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

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said: Captain, this is nothing but
Shanghai. - ~
He said: ''You can call it that if you
want to-
went to work, but couldn't stand
the awful life. White men slept in the
fo'castle on naked planks, without COW
erlng, and with blocks of wood for pill
lows The negroes slept with the cap
tain in his cabin. We were given beans
and almost no meat to eat, and, when
we asked for oysters, the captain said
ne would charge us for all we ate.
We got up at o'clock every morning
and worked until Dor 10 o'clock every
night, with the negroes standing over
us, kicking and beating US if we stop
ped for moment. The captain would
not strike us himself, bat he would
make the negroes punish us, and even
they sickened of the job. One big negro
told the captain that he wouldn't beat
us any more, and he and the captain
almost had fight over the matter.
All of us five white men wanted to
get away, but we were never given a
chance. We were watched all the time.
and twice, when we went on shore. the
captain sent the negroes with us and
told them to put bullet into the first
man who tried to escape. l tried to
mail letter home, but couldn't. until
at last one of thesnegroes mailed it for
me- On Sunday the captain and all the
crew, except US five "shanghaied"
white men, went ashore at Reedville.
where the captain lived. They took all
the boats and left us anchored in the
stream. After they had gone l gave a
negro who was passing fifty cents to
row O'Brian and me to the shore. A
little girl saw us land and ran to tell
the captain. We ran as fast as we could
and hid in the scrub. The captain got
horse and buggy and tried to over
take us, but we kept out of his way.
Then he got together crowd of about
twenty men and chased us afoot. When
he saw us he fired at us twice, and then
ran up and put his pistolin my face and
said:
1--WE great mind to blow your head
off. -
He marched US back in front of his
pistol and put us on board the ethel
Ruth. He put us all in the fo'castle
and put guard over us and told him:
IF any one Of them sticks his head
out, blow his brains out ~
did not try to escape again. and l
would have been on that boat vet if the
government had not come to my aid.
On last Tuesday night Captain Marsh
came to me and said that some officers
were coming for me, and that he hoped
had no complaint to make of his treat
ment of me. He said that he needed
men to work his boat, and that he had
to have them; that the law was on his
side, and that if had any kick had
best so after the men in Baltimore who
shipped me.
He gave me $500 for the fifty days'
work and said that the rest of my pay
had been collected by the Baltimore
people. When | started to go away
from the ETHEL Ruth" the other
''shanghaied" men, James O'Brian and
James Moran, of Baltimore. and Frank
Bragorli and George Branna, of Phil
adelphia, all cried like children and beg
ged to be allowed to go, too. but the
captain said mo-" They said they
didn't want the money that was due
them; they wanted to be free, but the
captain would not listen.
One of the men, Frank Bragorli. is
only l9 years old, and another, James
o'Brian, has a horribly injured hand.
He begged to be allowed to see doc
tor, but Capt. Marsh said he didn't
care anything about his hurt. 'TI
shipped you as man, and you are
only half a man, but I'll work you Just
the same" is what he said.
"These four men are all slaves, moth
ing but slaves. They are guarded day
and night, and are being forced to
work by negro guards. One young ne
gro, IL years old, is the cruelest person
on the boat. He kicks and strikes
George Branna all the time
Deputy United States Marshal Sam
Bendit, who secured Gallagher's re-
lease, bears out the story in every de-
tail. When Bendit boarded the oyster
boat ETHEL Ruth" at Lewisetta, on
the Chesapeake Bay, he carried with
him subpoena from Judge Waddill,
ordering Gallagher to appear before his
court in Norfolk. Mr. Bendit says the
other "shanghaied" men on the boat
came to him and with tears and sobs
said: ''For Gods sake, take me, too. {"
81 couldn't take them," said Mr..
Bendit, ''for they would have frozen to
death. They didn't have any clothes,
and | had to borrow an overcoat for
Gallagher to keep him from freezing. -
Mr.. Bendit said that he had a talk
with Capt. Marsh, big, burly, 200
pound giant, who said to him in answer
to the question why he had shot at
Gallagher and O'Brian: "I've right
to shoot at them. paid $40 apiece for
them, and was not going to let them
get away. I've done this kind of thing
before. / buy the men because need
them to work my boats. There is moth
ing wrong In it. All the boats in the
Bay have ''shanghaied' men on board. "
Mr.. Bendit said that the people at
Coan harbor hold Capt Marsh in high
esteem, and that he is man high in
the church and power at revivals and
camp meetings.
Gallagher AYERS that his uncle in
Philadelphia, to whom the negro smug-
gled letter, telling of his nephew's
slavery, wrote twice to him in Coan,
Va; but that the letters were never
delivered.
Gallagher also states that the post
master at Coan, Va, wrote to his