The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1909-04-22
BOLD %BuCCANEER"
STILL FLOURISHING
The Chinese Sea in Par
ticular Has Many a Pirate
Band.

Not a few persons have been sur
prised to learn recently that, In spite
OF our elaborate system of customs Of
f1cers and coast guards, 10
still carried on around our coasts, saysi
The Saturday Journal" The bold
smuggler has long been relegated to
the good old days, and with him the
blo~odthirsty pirate Of the high seas.
But the buccaneer Is still very much
IN evidence, and all the greater powers
are obliged to maintain ~gunboats In
out of the way seas to put down as
determined a stand that preyed upon
shipping in the stirring days of the
Barbary corsa1rs.
1t seems only the other day the huge
P. & Q. liner China was in trouble
in the Red Sea. Down swooped a fight
of Arab dhows upon the helpless mon
ster, like gulls on a stranded whale.
Long before a gunboat could be sum-
moned from Alden the rich prize was
stripped of her Indian silks. of opium,
tobacco, tea, coffee and spices, with
gage worth thousands Of pounds. The
pirates were even stripping the big
1ndianan of her copper fittings, and
scudding under her mat sails over to
the Arabian coast, when the destroyer
Vixen came tearing along, to open fire
with her primary battery, sinking and
Gripping practically all the bucca-
neers.
True, the once dreaded Salee rovers
no longer roam the sea, and the mari
time blacklnail paid for immunity to
the Deys of Algeria and the Deys of
Tunts is a thing of the past; yet it is
not long since a heavily laden tramp
broke her propeller shaft between Glib
raltar and Tangier and drifted helpless
ly ashore near the foot of the Anjera
Hills, at a point barely twenty miles
from Britain's studendous fortress in
Southern Spain. The Riff pirates saw
her coming. Boats We're n and
armed and put off, and up the sides Of
the helpless steamer sWarned the YELL
ing sayageS.
BY the merest accident the lookout
on Gibraltar saw the vessels plight n
heard the crack Of rifles. A sharp
alarm was sounded and in a few min
utes a 3o-knot torpedo boat was un-
leashed from the dockyard. Within an
o the black, low-hulled racer was
only q pistol hot away from the wreck
yet by that time the pirates had looted
from stem to stearn, had beaten and
bound the master with all his officers
and crew.
But, after all, what ha been for ages
and will be for generations-the par
adise Of pirates is the southern coast
of China.
The capture of the British steamer
Flenan, just below Wulchau, lends
point indeed to the LONGS Of these buc-
cancers of today. A big junk contain
ing a horde of vag and muscular
pirates drew alongside of the steamer
which they knew was in need of hands
for unloading. Thinking the pirates
were laborers, the captain took them
on board, w%hereupon they disposed
themselves stragetically all over the
vessel, n on a given signal from the
leader, flashed revolvers. Within a few
minutes they had control of the vessel.
Not content with this, however, the
pirates sighted another and still larger
steamer, the Chanfook. And still
marvellous skill and audacity they
unanswered their latest capture along
side, and then leaped on board to loot
their second prize. The Chaufook was
a bigger and faster ship than the Fie-
nam, so the marauders transferred all
their prisoners, wrecked the engines
OF the smaller vessel and then turned
her adrift.
In the gathering dusk they sighted a
third victim, ran the Chanfook along
side and leaped overheard. This was a
hornets nest, however, for the ruffians
were met by a terrible fusillade. They
had boarded the cutter Of a revenue
Commissioners, and eight soldiers We're
on board, armed with repeating rifles,
for there was a valuable cargo to pro-
tect. A really fierce and determined
battle ensued, n at length, when.
quite dark, the pirates We're forced
back upon the C~hanfook, leaving 1T
ASNo LIN oCAlil1o eli II
cutter, unable to follow them, was
obliged to let them go on their way.
At 4 In the morning the buccaneers
came upon the steamer Salyik, and
boarded her, as usual. Naturally the
crew were u~nprepared and fell easy
victims. They were beaten and bound,
all their property and cash seized, and
after that the Salyik's machinery was
crippled and the vessel turned loose.
Finally the Chanfook was run aground
mn n hnoo ~aa~ TTo-~ 4L-{1- -.-l
pirates made their escape In an ordi-
nary mat-sailed Junk, which was wait
ing for them, as If by prearrangement,
1t was only in 1905 that the bark
Trougton came limping into Hong
Kong from Singapore, a pitiful wreck
from enemies of many kinds. First.
she had been ~overtaken by a typhoon,
her masts wrenched out and bulwarks
torn off. Her exhausted crew would
not forsake her, however; they kept.
her afloat with the pumps, and rugged.
e. sail on a jury mast that they might
reach land. Yet In spite Of all their,
previous sufferings q new enemy,
awaited them here in the form Of the.
pirates of Southern China, who know
no mercy when possible loot Is con-
cerned. Two piratical luggers came
boldly alongside and poured a swarm
of Celestial cutthroats on board the
battered bark. Before the captain and
mate could fire a shot 200 pirates had
overwhelmed thec crew and dashed them
to the splintered decks. Master and
mate fought desperately for their ship,
and even tried to blow her up, for she
carried nearly a ton OF gunpowder.
But they in turn We're overwhelmed.
bound and thrown into the waterlogged
hold, exhausted from loss of blood and
in grave danger OF drowning inside
their own ship.
A Line Of Talk.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Two telephone girls were talking over
the wire one afternoon. The subject Of