Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1901-12-11
Ordeal of the Man in q Boz

VINO was ulAcOYereu III IHe uolu VI tho
Hamburg American steamer Paatia
yesterday almost dead from having
tried to make the trip across tue ocean
in packing case rec overed sufficiently
in st. Msry's Hospital, at Hoboken,
to be able to speak today OF his fright
full experience
Lying on his bed. the man sad his
name was John Beck. Between yasps
for breath he told his tory. He sp Ike
in iaiIly good English with aGermUn
accent.
II was poor" he said. Gin your
country thought conld make money
and get b me but l had no meney to
get across the ocean. Finally thought
out way. 1 built box and spent
What money had left for some lood.
"Then l went to the American Express
officials in Hamburg and told tdem to
go to my place and get a box. l told
them it contained model.
81 went home and got into the box
Whel they took it away they did not
know the difference. / bad 1t shipped
t. Hotel Hung aria, IN Union square.
N, W York, because / had heard OF the
men who own that place, and I thought
if / got there / would be all right
Becks first imp easant experience,
be said, was when he WAS slowed away
in the hold of the Palatia. He had
been carted from the place where he
lived OH the third foot of house In st
Pcu'i. suburb of Hamburg, to the
do oI The Hauburg-American Line
Tier he.was left for time while other
meac md Sc was loaded into the ships
| bold. Tu,n workmen attached chain
to his kox and be WAS lifted high up
into tue air. Ignorant that man was
| in lie the box. the wharfman had fixed
the chain that he hung head downward
| For what seemed to him an eternity he
hung suspended over what be supposed
was a hatchway,a and as t-e box descend
ed he lost consciousness.
Afterhe recovered his senses L.
waited until all vas quiet before be
dared open the lid Of his box and look
out. He found himself on top of lot OF
other boxes with only sbut Is incnes
between the top OF his box and the
deck that formed his roof
At first everything went we'll with
him, but alter the vessel got under
Roadway he was taken violently seaslck
and did not get over this for several
days. Besides the air was intensely
c.ose aud it was bitterly cold, But
chiefest Of all his troubles were the
rats.
cit as frightfuI the way they swarmed
about me and my box" said he. u
supp re they were after my food and
it seem d TO me there must be millions
Of them. When 1 was in my box l
coull Lear them running over and
around it in droyes. Every time / put
nv hand out there were rats on every
side Of men
Day day tie bad air, the cold,
LONELINESS ,seasckness. and the constant
seuriy ng OF the rats told more and
more on Beck,s vitality, until he sank
under q state OF coma that lasted for
the last fsw days of his trip until the
opening OF the hatcEes to unload the
cargo iu Hoboken allowed fresh arto
rush into the hold. That revived b m
so that he was abe to murmur"
Watu~
Through 16 da7s the man endured
the cramped quarters, the dungeon like
imprisonment. For 10 or more DAYS be
had the consolation Of food and drink
Then cume starvation and thiIst. He
suffered the torments of one buried
alive. Helpless in a cell where the
nois Of tbe sea precluded the possibility
of BIS obtaining aid, he know that q
few feet above him were men IN the
steerss, With no knowledge Of the
apse of time. it stretched for him until
the 10 days he expected to be penned
up seemed to have dragged into
months Starving, he yet craved water
more than.food' and gra iually the idea
of relief became associated in his mind
with the wcid water
The packing case was six feet long.
four feet high, and about three feet
| wide heavily built, like cases that ar
used for valuable goods. On the lid III
add ton to the inscription u. b. H.
the work "Obsn"was painted in red at
each end of the case 1t is the Gei man
for "this side up" There was also
vorsicht," meaning handle with care,
and "Nlcht stuerzer, which means"
don't throwi it down" Beck had pro-
vlded against rough handling.
The man had gotten out OF the box
| By turning button fasi ening inside
| the cover and then lifting that section
of the csse' 1t was hinge 4 and fell
back to one side, Near the case Back
had had space in which to move around
a few feet in the da,k and the foul air.
The box was Beck's truck and larder
as well as his living room Held close
to thecovsr by sort of false top were
eyeral suits Of under wear and other
personal effects. In q leather 'alise OF
the kind immigrants often carry lay at
| - 4Ho oaoa morn Of rha