The San Francisco call., 1906-06-14

TREATED
ON SHIP
San Franciscan Who Was
Shanghaied Lands in
Philadelphia.
Unable to Communicate
With Relatives in
This City.
Lies in Hospital and May
Succumb to His
Injuries.
SPECIAL p1spArcH no rgg GALL.


PHILADELPHIA. June 13.-Shang-
with the crew of a tramp steamer
which has been almost continuously 1T
sea since January "a worrying night
and day over the safety of his mother.
and sister, whom he has not heard from
since he left San Francisco. William
O'Brien of 229 Clara street, San fran
cisco, lies on cot at the University
Hospital. suffering not only from q
broken arm and shoulder, but enduring
such pangs of anxiety that his life is
seriously endangered by his mental
state.
OBrien was brought to The hospital
yesterday. Monday morning while
swabbing off the decks of The steaaI-
ship Craigard, into the service of
which he was impressed i've months
ago, the night before it left San Fran
cisco on its cruise around the conti-
nent, he fell through an open hatch
way. He was allowed TO lie there ui-
conscious until a member of the crew,
more human than his fellows, picked
him up and carried him to his bunk.
Yesterday a physician was called on
board and diagnosed O'Briens injuries
as compound fractures OF tha shoulder
and elbow. He advised his removal 10
a hospital On the way 10 the hospital
" -
juries were giving him and begged that
information be given him concerning
his mother and sister, whom he LETT
so unexpectedly and so suddenly on
the Pacific Coast
They have always depended upon
me for their support" he moaned, but
now l don't know now they managed
to live since 1 left. don't even know
if they are alive. They may have been
killed, both of them, in the earth
quake"
After the doctors had finished dress
ing his injuries. O'Brien began again
on the recital of his troubles. He told
how, after talking with sailor about
the pleasures OF a life on the sea, he
had suddenly been attacked from the
rear When he woke up again, he felt
the rolling motion of ship. He
scrambled out of a dirty bunk and
went on deck to find that the ship was
already out of sight Of land. When he
attempted to register complaint with
the officers of the ship he was told
roughly TO shut up and was set TO
work scrubbing the deck. Every out
burst of anger on his part was met
with blows and curses Because he
complained he was given the hardest
and dirtiest work to do.
Never having been at sea before
he soon became seasick, but he was
compelled to do more than his share
of the work in spite of his illness. He
had to rise two hours before anybody
else in his watch. and he was always
the last to get through at night In
stead of being allowed to eat the food
given the other men, he was often
forced 60 forego his breakfast and then
eat only biscuits and tea. Though he
shipped on January "a. there was never
a let up in the cruelty with which he
was treated, he says.
On its long Journey the Craigard
stopped at many ports in South Amer
lea. but though shore leave was ac-
corded the rest of the crew. OBrien
was ordered to stay on deck During
a stop of week at the mouth of the
Orinoco in Venezuela OBrien was the
only member of the ships company
who was not allowed to land
When the ship put into the harbor
of Barbados on June /, sailor
brought on board a copy of a New
York paper in which O'Brien read for
the first time of the calamity that had
visited San Francisco. Since then his
worry has increased a hundred fold
Unable to land anywhere, he has had
no opportunity of communicating eth
err with his relatives or friends in the
stricken city
O'Brien is 20 years old, clean cut in
appearance and talks like a man of re-
finement.