Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-03-13
MIITIEOUS CREW
Is KEPT At BAY
BY CAPT. PlN
With Only Delaying Pin For
Weapon, Schoonef'S Master
Controls His Men

home safe TO her owner, Judge Henry
E. Cooper, is this week the talk OF
the waterfront
! Armed with nothing more than the
eyer-reliable Delaying pin and single
handed the captain stood off for days
a crew which had openly threatened
i to murder him. That he brought the
vessel in without even the protection
of pistol is wonder to old salts
arcand the piers.
The captains hair was brown when
The left Honolulu one the ninth OF last
December; when he arrived Saturday.
i 1t was quite gray But il the Old ship
! master who has been in these waters
now for 40 years was true hero of
1 the seas he had two worthy assoei-
ates, his dog Sweetheart, and Ha-
waiian sailor, Andrew Kalehua. a
young fellow who remained true to his
captain in the face of threat of death.
Went to Buy copra
The southern trip was for the pur-
pose of buying copra The Luka's
hold is good for 20 tons OF the profit
able cargo and 1000 onepound Eng
| lish gold pieces were in the cabin for
trading purposes The Tahitian mate,
Matnu, who tried to kill the captain
anu get the gold, is now in Penrnyn,
and a Filipino, Nicholas Bilbea. who
is alleged to have been implicated in
the plot, Is under arrest in Honolulu.
as told in the late news columns OF
the Star-Bulletin yesterday.
When the captain left he had crew
of six. the Hawaiian boy. three Ko-
reans, one cook and the other two
sailors; the Filipino. and Matuu, the
mate, who had been with the Luka
for about three years, first as a cook.
In the latter capacity he had also
served Capt. Piltz at his home at
Maizena,, Maui, where the captain has
now gone to visit his wife and three
children
From here the Luka headed due
south, touching in turn at Tanning.
Penrhyn. Rakahanga, Hanahiki and
Raratonga The last named island lies
in the Cook group about $500 miles
south of Oahu in latitude 21.12 south
and longitude 1882 west. 1t was here
that all the trouble started
Crew Learns Of Gold
The Luka stood propped up high in
the air in the Inter-Island drydock for
general repairs and cleaning up as the
captain sat in his little cabin yester-
day afternoon fondly petting his dog
which had been his only 4companion
through those terrible long sleepless
nights far out in the sea with gang
Of w6dld-be cut-throats ready to do
their worst, telling the tale of the
fiercest proposition ne has bucked up
against in his 66 years, 81 of which
have been on the sea. He started in
California but most of his life has
been in the south.
& At Raratonga, Capt. Piltz tried to
get a license from the British govern.
ment to buy copra but failed on ac- |
count of the war, but he declares he !,
will try again. To. make matters worse,
Matuu beat him up when taken to
task for disobedience and then de.
serted with all gcf the crew but the |
Hawaiian boy. British authorities
brought the men back to the ship
Matuu then accidentally learned of the |
1000 gold pieces in the cabin and i'm
mediately. laid plans to do away with
the captain.
Ignorant of this state of affairs. and |
in having to go home |
with an empty hold, Capt. Piltz, hove |
to, and started north January % he |
first learned his perilous position on
board.
Matuu 6randishes Knife
That day, as the captain was coming
up from the cabin late in the evening, /
Matuu sprang at him with a long knife |
and would have ended matters there |
II the captain had not luckily lodged |
down the hatch. The Filipino was /
with Matuu, says Piltz. and together
they tainted him, calling him cow
ard" and asking him to come up with /
the promise that they would not try /
TO hurt him.
Piltz did go up but not until both /
had backed away from the door. That
night he barricaded himself in the /
cabin so they would have TO awaken
him if they broke In, and went to sleep I
with Sweetheart on guard. His only
weapon was huge Delaying pin which
he had close at his side.
The next day Matuu told the captain
that he felt he must kill him sooner or /
later and Piltz laughed it off by de-
,laring that he, too, would have hand
In any killings on board. but he real
Ized fully what desperate straights he
was in. In the meantime, the crew
had threatened to kill the Hawaiian
If he did not join them and the cap 1
tain was afraid he might be poisoned /
Is he had reason to believe Matuu had /
tried to kill him that way before.
The captain could not put the men
ashore. according to the English law
be dared not try to arrest any one OF T
them without gun, to put them In
chains, SO from January % until Feb
ruary / he watched his step by day
and locked himself in at night At
Penrhyn Matuu ran off in the first
boat and without the treacherous mate /
he captain came home safely to tell
The tale.
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