The Ordway new era., 1910-09-16

sal
Sl6S, MTS3 who tried to capture the
6kSVssSSC1 Alaska Pacific steamship
Buckman on tho high
seas. and almost succeeded. is one
OF tho most thrilling and daring
dramas OF the deep since the days OF
the buccaneers. In these prosaic
days. when lawlessncss on the ocean
hides In far.ofr. forgotten corners Of
the world. tho story OF their plot and
how II failed narrowly OF success has
more OF strangcncss about II than any.
thing yet imagined by writer's of
melodramatic fiction. These pirates.
however. had but n brief career. From
Its beginning to Its end 1t was less
than two hours long.
Tho way In which these two men
West and Wisc-en endeavored to hold
up an ocean steamship followed as
closely as possible tho lines pursued
by the robbers on land who hold up
trains. Tho adapting OF these meth.
DDS to piracy on the ocean Is abso-
lutcly new. 1t Is an up.to-date devcl-
opment In freebooting that gives evi.
dence that there are men today who
are just as desperate and Just as
bloodthirsty and cruel and Just as
willing to take chances against tre-
mendous odds as any man who ever
drew n cutlass and sprang aboard
trcasurc-lndcn galleon.
The Buckman. n steamer Of 5000
tons burden. was n treasure ship that
carried n greater store OF gold than
any vessel that ever tempted n pirates
greed In the days OF old. In her
strong room were hundreds OF thou.
sands OF dollars worth of gold dust
and In bnrs-the riches OF the kion.
dyke. The robbers knew that at this
season OF the year the wealth OF Alas.
ka flows in steady stream from ev-
cry corner OF that northern land to
"thc states" They also knew that
the Buckmnns freight was especially
precious, and that among her passen.
gers. too. there was much spoil.
Details Carefully Planned.
The two men planned II all out be-
fore they took passage on the steamer
at Seattle. bound for San Francisco.
Together they tested every link In the
chain of circumstances which they
were to set in motion. They would
go aboard as ordinary passengers.
Just rs they would take train which
they planned to rob. 1t was to be a
night AFFAIR. for that would be the
easiest. People are less courageous
in the dark than by day. a train rob-
ber. under the same circumstances.
might deem 1t best to cut the signal
cord that led to the locomotive. On
a steamship there was the rope that
led to the vessels deep-toned whistle
That must be severed. But there was
another thing that had to be DONE
they agreed. before the steamer could
be gagged. The wireless must be put
out of commission: the safeguard OF
the sea must be silcnced. While one
was cutting the line to the whistle
the other in the darkness must sever
the wires that led to the aerials be-
tween the masts. The wireless oper.
ator would be in bed. but they would
take no chances of his sending n call
for help.
The positions of the crew on watch
were discussed. and 1t was decided
that one of the robbers should silence
the man at the wheel by holding n
revolver Mt his head. while the other
should watch to see that no one in
terfered with the ship being turned
due east instead OF southwark At
midnight on a certain date they fig.
ured the vessel would be n certain
number of miles OF the coast of Ore.
gon. Two hours run would bring her
to the land. There was nothing to be
done during the first ninety minutes.
but to keep things quiet. The last
half hour one mans work would he
to kill the guard. break open the treas.
ure room and put the gold in a boat
swinging from the davits. When land
was but few miles away they would
make their escape under cove. of the
darkness.
Scheme Promised Well,
The scheme was marvellous in its
ingenuity. These men were expe-
rienced sailors. just as the most suc.
cessful robbers Of trains have been
former railroad men. They knew n
steamer from end to end as we'll AS a
man knows the path from his house
to his office. They even provided for
the contingency Of the crew becom
Ing alarmed. In that event thew
planned TO herd the men all aft at
the point Of the guns and to keen
them there until they were through
One man well armed and desperate
can hold hundred at bay at night
on the narrow deck OF steamer in
the ocean.
All the baggage these men had WAS
a steamer trunk. which they had
placed in their cabin 1t contained
little else than arms: two heavy shot
guns with their barrels sawed Off