Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-11
.KILLICK BLOWS UP HIS SHIP
New Phase in the Sinking Of Haytisr
Gunboat at Gonaiv.
ADMIRAL HIMSELF FIRES MAGAZINE
when Capture Becomes Inevitable He
Destroys the Vessel and with
Al Goes 60 His Death
in the waves.

GoNAIvEs, Hayti, Sept. 1o.-An investi-
cation made by a correspondent Of the As
ISOLATED Press into the sinking OF the Fir
minist gunboat Crete-a-Pierrot at the en-
trance of this harbor Saturday shows that
Admiral Killick, the commander, personally
fred the after magazine Of that vessel when
the German gunboat Panther attempted to
capture It, and that he apparently went
down with his ship.
Panther which had previously attempted
to board Crete-a-Pierrot, the latter being
moored to the shore, reversed its engines
when the magazine exploded, and one hour
afterward fired thirty shots from its guns
at Crete-a-Pierrot in order to finish the
work OF sinking the vessel. Panther then
left Gonaives.
1t is claimed here that the rifles and
machine guns Of Cr~ete-a-Pierrot have been
saved.
The body Of Admiral Killick was recov-
cred Saturday afternoon and was buried the
same evening.
The surgeon OF Crete-a-Pierrot, who was
asleep in his cabin, and two sailors Of that
vessel also persisted.
Panther is expected to reach Cape Hay
tien on Friday.
A newspaper Of Port-au-Prince July Il
contained the following telegram from Ad-
miral Killick to General Boisrond Canal,
provisional president of Hayti:
GONAIVES, July L2.-Boisrond Canal,
Port-au-Prince: Killick does not fear any
thing. Will blow up ship and company for
the sake of the national honor. You alone
remain responsible
Previous to sending the message to Gen
eral Boisrond Canal, 1t appears, Admiral
Killick had received orders from the latter
to give up his vessel to Lieutenant Reid,
his second in command. and 1t was also re-
ported that the provisional government had
requested the United States gunboat Ma
rietta and the French cruiser d'Assas to
capture Crete-a-Pierrot, hence the defiant
dispatch to General Boisrond Canal.
Paper Not Recognized.
WASHINGTON, Sept. Determination
has come to the State department from Min
lister Powell Of the press report that the
Haytian government has declared Gonaives
and some Of the other Haytian ports, which
are in the hands Of the Firminists, closed
to m
The right of a government to close or
open ports in normal conditions never has
been questioned. But as certain South and
Central American republics have shown a
disposition to avail themselves Of the
privilege in case of revolutionary troubles
to close ports which they did not actually
control, the State department has adopted
the policy OF declining to recognize such
DEGREES, which after all, are nothing more
than paper blockades.
Therefore. this last Haytian order will
not be allowed to interfere with commerce
with the ports named unless the Haytian
government can. by a display Of naval
forces, either drive off the insurgents or
maintain an actual blockade.
BERLIN, Sept. 10.-Some Of the news
papers here having expressed the opinion
that Germany would claim damages against
the Haytian government for the arms and
ammunition captured by Admiral Killick
on board the German steamer Markoiuan-
mia, the semi Official Cologne Gazette re-
plies, apparently inspired, to the effect
that the matter was settled so far as Ger
many was concerned with the destruction
of Crete-aPierrot, adding that the nrms
and ammunition captured belonged to the
Haytian government and were merely
under transport from one Haytian port to
another.