Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-12-15

foS IN tue WhleES OF
Somerset County.
Ellegood, counsel for Nelson. en-.
deavored to prove by the States wit
nesses that the grounds in question
did not belong to the Tangier Pack
ing Company. The grounds were
taken up in the name of Mus Crock
EFT, aud Crockett would not swear
that he owned any oyster grounds, or
that he had planted any oysters.
Several witnesses stated that the
grounds did not belong to the Tan.
gier Packing Company, and as two
men who bad been dredging on the
same spot were acquitted, it was be-
lIeved that Nelson would be acquitted
also. A night or two later several
persons tried to raise trouble with
Deputy Sheriff Sterling, and he had
a fight with two oystermen from
Virginia. Sterling sent them eff
with broken faces, aud then a woman
attacked him and struck him, but
Sterling said he would not fight
woman. Later in the night he was
stTncn by "a man who was drunk, and
was knocked down, but he soon re-
covered, and, with the assistance of
the police, pat the man in Jail
The Oystermen's threat TO take
every oys'er there was in the Little
Annameseexriyer is being carried out
The packing company's watchman
says hat lie oystermen are dredging
and longing on the. planting ground
Just as fr ely as II they were not pri-
vate beds. As evidence of the desper
ate earuestn,s' of ihese>,nen in their
efforts to urotect their means of live.
llhood. some Of them have vowed that
If it comes to the worst they will
resort to arms. One of them said
that if occasion demanded he and his
colleagues would supplement their
protest against present conditions
with rifle bullets.
Two men were arrested last spring
for taking oysters from private beds,
and it was done with the avowed pur.
pose of testing the law, hut the court
postponed the case, and now the oys.
termen say they will face the court
aud asa decision. They say they
want to know whether a company has
a right to take up 200 acres of oyster
bottom in different individual names
as blind to get around the law.
A new development in the case is
the issuing of a statement, printed in
dodger form and distributed on the
streets of Crisfield, by the Junior Order
Council calling upon citizens to stand |
by the tongers, and upon the Cover
nor to remove Magistrate Kennerly. |
sHANeH,IING on OYSTER BOATS.
Here is newspaper account of the
"White Slavery" gotten from a VIC
tim of one of the Chesapeake dredg-
ers. We who know a little some
thing of these matters take such
cock-and-bull stories with much al
lowance and know that while some
cruelty is practised, and ought to be
exterminated the prevailing treat
ment of men on oyster boats is about |
on a par with any other shipping. |
The "space" writing reporter, some
what censored, tells this story:
In the Henrico county (va.) jail Will
liam j. Gallagher, of Philadelphia, a |
white man, % years of age, slept in
comparative comfort last night, after
fifty days and nights of abject slavery
in an oyster punk having endured
cruelty, the like of which has prob
ably not been known since the days of
the New England slave ships traffic.
Gallagher at thsp jail last night told
his story. He is not prisoner, but
having nowhere to stay, and being
without means, he is being sheltered
until his case comes up in Norfolk be-
fore the United States Circuit Court
tomorrow. Red-headed, stalwart, he is
the picture of an honest young Irish
man, and the touch of the brogue is
not needed to discover the land of his
birth.
Gallagher said: 81 live in Philadel-
phia, aud saw an advertisement say
ing that men were wanted to cook on
oyster boats going out of Baltimore. II
went TO the employment agency, and
they sent me on to Baltimore. / don't
know the name of the agent, but they
promised to ship me as cook at SIS a
month. was rushed into a room and
told to sign my name to paper II
did not read it for l was not given
time. One cf the men from the en-
ployment agency took me down to the
Ethel Ruth, which was moored at
the Baltimore docks, and / went
aboard.
The captain, whose name is William
Marsh, of Reedville, Va, was not on
board, but there was mate, AL Haynie,
three negroes and four white men.
That night we went down the bay,
and the next morning was set to work
dredging for oysters.
/ was told that was to cook when
signed the popers, and so, at the end of
week, I went to Captain Marsh and
told him would not work for him any
longer. He said that he was boss on
that boat, and that would work as long
as he pleased, and would do as he told