The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-10
OFF THE SAN BIAS COAST.
Captain Bartram's Story Of an I'm
welcome Visit.

welcome Visit.
A whole lot of grown-up people now
adays think that piracy is one Of the
lost arts but Captain Bartram of the
Danish brig Clara. which arrived Sat
! urday night from San Bias, is not one
of them. He has his knowledge first
hand too, for while coming up the San
Bias coast three weeks ago, he and his
brig were held up by three piratical
looking indivuals who came out from
, the coast in a sailboat, and demanded
that he give up a Colombian customs
| inspector who was on board the Clara.
To make more effective their demand
| the rebels, for such they proved to be,
carried an imposing array of knives
| and artillery. Each of the three
carried rife. six knives, the blades of
| which according to the captain, were
four feet long, and any number of
pistols stuch promiscuously in their
belts and pockets.
1T was something new on me-" said
Captain Bartram yesterday, and for
minute l couldn't think of just the
| proper thing to say. l didn't hesitate
long, though, for as soon as the thing
! could be done had run up the Danish
| flag. Then l shouted: This man is
| under the protection of the Danish flag
You can have him if you can get him,
but you'll have TO take the brig first.
Il expected a volley of shots and a
few knives, but the rebels didn't say
| anything. They consulted with a negro
they had in the boat with them. These
| fellows had grabbed the old mans boat,
| and they brought him along to keep her
bailed out. When they got through
talking one of them spoke up:
g If you won't give us our man give
us $40
II couldn't waste much time with
those chaps, and still l didn't like the
| look of their armament so I invited
them aboard for a parley. They came
| into my cabin, but the customs man
didn't linger around. After some de-
bate compromised with them for forty
bottles of rum-very good rum it was,
! too. They sampled one bottle, seemed
| satisfied, and said good afternoon.
THE cocoanut cruising ground from
Cape Darien to Porto Bello is full of
these fellows now that they are having
| trouble In Colombia, but l had some
how managed to keep out of their way.
They are only blackmailers, and guess
they make fair living out Of it."
Last Christmas the owners of the brig
presented Captain Bartram with a
gramophone, and now the Clara's fame
has spread all along the South Ameri-
can coast.
'At first I had only one tune, the
| 'Marseillaise,' said the captain. "but
that was enough for the natives. 1t
was a caut ion to watch them when the
| thing played. l got sort of tired of the
| 'Marseillaise,' so one time when | went
ashore took blank record and got an
old Colombian with a voice like bull
| to talk into it. Then I got bunch of
natives aboard and let her go. Some Of
them knew the old man, and when they
heard his voice coming out Of the ma
chine number rushed out of the cabin
and one of them couldn't get far enough
away on the ship so he jumped over
board.
"They soon got over that, though, and
now they will bring aboard all kinds of
fruits to get me to let them talk into it,
"It's great place down there along
the San Bias coast" concluded the
captain. "In some settlements they
work only one day week, and are
drunk three. 1 don't know what they
do the rest of the time. New York
| Times.