Spray courier. (Spray, Or.) 1???-19??, 1916-03-23
A Sailor S
Confession
BY DWIGHT NORWOOD

with all on bourd except nye Of The
, crew, who were picked up IA lifcboat
! While the vessel wan burning or the
conDt OF korca. This happened many
years ngo when was Il young man.
! em now Il ninety year old hulk. laid
VI ut the Sailors snug harbor. rcndy
FOR tho Jnnklcnp. The Julia Sturdc.
want was set airc. aud ! applied tho
torch lliat burned her. Before sailing
on my ctei1lnl voyage have 10 couresy
tliH fact aud tell how came 10 do IL.
There N no sin on my conacicnco In
fhRt burning, but ttcFO arc others that
ufo n hundred times w0rHe than burn.
inS "a ship
when | stepped on the julia Sturic-
want ] was twenty-five ycnra old. We
sailed from Boston TO Japan. taking
on n cnrgo such Hs the little yellow
mon needed then. but don't need now.
for that wasn't long after Commodore
Perry snllcd In among them aud begnn
their ctylli@Ing. Tho sturdeynnt was
ono of tho early steamers. having pad.
do wheels and sails. and her engine
was n primitive one Amy well nsged
ship Ia StilY breeze could out3nu her
We were plowlhg along through tho
China zen against stiR nor'caster,
whom before the wind camc a Chinese
junk. Before abe reached us Dhe hoist.
cd the skull and bones and fired ghot
at ug ns IN order TO stop. We hadn't
an
fow small arms. There were ports
for four guns on each side OF the junk,
ana her decks swarmcd with mon. We
saw IL was nli up with us. mud our
captain surrendered with u condition
that all our lives 10 spared
As SON ~ the pirates came aboard
they began TO look the vessel over and
concluded to divide their force. run.
ming her as well ms their own ship.
without regarding the condition they
had made. they forced al tho crew OK.
ccpt five Of us 10 walk the plank.
What they kept III five fer was To d.
rect the working Of the ship. since they
knew nothing about the use Of steam.
Two OF ug were the engineer aud his |
nsalsinnt The other three they kept /
10 post and help them IN working the /
ships sails that were entirely unlike /
thu8p on the junk.
Fifteen of them stayed on the cnp- /
tared ship. taking aboard two guns I
and plenty OF small arms. while the /
Others sailed away on the junk. We |
white men were Obliged to obey their I
orders or walk the plank Ike the others. I
And thats the crime have 10 confeGs.
Fer weeks. when they wero overpow.
er!ng unnrmcd vessels. IOoting aud 1
we were doing our part OF
the work. What else could we do? .
We could have refused and given up
our lives. anal It's been troubling mo
for igoFs than half Il century that !
iIin't choose the better part
I'm not going to name oil the crimes
VIC committed because we had 10. I'm
s!mply going 10 tell how we finally
aiade our escape. After awhile we
agreed that We would pretend that We
we're coutentcd rrith our lot. ask for
,nr share Of the p!untcr aud 10 every. .
hing else we could 10 prt tho yellow
ievilg OF their guard. Orc thing we
we're afraid OF. There was one ship
hat we tried 10 capture and failed.
We boarded her asd wero Gshting .
iand 10 hand with her crew when they
nw us white men fighting with the
'elow onca. We were about TO Join |
'ur own color when. fred with hatred ]
galnst Us for being part Of Chinese |
i!rate crew, they made Il desperate
lash and drove us bach on to our own
hip. .Arter that we knew that II we :
acapod the pirates ana were rccoEui2
Il By ary Of the men on that ship we
would dnngle ut n ynrdlr.n.
Tho next ship taken had lot of
quor aboard and every pirate got =
runk. We watched our opportunity. j
rctending to drink and be drunk Ike
he others, TIL they were all laid ont. ,
Then eight Of them were either asleep
r stupid with liquor below and the =
est being In tho same condition OH =
eek. We clappcd down the matches Oh !
hose below. What we did to those on
eek dou't mention, except that they !,
!dn't trouble us any more
We hadn't more than fixed them all
lien looking ahead We saw ship
oming aud made out the stars and
tripes Mt her peak. for IL those days
ur nag was often seen on tho ocean,
ONO OF US thought that II she over o
auled us and We told our story we c
'ould bo believed. Others didn't think
'e would. Some day some of us
light meet some Of tho crew Of the !
hip we had boarded. | made up my
lind what to DO and without saying \
nything got lot OF tow and oakum :,
,sethor and set fire TO It. The wind
'as high. and IN fifteen minutes the .
holo ship was nblaze we lowered X
le Of the boats. got into her aud pull a
] for the Yankee ship.
When we reached her we reported
mt we had been alrc for three days $
nd if we hadn't met the Yankee In t
me we would have been lost And II
lat's how the ship Julia Sturdevant !
lme to lie reported burned at sea
18th five OF the crew saved. 1t was
ever made clear what became of the Il
st OF the crew. managed that sto- n
by saying that when the fire finally
1t ahead of us the others We're cut
T from the boats. Some were burned o
Glow and some were drowned. True c