Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-26
SEIZURE OF THE ToPAzE,
Captain Of British Ship Says Venezue.
lans Maltreated His Crew.

The captain OF the British ship TopaZe
gives the following account Of the seizure
Of his ship by the Venezuelan authorities:
Just before left La Guayra, on Deem
Der 4, for Puerto Cabello, the British
cruiser Indefatigable and the cruiser Ga
zelle, and the gunboat Panther Of the Ger
man navy arrived, but as 1t is no unusual
thing for foreign warships to put in there
l did not think that their presence had
anything to do with the rumored trouble.
In Puerto Cabello, which we reached on
December 3, everything seemed quiet. Bus
mess was going on the same as usual.
heard, on December 8, that several Brit
tsh and German war ships were expected at
La Guayra. OF this We got no definite in
formation, but on December 1 was in
formed that the combined fleet had seized
what vessels of the Venezuelan navy they
could get hold Of in La Guayra and that
the trouble had begun.
In retaliation the Venezuelan government
gave orders that the national guard should
be called out and that all British and Ger
man subjects in the country should be i'm
prisoned and that their property should be
seized.
1 knew nothing about this order until De-
cember 9. At about o'clock in the even
ing, while we were discharging coal at the
wharf, we were surprised by the sudden ap-
pearance OF an armed guard, which, with
out parley, rushed aboard and in a very
rough and excited manner drove myself and
my crew, at the point of their swords and
loaded Mausers, from my vessel to the
| wharf.
The crew consisted of men of several
nationalities, but this made no difference.
All were treated alike in this matter. We
were treated more like cattle than like hu-
| man beings We were not given time to
lock up our rooms or put on more clothing.
Venezuela, even at this time of the year.
Is very hot country. None of the crew had
| much clothing on and few wore shoes or
| mats. we were driven, pushed and butted
| in brutal manner into shed on the
| wharf. where we were under armed guard
| for couple Of hours; then we were ordered
| out.
| We formed single file, and with a strong
escort we marched off Ito the police station.
| We presented very nncouth appearance
as We passed throughd the ftown.
The residents had turned out in great
numbers and they were not unsparing in
| their jeers and laughter. ,of
This behavior on the part of the residents
IN no way served to ,impr0ye our temper.
When we reached the police station We
were about to be thrust into some dirty.
damp and bad smelling cellsyy
l vigorously objected to being put into
| such filthy places. This protest had its eff
| feet, as our captorsI took bus on parade
again. Eventually, atsabout midnight, we
were consigned to anotherUprison. There
my whole crew andd myself, twenty-five
| persons In all, were serowded into a den
| about sixteen feet square. There were only
tWo HoieS dpout tnre6AeeC square, close TO
| the ceiling, for ventiationsof
The room was completelyg bare Of every
| thing but dirt, Of which there was plenty.
| The den had stone if1oorsI but nothing to
| sit on and no bedding of sany description
| whatever.
We had to pass the night the best we
could We were not allowed to go out on
| any consideration. and had to endure the
stencil caused by the filth around the room,
which nearly suffocated us.
The next morning We were given larger
quarters. but not better ventilated than the
one we occupied on the previous night. It
was even more dirty and evil smelling.
Here again We had to squat upon the
| stone floor or walk around to keep our
selves from getting cramped. So unhealthy
| was the hot and bad air in the place that
several of the crew became i'll, and can
safely say that had we been kept there
much longer all OF US would have become
| i'll with fever.
Our jailers would not supply us with any
food Through the kindness of friends out
side. however, after a lot of difficulty, they
got permission to feed us and we were sup