The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1907-06-08
T%k1ODERN
lIN BVCCAr
Of PACIFIC
Despite laws. cables
and warships, adventurer,
continue piracy in the
South Seas =. =.

WHEN piracy Was keueldiiy ueilcNcu W
have become one of the lost profess
sions Developments have shown that
the black flag, metaphorically speaking,
still flies over craft In the Pacific
Ocean, although the times Of those cap
tivating gentry who secured the Span
ish Main Of the. Atlantic have indeed
passed away forever.
Compared with the Pacific Ocean, the
Atlantic Is a narrow body Of water, but
the Pacific, the romantic old South Sea
famed for financial bubbles" and for
the adventures who have sought 1t for
their country's good Is almost bound
less In Its extent The combined navies
Of the world could not properly police
the great sea, and 1t has innumerable
islands, charted and uncharted-spots
Of land which appear and disappear In
the immense depth of Its waters In the
most erratic and unexpected manner.
But the commerce on the Pacific is
considerable and constantly growing.
the transatlantic 'greyhounds," with
the regularity of a suburban train, ply
between the continents. Rich materials
bullion, money, are coming and going In
the ships. Millions of money are al
ways being conveyed upon Its waves.
Here, then, is the scene prepared for
the, pirates All that Is necessary Is
the buccaneer himself.
China the Lair of the Pirate.
He Is there, too. Generally speaking,
he is Chinese. But there are men
from the Occident willing Ito take a
chance" to turn the golden food roll
ing their way.
Almost every port on the Pacific has
IT'S quota Of Adventures. Most Of them
must have grown tired of their own
names, for they use others, and usually
their means Of support are not osten-
tatious. These human wrecks are to be
found from San Francisco to Sydney.
The Hawaiian Islands are not free
from their presence; they can be found
upon the beach at Apia, but In the
treaty ports Of China they congregate
In numbers.
AT Shanghai Is collected the iotsam
and jetsam of the world. There are
many mysterious Engllshmen, Ameri-
cans and others stranded there. The
secret of their means of existence Is
shown occasionally In the consular po-
lice court They keep dives, they
league themselves with notorious ma
lives in smuggling transactions, and
now and then during dispute with a
Chinese whom they were endeavoring
to cheat In dubious business scheme
somebody Is murdered. The lawless,
the embezzlers, the welchers who have
been forced to abandon connection with
their home towns find a refuge In
Shanghai, where something always Is
turning up" for a man who rises su-
perior to his conscience.
Hired to Ravage the Seas.
These modern buccaneers are "cap-
tains of industry" They organize
raids. plan plracles. but 1t Is the willy
native who Is entrusted with the exc
cution Of the schemes. Most OF the
master minds do not care to risk their
precious lives, while there are plenty of
disreputables In the native quarters
willing for few dollars In silver to
cut throat or lead an attack upon a
liner. Some Of the Adventures live by
biackmail, others by giving tips to ma
tive pirates and robbers Of where loot
may be found.
Hongkong, Macao, Nagasaki and Sin
gapore all have their quota of these
cosmopolltes. The japanese seal pi-
rates who were killed or captured by
the United States revenue cutter Nc.
Culloch, while they were making raid
ON the seal rookeries on st. Paul Island,
one of the Aleutian chain, are said to
have been organized by one of the
most notorious of modern buccaneers,
-Red." or Alexander, Mclean, who has
operated boldly In the Pacific for sew
eral years. and has been engaged In SO
many desperate enterprises that he has
been nicknamed ''the Sea Wolf"
'Red" Mclean has all the qualities
romance usually bestow upon Its ficti-
blOuS ncEOSS.s.. ne Is u powerful
man, with the ngure- or an athlete and
the voice Of a bull. He has the black.
est Of black hair. a. heavy black mus.
tache and piercing black eyes, which
are small but magnetic. His speciality
has been seal poaching, and to capture
the fur bearing amphibians he has sail.
cd at different times under American
British and Mexican Tags thus efrec
lively maintaining hts anonymity. In
his time he had been chased by cruis.
era menaced BY ,mutineers. threatened
by gales, but he has the courage and
abandon of a corsair. 5 With deter
mination that nothing appears to be
able to break. he has been operating In
Boring Sea ever since the United States
passed the act intended to preserve the
seals from extinction. -
--latest Act of Piracy.
In. Chinese waters coastwise steam
srs are never safe from pirates. Thu
latest act OF piracy was the capture Of
the British steamer Sainam by Chi
pass. near Canton. The buccansers muir