Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-03

laughed at and. with an oath. ordered
!, back to work.
Bulldozed and Pounded.
II recollect that one of our men was of
very slight build; possibly he weighed 100
pounds. He young man who had
been highly educated. college graduate.
and could speak several languages. He had
heard great deal about America, it's won
derful institutions and the great induce
ments held out here to people of other lands
who desire to establish homes for them
selves. So he mad come here strong in the
belief that his services would be appreciat-
ed. and that he would find little trouble in
getting foothold in such a wonderful
country as this. He had no friends here.
but little money and spoke only few words
Of English; but his faith In the American
people was so strong that when he landed
he hadn't the least doubt but that he was
among friends. and that they would be glad
to help him get a start in the world. But
after this man had been here awhile he
found that America was not all that he had
imagined 1t to be. He had hard struggle
of 1t. and at last was forced to take any
job offered him in order to keep from starv-
ing. So when he was offered a chance to
go into the bush he had accepted it gladly
for he was willing to do anything whereby
he might earn an honest dollar
'The captain seemed to take especial de-
light in making this poor fellows road hard
to travel. In fact his treatment of the
man was often fiendsh. He would swear
at him constantly. cuff and kick him If he
misunderstood orders and even threaten 10
throw him overheard 1t was all we big
fellows could do to keep our hands off the
ruff1an at such times, and I don't doubt
that he recognized this fact, and that the
knowledge Of 1t kept him from killing the
man as soon as he found that he made
poor hand.
"One day while we were at work hauling
in fIn Irao foil nxxy'C CT h
gave out and he just simply couldn't do
any more pulling. But the captain ordered
him to peg away, and when he fall I'D TO do
so this brute Of a man sprang at him like
beast and knocked him down. And then
he jumped onto the PROSTATE form and he
gan stamping on 1T. This was too much
fer me. 1 sprang to the side Of the in
furiated beast and ordered him to desist
THE wretch quit his stamping, and, STEP
ping back. made an attempt to draw a re-
yolver from his hip pocket. l carried
good weapon myself, and before he could
get to his gun had whipped out mine and
given him to understand that two could
play at the same game.
after that the captain was more careful
how he acted when / was about. and he
used to try and jolly me, but can assure
you that his little scheme didn't work. l
had absolutely no use for such a man. and
1 was frank enough to let him see 1t.
1T was not long before I noticed that
an eye was kept on me all the time, and
then l began to feel that if l should be
caught mapping 1t would mean that when 1
woke up it would be In kingdom come. l
firmly believe that they intended killing
me if they got good opportunity and
could make it appear that 1 had met my
death through some accident.
Then, too. 1 felt like the rest Of our
men-that If / were not killed outright the
filth and food would soon lay me out.
never before had seen such vermin as
coated the walls and floors of that old tub.
Why, they were actually alive with lice,
bedbugs. woodticks and everything else of
that description that you can think of.
Our clothing was soon a mass of creeping
things. 1t used to make us deat hly sick
when we examined our duds. And then the
food was unwholesome and the stencil that
pervaded the boat was unbearable. So /
decided to escape in some way, and sue
ceeded In getting three of my companions
to make up their minds to quit with me at
the first opportunity presented.
They Plan to Escape.
when we could get by ourselves and felt
confident that there was no one to over
hear US, We discussed all sorts of plans
for escaping. But we hit on nothing that
we thought satisfactory until one evening
we espied big boat at anchor some dis
lance from US. Some judged her to be
about mile away, some thought possibly
two
VIC hobiCcu that she idu d TOWDOaC IN
tow. and somebody remarked that it was a
shame 1t was so near and yet so far
1 think we could put it to mighty good
use tonight remarked the speaker. 1T
would at least be able to bring US in sight
of land
This remark set me to thinking 1 had
been recognized as one of our champion
swimmers at home and it struck me that
IL the boat was within a mile or so of US
could swim to 1t. cut her loose. return to
the ship, get the boys, and then we could
pull for the land and probably escape all
right under cover of darkness.
After considering the matter some
few minutes 1 decided to try it. and then
told my friends what I intended to do
They were amazed, and at first declared
1t would be certain death. They reminded
me that we were all landlubbers and that
the boat might be five miles away for all
we knew, and that to even try and swim
of that distance in ice-coId
water was more than any living man
could do.
But when 1 make up my mind to do q
thing 1 always do it. So all my compan-
ions could do to dissuade me from at
tempting to escape in this way had no
effect on me. felt that drowning would
be no worse anyhow, than being shot or
poisoned, and told them as much They
only shook their heads, and one of them
undertook to convince me that by COM
hitting suicide 1 was not only sending
myself to perdftion. but doing the rest of
the men In our crowd great Injustice
- 'Vot Is the use in making 1t any harder
for us, john? he pleaded. Dot would be
dead wrong to leave your friends in such a
plight. Mein Got! dot captain he would
XIII us sure, then. True. you will not do it?'
Il laughed and assured them that | did
not intend deserving Them but quite to the
contrary. Then I pointed out to them how
II we did not escape soon we would never
reach land again, and I endeavored to con-
vince them that the cold water would have
little effect on man possessed of an iron
constitution such as mine. But all this
time L had little faith in my own argu-
ments, but l was afraid they might en-
deavor In some way to prevent nv getting
away from the boat
AS good luck would have 1t. the captain
ana his Heutenants had imbibed more prop
than usual that day. and Immediately after
supper had rolled into their hunks So T
went below and stripped off all my cloth
ing. with the exception of my underwear
and shirt: l tied my buds, razor. revolver
what little money l had and a few other
Things that L valued into a bundle. fas
tened my shoes to this and then strained
the whole thing to my shoulders. and as
soon as it was dark made by way to deck
and, hnding chain that was hanging over
the side of the boat, / quietly let myself
GOWN into the water. And then I struck
OUT IN the direction of the boat we had
sighted, now guided hv Tho l;rb+. -