Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-07-03
BOYS ARE SHANGHA|[D
Two Davenporters Have a Ter
rible Experience on
Board Ship
WE'RE DECEIVED BY AGENT
Made Their Escape When Near Port,
But Were Followed and Had to Fight
Way to Liberty-one Man Shot
Dead In the BattIe-HorribIe Cruel
ties Practiced.
Special to Times Republican.

|
a series of sensational experiences such
as one reads about in dime novels,
| and then SCOTS at as too improbable to
be real. But Harry Eldrdge. the son
of Mrs. Josephine Eldridge, of Locust
and Ripley streets, arrived in DaNen-
port Sunday morning, and his COM
panion, Theodore Claussen, son of Rel
! mer Claussen a we'll known furnace
| dealer, will be here in u few days, and
! the lads have the documents to prove
| that truth is certainly stranger than
| fiction.
| To reach San Francisco only to be
| met by the greatest earthquake of cen-
turtles, to undergo all the horrors OF
| that terrible experience at the Colder.
| Gate, to be shanghaied on board q ves-
| sci bound for Belgium, to be treated
| like dogs while on shipboard, to at
| tempt to escape from the ship at Port
| Townsend Wash, To be pursued by a
| boat from the ship. and to figure as the
bone OF contention in fight upon the
water in which one man was killed and
ated as the star witnesses at the muir
der trial which followed, only to learn
that the men who were assisting the
lads to escape We're doing so In order
to shanghai them again at $3.50 per
head--to undergo all this sounds like
fiction.but these are some of the ex-
periences that the Davenport lads have
undergone.
The boys had much the same expert
ence as many others In the great San
Francisco earthquake and fire. AT San
Francisco they had arranged to ship
ON a whaling vessel for Alaskan wa
ters.
Modern Shanghai Methods.
The boys could learn nothing of the
whaling ship upon which they had
made arrangements to sail, and de-
termined to take the first opportunity
to get to Seattle or some northern port
by working their passage. Their OPP
portunity came when they were offered
by shipping agent chance of work
ing their way to Seattle on the four
masted bark Morven. 1t was what they
were looking for, and a week and
half after the earthquake they sailed
for the north. But they would like to
see that shipping agent now. They
had not been on the boat long until
they discovered that he had entered
them to sail to Antwerp. On the log
book opposite the page upon which
they had signed their names had been
written the ships articles to make 1t
appear that the boys had actually sign.
ed for the long voyage. Then to break
their spirit the lads were submitted to
all sorts of cruel treatment and indig
mites, until they were ready for al
most any opportunity to escape from
the ship A San Francisco lad by the
name of Harry Wright was in the
same fix as themselves. and the three
decided to stand together.
Sailed Up the Sound.
The Morven was a merchant ship
that brought coke to San Francisco
and returned to Antwerp with wheat.
The cargo of coke had been unloaded
in San Francisco just previous to the
earthquake, and the holds filled with
earth for ballast Then the ship SAIL
ed to the state of Washington for the
cargo of wheat. The northern passage
was rough, the earth taken aboard
for ballast shifted from side to side
and the lads were kept busy shoveling
to keep it level. AT every opportunity
they were cuffed and kicked In order
to make them submissive and afraid
to attempt to escape. But American
lads are not built that way.
The Attempt to Escape.
One day the ship was lying at an
Choir about half mile Off Port Town
send. almost directly across from
Seattle Teddy Claussen one day
talked with man from a government
launch, who happened to he on
board the Morven and asked him to
send out boat from shore to take
the three boys off the ship, telling the
man that he had money to pay for Il.
1t was not long after the government;
man left the ship that the boys saw
a sail boat below the forecastle of the
vessel and Claussen hailed the men
in it and asked if they would take
three sailors ashore. Receiving a re-
ply in the affirmative the three lads
slid down the rope and got in the
sail boat, which Immediately started
for shore.
Fgl.. on the Water.
Mrs Rees. the wife of the captain
of the Morven saw the three boys
leave the vessel and rushed to her
husband, who was in his cabin, ask
ing why the three men We're leaving.
The captain rushed out saw the shore
boat and ordered his own gig manned,
placing the boatswain in command.
He gave the boatswain a revolver and
told him to use it, these facts al,
coming out later at the trial. Th,
boats came together, and the sailors
were ordered to return to the Nor
ven's gig, but they refused, the owner
of the shore boat, hotel runner by
the name of Gunderson. advising
them to stay in his craft telling them
he would be all right. Then came the
battle. The boats We're held together
and oars, boathooks and stretchers
were brought into play. Then came
the shooting, and Stubley. who was
Gunderson's assistant fell dead the
shot being fred by Boatswain Fran
zen of the Morven. The trio was
then taken back to the ship. and the
dead man ashore
The Law Takes Hold.
The killing OF the man IN the shore
boat aroused the county authorities
and they boarded the Morven and
arrested the man who did the shoo;
ing and took OH all parties that were
in either of the two small boats. tc.
be held at witnesses. This include
the Davenport Lads. When the story.