The sun., 1919-06-05
-FOUR MORE SAILORS
CHARGE BRUTALITTES
Tell Of Alleged Beatings by
Capt. Petersen and His
Sons.
SAW HANSEN CLUBBED
Man at Wheel Describes Scene
When Victim "Was Left
to Drown"

-Four men OF a nomadio habit of life
that led each to Seattle in the spring of
1918 ana to the fo'c'sie of the barkentine
Puaka for voyage around the Horn were
witnesses yesterday In the United States
District Court at the trial Of Cant.
Adolph Cornelius Pedsrsen and his son.
Eric. second mate, for alleged murder.
Another son. Leonard. FIRST mate, was
not indicted for murder.
| The witnesses were Edward Reilly, n
native OF Ireland Jack Joe, a Hawaiian ;
william Jones, Welshman. and James
campbell. Canadian. All were seamen
aboard the Puaka, and were brought
back from Cape Town with Capt. Peder-
sen and his two sons, and held in the
Ludlow street Jail as material wit
nesess for tho Government.
Where the witnesses testified in re-
gard to the death of Axel Hansen. the
seaman who was drowned, and for whose
death Capt. Petersen and his son Eric
are on trial before Judge Hough and a
jury. their stories were Identical
Their stories OF the cruelty that IL
alleged to have been practised by Can't.
Pedersen and his sons were similar
The voyage. according to them, was q
| terrible experience. All of them repudi-
| PGQor-
sen aboard the Puaka and to the All
thorities at Cape Town in which they
said that the troubled voyage was due
TO unruly members Of the crew.
Heard Cries for Helm.
Jack Joe told his story under diff
culties He spoke English poorly and
many OF his answers had no relation to
the questions OF Ben A Matthews. As
sistant United States Attorney, and Dud-
ley Field Malone. counsel for the defen-
dants. When he came to tell of the
death OF Hansen his narrative was more
clear.
II was at the wheel" he said. ct seen
Hansen go overheard. The second mate
came running aft on the starboard side,
he hoileredI over the wheel, Jack 1
overed the wheel The second mate went
down into the cabin. In Just one minute
he came back with the captain.
The captain said. What's the
matterr I said. Man overheard The
captain said, Where are you going now,
YOU black blank where are you going
Who told you to put the wheel overr I
told him that the second mate had told
me. Hold your course, you black
blank. he said to me.
I heard Axsl boiler three times,
Help! Help! Helpv like that"
What kind of a wind was there -
asked Mr.. Matthew'S
Mot much. 1 think the boat was
going five knots, that Is all"
James Campbell showed more feeling
than the other witnesses. His nara
tive was more In detail, and he en-
phasized its highlights with gestures
He was particularly dramatic In de-
scribing alleged beatings OF Hansen.
About the last of July was standing
on watch" he said. II was told to GO
down into the cabin by the cabin boy,
Smithson. When went in there Han
sen was in handouts. What you could
see OF HIS eyes were bioodred.
The captain said, I want you to wit
the statement AS he went along he
would say to Hansen, Is 1t trueT Han
sen would say. NO
When he wouldn't confess the cap
tain gave orders to wake him up. The
second mate hit him. He grabbed a
} stick about foot and a half long and
half inch thick and started hitting him
} over the head with II. After that stopped
they started debating the statement to
him again."
Who wrote the statement
THE second officer was writing down
the statement Hansen would not con-
fess fast enough 30 the first mate and
the second mate hit him again. At last
the statement was finished. Hansen
signed 1t and witnessed It."
. How long were you in the cabin at
that timer
TT was 1880 when 1 went down and
I believe 1t was between 10 and 10 80
when left"
Face a MASS of Pulp"
Describe Hansen's appearance when
you left"
His face was a mass Of pulp. Hi
cheeks We're swollen. His eyes wer,
closed.
When did you see Hansen again2
The next day. I was called into tn,
cabin again. The captain was accus
Ing Hansen Of being a blackhand man.
How was he doing that?"
by debating to him. The captain
says. You was in Jail in Don Pedro.
The captain asked who was the suckers
on the ship. Hansen named the two
Campbells and Reilly. You was goinl
to kill them. too says the captain. Yes
was going TO XIII them. too said
Hansen"
Did Hansen sign the statement vol
untarilyT
voluntarily II you call 1t volun
tarily-"
Campbell began to answer with dra.
, matte emphasis but did not finish. Mr.
!, Malone objected, and Judge Hough sus
tained him. He will continue his storJ
, to-day.
Campbell. 28, was born in Kingston
Ontario. He sailed on steamships be.
fore signing with Capt. Petersen.
William Jones. man OF As years, who
said he shipped on the Puaka in the
hope of finding relief from miners con.
sumption in the South African gold
, fields. described the water cure he al.
legged was used on the Puaka- He said
that he and Peter Jergensen were once
chained to the pump in a pump hole fol-
three days and nights. He said that the
Z mates pumped bilge water on them many
| | times.
Jones said that Capt. Petersen strucl
? him on July IA. He remembered II par.
ticularly because that was tho day the
i Puaka lost foresail in a gale. He said
Petersen accused the men on watch OF
loafing while pulling the slack out of the
sail and blamed them for its loss. This
. day saw the worst weather encountered
in the four months journey from Vic
, toria. B. c.. to Cape Town with a cargo
} Of lumber
The witness sketched a long course o.
| wandering. He was a miner in Wales
/ Pennsylvania, Illinois, Montana, Ne
vada, British Columbia and Alaska; q
, harvest hand in Alberta and drill run
ner on the big Los Angeles aqueduct
: He had not been a union man. he said
| since he quit tho Western Federation Of
, Miners in Butte. He did not know
} whether William II. Hayward wa,
president of the federation while he wa,