Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-09
HOLDING UP A STEAMSHIP.
How a Fire Bell Spoiled the Plan of
Two Would.Be Pirates.

The exploit of the two pirates-de-
serters from the United States navy
| who tried to capture the Alaska Paci-
| fc steamship Buckman on the high
seas last Sunday morning and almost
succeeded, is one of the most thrill.
ing and daring dramas of the deeI
since the days of the buccaneers. Ir
| these prosaic days, when lawlessness
on the ocean hides in far-off, forgotten
corners of the world the story Of theil
| plot and how it failed narrowly of sue
cess has more of strangeness about II
than anything yet imagined by writers
| of melodramatic fiction. These pirates
however, had but a brief career. Fron
| its beginning to it's end it was less
than two hours long. Yet that briel
period was crowded as closely witt
murder, battle and blood lust as were
any of the fierce conflicts on the Span.
ish Main which ended less ingloriously
| The way in which these two men
| West and Wise-endeavored to holt
up an ocean steamship followed as
closely as possible the lines pursued
by the robbers on land who hold ur
trains. The adapting Of these methods
| to piracy on the ocean is absolutely
new. 1t is an up-to-date development
i'm freebooting that gives evidence that
there are men today who are just as
desperate and just as bloodthirsty anG
cruel and just as willing to take
| chances against tremendous odds as
any man VIII ever drew a cutlass ant
sprang aboard a treasure laden gal
leon.
| The Buckman, a steamer of 1900
| tons burden, was a treasure ship thai
| carried a greater store OF gold thar
any vessel that ever tempted pirate:
greed in the days Of old. In her stront
room were hundreds of thousands o.
dollars worth Of gold in dust and II
bars-the riches of the Klondyke. Th'
| robbers knew that at this season OF the
year the wealth of Alaska flows in {
steady stream from every corner o
that northern land to "the states.
They also knew that the Buchanan!
freight was especially precious, ant
that among her passengers, too, there
was much spoil
The two men planned it all out be-
fore they took passage on the steamer
at Seattle, bound for San Francisco
Together they tested every link N th'
chain of circumstances which they
were to set i'm motion. They would &c
aboard as ordinary passengers, just a:
they would take a train which they
planned to rob. 1t was to be nigh
affair, for that would he the easiest
People are less courageous in the darl
than by day. A train robber, under th'
same circumstances, might deem i
best to cut the signal cord that led t(
the locomotive. On a steamship there
was the rope that led to the vessel:
deep toned whistle. That must b'
severed. But there was another thing
that had to he done, they agreed, be-
fore the steamer could he gagged. Tht
wireless must be put out of commits
sion; the safeguard of the sea must b'
silenced. While one was cutting thu
line to the whistle the other in the
darkness must sever the wires that lee
To the aerials between the masts. TIT
wireless operator would he in bed, bu
they would take no chances of hi!
sending a call for help.
The positions of the crew on watcl
were discussed, and it was decided
that one of the robbers would silence
the man at the wheel by holding re-
volver at his head, while the othel
should watch to see that no one inter
fered with the ship being turned du'
east instead of southwark. At mid
night on a certain date they figure
the vessel would be a certain number
of miles off the coast of Oregon. Two
hours run would bring her To the land
There was nothing to be done during
the first 80 minutes but To keep thing!
uuict. The last half hour one man:
work would be to kill the guard, hreaE
open the treasure room and put the
gold in a boat swinging from the da'
Wits. When land was but few miles
away they would make their escape
under cover of the darkness.
| The scheme was marvellous in its
| ingenuity. These men were experienced
sailors, just as the most successful
robbers of trains have been former
railroad men. They knew a steamer
| from end to end as we'll as a mar
knows the path from his house to tn,
office. They even provided for the con-
| tingcncy of the crew becoming alarm
ed. In that event they planned Ia herd
the men all aft at the point of the
| guns and to keep them there untl
they were through. One man wei
armed and desperate can hold nun
| dred at bay at night on the narrow
deck of a steamer in the ocean.
| All the baggage these men had was
n steamer trunk, which they had placed
| in their cabin. 1t contained little else
| than arms: two heavy shotguns with
| their barrels sawed Off-the faVOritt
weapon of the train robber-and hall
a dozen rrvolvcrs of large calibcr
| Also there was plenty of ammunition
| Ia feed the guns.
1t is an axiom of lawyers and drt"c-
| tivrs that the great criminal. no mat
| ter how calculating ana farsccing. is
| trippcd inevitably by some triliinG
| thing. some insignificant tritle that he
has overlunkcd i'm planning his crime"
| Thus il was with these two twentieth
century pirates. They did not know
or, knowing. deemed it of no import
| ance that in an Out-Of-th"- way place
on the deck there was a bell. The
captain of the Buckman dreaded fire
at sea above all else. Usually the
whistle calls the men To quarters for
fire drill. but this cautious skipper ar
| gued that if the whistle should be