beer
= willing to pay fine, as my vessel Ii
tied up and will lose her charter sooI
and 1 would have paid and been done
e with the whole business. But the judge
= gave me a six months sentence and
t shall fight that to the United States
n Supreme Court if necessary. 1 have
, followed the sea all my life and have
never been under arrest before. At tn,
time of the trial in San Francisco, whel
= the mutiny cases of the Hesper were
heard. Judge McKenna, now a membe
- of the highest court in America compli
mented me in very high terms upon m!
conduct as a shipmaster McKennt
was a circuit judge then, and he hearc
the cases"
The mutiny on the Hesper was one o
the most sensational sea-crimes tina
has N ha Danffa N,