Evening star., 1903-12-19
Told By Two Oyster Dredgers
Who Escaped.
CASE OF SHANGHAIING
FORCED TO WORK AT THE POINT
OF A REVOLVER.
Once Enlisted It Was Next to In1possi-
BILE to Break Away-Trying
to Get Work.

"A haul of Christmas oysters" has been
ironically suggested as the title of a
story about two dredgers who landed in
this city a few evenings ago. They came
from the bay, and the tale they told of
the manner in which this appetizing salt
water delicacy is obtained seemed surely
the other side of Christmas"
unkempt, dirty and ragged they were
and in the palms of their hands were
deep ugly-looking burrows that rasping
ropes and sharp. oyster shells had cut.
Great sores were on the backs of their
hands and their wrists; down dropped
their shoulders, as If their backbones
had been forever bent; their faces were
haggard, their hair and boards long On
their feet were what might once have
been shoes. From their filthy garments
came the disagreeable odor of salt water
and stale oyster shells. Pistols and clubs
and men thrown overboard-one of them
dead-entered into their tales.
Dredging in the bay" said one;
don tell any one l doing that.
Please don't" and he looked at hands
that had once been used to clerical work
and wondered whether they could ever
hold pen again.
At Municipal Lodging House.
The two men applied for work at the
municipal lodging house, 80 18th street
northwest just below Pennsylvania ave-
nue.. One had been driven in by the cold
lie told Mr.. a. II. Tyson, the superintend-
eht OF the institution, that he was ma
tive of Baltimore; that he had been prac-
tcally shanghied September % and had
neen working like a dog ever since from
" CLOCK In the morning until late in the
evening, with scarcely two meals day
Inc other came to the lodging house the
next morning. Like his brother in misfor-
tune, he had come up the river from Colon
ial Beach, where he had been finally allowed
10 go ashore. For siXty-eight days he had
lived a terrible existence, he said su3sist-
ing on stale bread and molasses and fiat
back, which, he explained was fat pork
Ihere was a huge carbuncle on the back
of his neck, so that he could hardly move
his head from its beut-forward position
HIS home was in Philadelphia, he told Mr.
Tyson, and he had been made drunk and
made to sign away his liberty to the cap
tain of an oyster dredging vessel for the
entire season.
TN tell you my story to help the other
man. he said to Star reporter but don't
let anybody ever know where / have been.
Don't use my name Don't tell them I've
been dredging, he repea ted over and over
again.
A Letter From Boy
One pulled from his pocket dirty scrap
of paper on which was scratched with a
lead pencil.
Dear Aunt: I write you few lines to
let you know l am well, and hope you are
the same. 1 am with man that takes me
away from Baltimore and he is treating me
like a dog. Please write and tell him to
send me home. ! asked him and he said |
would not see home inside five years The
mans name is Mr.. Jeff Williams. | will
say goodbye. From your son.
'CLARENCE CONQUEST.
'To Mrs. Rose Scott,
80 South Sharp street, Baltimore"
This note, the man stated, had been hand
ed to him by colored boy about twelve
years of age, who had written it at his peril
in the hold of the boat.
Take 1t TO my aunt-she's my mother
the lad said.
Mr.. Tyson put the scrap of paper in an
envelope and addressed il according to the
directions on the inside.
il mail 1t TO her, ne remarked. and his
VOICE told that the appeal for help was not
without its effect upon him,
Philadelphia Nan Tells His Story.
At length the Philadelphia man was per
suaded TO tell mis- story.
Il was born in the north of England he
began Il had good education there
Here he exhibited some recommendations
which doubtless We're a proof of the latter
statement.
4 came to this country three years ago
next March. On the Sth of last October
work l have been accustomed all my life |
wandered as a last resort into an employ
ment bureau in the lower part of Philadel-
phia.
Somebody in there asked me 10 have a
drink and unthinkingly | took hlm up
Well, pretty soon ] awakened to the reali-
Zauon of the fact that | had consented to
go down on the Chesapeake at S14 month
They took me by train to Baltimore [ not
knowing TO what l was going. l was des-
perate for work.
"At a shipping office In Baltimore 1 was
that | was to do dredging for
oysters They wouldn't let me turn back |
and besides | wouldn't have known where |
to go if they had. Well we went across the /
bay in old sail boat to Colonial Beach |
where the owner lived.
Got Taste of Future Hardships.
BY this time l had gotten a taste of the
hardships on board. and, being no dog l
wanted to get off l started to go on shore
to sell my satchel and extra clothing in |
order to square myself with the owner
when the captain stopped me and told me
that l was bound to him for the next few
months
He explained thatI had signed a con-
tract to that effect. which was news TO me. !
] learned that what l had signed was a |
blank contract that he had fixed up after |
ward to suit himself
Then started out to work. First |
sick and had to he put off. be was so bad. |
After awhile another was in the same con- !
dition, and then we Were obliged to do all t
the work with six hands.
AT clock in the morning We would !
start out and throw overheard our dredges. |
All day we would toll. with the captain |
and the mate goading At night if the
laul had been Zig nough, the captain would
sell out TO a passing vessel, and in that
event we would have to unload. Three
meals day we got. but awfuly poor
ones, and our captain was saint com
pared to most of the others. they told me-
"I Was Nearly Dead.v
Before two months were up was nearly
lead, but l worked hard to keep from being
At last the mate told us one
lay that the owners dredging license had
expired. 1t was last Monday
He said we might go. He gave me SO,
saying that all the rest of my wages had
been used up for my clothes and by trans
1ortation expenses. l didn't care / was |
30 glad to get away For sixty cents | got
passage on board a steamboat from Co