Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-05-31
nv ODERN
81 BVCCA]
Of the PACIFIC
Despite laws, cables
and warshiPs, adventurer
continue piracy in the
South Seas =.
NoooNooo0o

ASAk OS0S Z -,
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Within a few weeks the Pacific has
yielded two stories of pirates, at time
when piracy was generally believed to
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 narrow body of water, but
the Pacific, the romantic old South Sea
famed for financial bubbles" and for
the adventurers 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, ana 1t has innumeraDle
islands, charted and uncharted-spot
Of land which appear and disappear in
the immense depth of its waters In the
most erratlc and unexpected manner.
But the commerce on the Pacific Is
considerable and constantly growing.
Great ships, some Of them the equal of
the transatlantic "greyhounds," with
the regularity Of 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
Its quota Of adventurers. 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 fiotsam
and jetsam Of the world. There are
many mysterious Englishmen, 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
tives 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 IL
turning up" for a man who rises su
peIiOT W Ills COuSClellce.
Hired to Ravage the Seas.
These modern buccaneers are "cap
tains Of industry" They organize
raids, plan piracies, but 1t Is the willy
native who Is entrusted with the exc
, cution Of the schemes. Most Of tn,
master minds do not care to risk theiI
precious lives, while there are plenty O
disreputables in the native quarter
willing for a few dollars In silver t
y cut throat or lead an attack upon
= liner. Some Of the adventurers live b.
: blackmail, others by giving tips to ma
: tive pirates and robbers of where loo
> may be found
Hongkong, Macao, Nagasaki and Sin
> gapore all have their quota Of thes
. cosmopolites. The japanese seal pl
Q rates who were killed or captured b,
, the United States revenue cutter Nc
Culloch, while they were making raj,
OH the seal rookeries on st. Paul Island
u one of the Aleutian chain, are said t
= have been organized by one of tn
u most notorious of modern buccaneers
"Red," or Alexander, Mclean, who ha
operated boldly in the Pacific for sey
eral years, and has been engaged In S
. many desperate enterprises that he ha
y been nicknamed "the Sea Wolf"
'. Red" Mclean has all the qualltie
- romance usually bestow upon Its fict
. tious heroes. He Is a tall, powerful
. man, with the figure or an athlete an
= the voice of bull. He has the blacl
est of black hair, heavy black mu!
tache and piercing black eyes, whic
are small but magnetic. His specialt
has been seal poaching, and to captur
Z the fur-bearing amphibians he has sal
ed at different times under American
British and Mexican flags, thus effe'
u tnta t,, io