The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-20


saw the boats and saw that they had
danger signal flying. Sending two of my
black boys ahead to reconnoitre, L
waited In q moment they came running
back, saying that several hundred of the
islandere were assembled between us and
the boats and were ready to attack us
as soon as we appeared They finally sur
rounded US.
Fought for Their Lives.
so quietly did they do 1t that before We
knew what was up spears were raining
like hail and two of my boys lay dead
and several were wounded. The savages
were concealed in the grass, perched Oh
the tops of palm trees or hidden In the
thickets. 1t was serious position and
required instant action. Telling my boys
to follow me- l started for the boats. 1t
was only a few yards to the beach, but
there we met almost one hundred of the
islanders. This checked us. Dropping on
our faces, we started firing.
Each of my men had ten cartridges,
and they were sent into the crowd. For
the most part the shots went wild, but
many told Man after man bit the dust,
but the savages fought with the courage
of desperation. l had only one cartridge
left In my revolver when suddenly |
heard a slight noise behind me. Turning,
| saw a great savage-he was one OF the
work of a moment to throw up my arm
and take the blow that way. Then
shot him dead 1t was merely self-de-
Tense.
My men were badly demoralized, but as
long as | was there to cheer them they
kept on fighting. When all the cartridges
were gone they seized the spears which
had been thrown and returned them. They
were better able to handle the spears than
! : ha natives
treating sufficiently to enable us to make
a rush for the boats. On the dash down
the beach one of the men directly in front
of me was pierced by a spear. The weapon
went right through him and projected
fully foot. But even that did not stop
him In fact he ran faster after that than
before, and 1t was not until he assisted In
showing off the boat that he realized that
a spear was sticking clear through him.
He died next afternoon.
"When we made the rush for the boats
the captain on the schooner started to
fire at the natives and came near killing
us. When pulling away from the shore
after we had gained the boats two more
of my men were killed by the spears. But
through it all we had kept one of the
prisoners. His hands were tied and held
to the cord. On reaching the schooner l
found that I had lost six of my men
killed and all were wounded.
1--WE had some difficulty In securing the
full number of natives that trip. but
finally succeeded. When we got to Samoa
the government authorities told us their
attention had BEEN called to the battle by
missionaries. and they would have to do
something about 1t. l was assured that
there would be nothing more than year
in Jail at the most. and about two-thirds
of that would be cut off. If there had not
been so many killed there would never
have been anything said about it; but, as
! 1t was. the matter had to be investigated.
! | did not care to spend the time in Jail,
so left the ship and the islands. went
! to Hamburg, and from there shipped on
| the Claverdon as second mate.
1.-The Solomon natives on the plantation
are not treated very severely. They are
watched carefully and counted every
morning to see that none of them has es-
capped. But 1t is practically impossible
| for one of them to get away. The Sa-
moan natives will track them down like
bloodhounds and capture them and re-
store them to the plantation. After that
| they have a pretty hard time. Men and
women both are taken; In fact. the women
are better workers than the men. AL
though l never had any hand in 1t, [
know that the native women are captured
and sold as slaves. White planters and
overseers buy them while they are young
and pretty. and later sell them for use In
| the copra work"