The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1912-01-19

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JOAN SAW CARIN-JAMA SEIZE SHELDON
BY THE THROAT.
ger kill him? His next thought. seeing
that he is not killed is. Can he kill the
stranger? There was Packard. a colo
NAL trader, some twelve miles down
the coast. He boosted that be ruled by
kindness and never struck blow. The
result was that he did not rule at all.
He used to come down in his whale
boat to visit Hughie and me. When his
boats crew decided to go home he had
to cut his visit short to accompany
them. l remember one Sunday after
noon when Packard had accepted our
invitation to stop to dinner. The soup
was just served when Hughie saw Il
niger peering in through the door. He
went out to him. for it was violation
of Berande custom. Any niger has to
send in word by the house boys and to
keep outside the compound. This man,
who was one of Packard's boats crew.
was on the veranda. And be knew bet
ter. too. What name? said Hughie.
You tell m white man close up we
fella boats crew go along. He no
come now. we fella boy no wait. We
60
And just then Hughie fetched him
clout that knocked him clean down
the stairs and off the veranda''
'But it was needlessly cruel" Joan
objected. You wouldn't treat white
man that way"
"And that's just the point He wasn't
white man. He was low black
niger. and he was deliberately insult
ing. not alone his own white master,
but every white master in the Solo
mons He insulted me. He insulted
Hughie. He insulted Berande"
"Of course. according to your lights,
to your formula of the rule of the
| strOng''-
Yes" Sheldon interrupted. but it
was according to the formula of the
rule Of the weak that Packard ruled
And what was the result? am still
alive. Packard is dead. He was un-
swervingly kind and gentle to his boys.
and his boys waited till one day he was
down with fever. His head is over
on Malaita now. They carried away
two whaleboats as we'll filled with the
loot of the store. Then there was Cap
tain Mackenzie of the ketch Minota.
He believed in kindness and paraded
around the deck without even re-
volver on him. He was tomaha wkpd
His head remains in Malaita. 1t was
suicide. So was Packard's finish sui
eide You must understand one thing
Berande. bar none. is by far the worst
rplantation in the Solomons so far as
the labor Is concerned. And how it
came to be so proves your point. The
previous owners of Berande were not
discreetly kind. They were pair Of
unadulterated brutes One was down
east Yankee. as believe they are call
ed. and the other was a guzzling Ger
man.
''They were slave drivers. TO begin
with. they bought their labor from
Johnny Be-blowed. the most notorious
recruiter In the Solomons. He is work.
ing out ten years sentence in Fiji
now. for the wanton killing of a black
boy. During his last days here he
had made himself so obnoxious that
the natives on Malaita would have
nothing to do with him. The only way
he could get recruits was by hurrying
to the spot whenever a murder or
series Of murders occurred. The muir
derers were usually only too willing to
sign on and get away to escape ven
geance. Down here they call such
escapes pier head jumps There is
suddenly roar from the beach. and
a niger runs down to the water pur-
sued by clouds of spears and arrows.
OF course. Johnny Be-blowed's whale
boat is lying ready to pick him up.
in his last days Johnny got nothing
but pier head jumps.
"And the first owners of Rerande
bought his recruits-a hard bitten gang
of murderers. They were all FIVE year