The daily Alaskan., 1911-08-16

l fN ANhg AAAAAA NN tAiaANt a-.t-AA l \ ciation, l9u
 Ever since the Spanish war was fought I have kept a secret events thut occurred at its inception, though they have weighed heavily on my con- science | have refroined from giving i it partly lest by doing so ! might be forced to pay the penalty of crimes l was forced to commit and partly from dislike to inhlct needless paiu~on those who might better never know how loved ones supposed to have been lost at sea really perished- Aud now realizing that there will come day when those most intimately connected with these unfortunates shall them selves have passed away and the rec ord be read only by another generation, ! I have decided 10 put 1t in writing to ease my. conscience and that it may be perused by those whom 1t may con cern.
 At the end Of the last century was engineer on the Mary Blanc, a small steamer used for bringing Japanese goods to America. returning loaded with American supplies to be sold In the island empire. On our way home from one of these trips we touched at Singapore.
 On leaving Singapore we had got well away from land when l received an order to put on more speed. ! did so and was jogging along at a pretty good rate when ! got another order to run her for all she was worth. told the stokers to heave in more cool, opened all the drifts and turned on all the steam she would bear, At that moment the lrst mate came down the iron steps white as a sheet and told me that we were pursued by suspicious looking craft, and. though she flew the British flag. the captain was sure she was run by AsiatiCs. She wuS a sailer, iank built. and since a stiff breeze was blowing she was making about as good headway as we We were nov ing against the wind while the other was crossing it, thus getting ol the benefit from 1t thut was possible. She stood between us and the land so we couldn't run in. Her object was to reach a given point as soon as we.
 What we should have done was to turn back as soon as we suspected the craft, but the captain, not really know ing she was pirate, thought We could pass her and thus save delay. He reckoned wrong. The first thing ] knew of what real danger we were in was hearing a boom, Then l got an order from above to shut of steam.
 Looking out of my porthole i saw the viuainous looking thing sailing in a course to head us off, while lot Of copper colored rascals aboard of her were raising a skull and crosSboneS flag in place of the union jack Of Eng land. which had been hauled down. Moreover. some masked portholes had been opened and half dozen small guns run out
 1t was plain to me that all was up with us. Not a soul came down into the engine room to tell me anything, but since I could see for myself what was going on | knew they were all paralyzed with fear. I would not leave my. post, first. because there was noth- Ing to be gained by doing so, and, sec ond. I might at any time receive an order.
 The pirate passed to a point where 1 couldn't see her, but 1t was not long before 1 heard a tramping on deck that told me we were boarded. and down came a couple of swarthy Malays' who covered me, the one with a re- volver, the other with cutlass. The man who covered me with a cutlass spoke enough English to tell me that 1 was to stay where l was and run the engine. Two other men came down, and one of the first two went on deck. | knew by bis bearing that he was the commander and the other was his in- ] terpreter.
 Nothing can induce me to give an account of the incidents that occurred during Che next half hour Thank heaven l did not witness them. win only say that the crew, excepting Jack Covne and a Swede, Jacobson, who beg ged to be allowed to join the pirate gang. and 1, were forced to walk the plank. There were also several pas senrers. whose names l will give in ! separate paper, who shared the same fate.
 While our vessel was not much of a craft, it was far better than that of our captors. having the advantage of steam power and they decided to scuttle the saIler and use 'the steamer. This they did during the night which was coming on, and in the morning the Mary Blane was sailing on, to all outward appearances, as if nothing had happened. The pirates gave oth- CT ships as wide a berth as possible and when unable to do so kept only the two men of our crew whose lives f had been spared on deck.
 And so it was that we three white men were forced to obey the orders of some twenty copper colored devils, thus enabling them to attract small