Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-29
TRIED IN JAP An,
FREED IN ATLANTA


william DinkeIlal "No. 12, they called
him out at the Federal prison on the Nc
Donough road, was Friday granted a fuil
and unconditional pardon by President
Roosevelt, and left Atlanta on Saturday
day afternoon to visit the man VINO
worked so hard to secure for him a
pardon at the hands of the president.
Dinkella, for the first time since May
9th. 1850, was yesterday free man,
though tried in the far away island OF
japan for murder and sentenced to
death. The Japanese government took
up the matter and said he must not hang.
He was sentenced to life Imprisonment
and sent back to this country to serve
Uncle Sam for the rest of his life.
The crime for which Dinkella was SEN
fenced to die; the taking up OF the case
by a foreign power; his sentence to lie
Imprisonment; his deportation to Amer
lea, his jail life and finally his pardon
are stories replete with interest.
Dinkella, second mate on schooner Cen
tennial, vessel flying the American flag
and registered in America, had difncul-
ty with Charles H. Abbott, the first mate
o. the ship, just as it was preparing to
sail out of Hiogo harbor, in Japan.
The men had a quarrel, followed by
blows, and Dinkella drew a sheath knife
he carried in his belt. Abbott, realizing
his danger, fed into the cabin Of the
vessel closely followed by Dinkella.
The men clinched and fell. Many blows
were passed. Finally one of the men rose
and wiped off a. knife. 1t was Dinkella,
second mate of the Centennial, and Abb
bolt, his first mate, was dead as the re-
suit of his stabs
Dinkella was overpowered by the sail
ors, and placed in the ships brig, in irons.
He was finally taken before the Ameri-
can consul in Toxic, Japan. When
crime is committed on a ship on the high
seas, the murderer is tried by the country
in which the vessel on which the crime
is committed is registered.
The American consul heard the case,
and acting under his rights, he sentenced
Dinkella to die by hanging.
Japan took up the matter, and said that
Dinkella must not die. The matter was
l.. ally adjudicated, and Dinkella was re-
turned to America, to serve out his life
in an American federal prison for
murder committed on the high seas.
The cost of the trlci of Dinkella in far
away Japan and his deportation to Amer
lea was more than $1,000. At that time
he was a young man "a years of age, an
expert sailor, and second mate on a hne
ship.
Saturday he left the prison, a free
man, broken in spirits and bowed with
age.
AS soon as the news OF his pardon was
received at the prison, Captain Petty,
deputy warden, secured for him rail-
road ticket al suit of clothes and gave
him s. in money. Dinkella No. ~ no
longer, but a free man, left Immediately
for Albany, n. Y, where he will spend the
first weeks of his freedom as the guest OF
the man VINO was instrumental in securing
for him a pardon.
Dinkella was released on the grounds
that the crime was committed in the heat
OF anger and that there might have been
some justification for the killing. as Abb
bott the dead man, had struck him a
severe blow before he was killed.
Dinkella was a Hollander, by birth and
a sailor by profession. When he left the
prison he was nearly bald headed. He is
slender, weighing only 1n pounds, is a
blonde and had blue eyes He has a
pronounced Roman nose. Dinkella has
chosen no profession, but it is more than
likely that his old time love for the sea
will again call him to the vessels along
the front and probably back to the ca Dm
and far out to sea.