The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-05
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director,
washington, D. G.
ROMANCE OF THE srowAwAY.

! French freighterf Belgravia, gazing
miserably at the impressive shoreline
| of New York. She was a slim little
girl, unmistakably French, with dark,
serious eyes and two long braids of
black hair dangling down her back.
rQmpled; her high-heeled French
shoes scratched and shapeless.
| For 10 days she had been on the
| Belgravia, stowaway, and the only
woman among a crew of Mediterran-
can sailors. 1t had been grim nerve
racking experience for a 16-year old
girl, but she had been strengthened by
| the thought that eventually it must
! end-end in America, the world
famous land of opportunity. And now
| there was America before her eyes,
and she was told that she could not
land.
official who reluctantly broke the
news to her, but I shall not go back,
monsieur. From now on do not eat
| In a little time, before the ship sails,
1 will be dead That will be better
than going back"
AS the customs official reviewed the
girls story, he was half-inclined to
agree with her. What would she do If
| she did go back? Three years ago,
| her father, a Poilu, had been killed at
| the front. Then her mother had died.
| With no relatives or friends to help
her, the girl had made her way to
| Malaga Spain, where, she learned, it
was easy to obtain passage to America
She had paid sailor on the Belgravia
| $40 francs to stow her away. which
| he did in the 'tweendecks, providing
| her with food and water. After the
! ship was we'll under way the sailor
attempted to assault her. Her screams
| attracted ether members of the crew,
and she was brought before the cap
| tain, who put her in statereom and
| thereafter kept a protecting eye upon
! her.
| The captain intended to turn her
| over to the immigration authorities at
Ellis Island, but discovered that
| month before a new ruling had been
passed stating that all stowaways must
| be retained on board the vessels bring
| ing them. This meant that the girl
would have to return to Malaga on
the Belgravia. via South America, a
voyage of many months, still the only
| woman on board.
| Rescue of Josephine.
Fortunately, however, she was not
compelled to do this. Nor was she
compelled to die. the customs aur
| thorities, becoming interested in her
story, appealed to the French h1gh
/ commission, which came to her res
cue, and thus the incident ended nap
PLY.
The case OF Josephine Mandre is
stances which have recently harassed
| immigration and customs authorities
| here, as the result of an unprecedent-
| ed influx of stowaways from Europe:
Since the war, the greater part OF
Europe seems bent upon coming TO
! this country, whether possessed of the
| necessary passage money or not, ana
| as might be expected, an obliging or
ganization has grown up to help them
| do it. An international stoWaWay
| 1f i
now operating in all of the chief ports
of Europe, collecting big profits on
| it's promise to ship immigrants in hid
| ing to America. The difficulties OF
| landing at Ellis Island do not con-
Germ these professional hiders. They
| merely nut the trusting one on board
| in charge of one of their sailor accom-.
| plices and collect thier fee. some OF
! the sailors, of course, work alone, but
in such a risky business 1t is much
| safer to work with the ring.
Before the war the cost or steeraee
| ira nsnorta ton across the Atlantic was
| from s25 to $40. Today 1t ranges any
where from 1920 to $3.50, a prohibitive
price to many would-be immigrants,
anxious to escape the awful poverty
and after-war depression of Europe.
Such disheartened peasants are easy
prey for the stowaway gang. ~ GU
| can be hidden on board ship and sup
piled with food and water and 1t VIII
| cost you only $5G,' they are told Ana
of course they grasp at the opportun-
ity
| Hence, during the past year stow
awavs have been coming in droves.
sometimes as many as a dozen carried
| in the hold of one ship. They repre-
sent all types and conditions OF man
kind from desperate criminals to I'M
pecunious but respectable professional
men, but they are mostly unskilled
workers. SeacI1ing for them is like
hunting for the proverbial needle in
the haystack. They. are concealed In
the most unexpected places-in the
ships coal bins. in its lockers, behind
secret panels. in boxes labeled "chem-
icals" and "olives" and even in the
ships ventilater flues. During the
| typhus scare recently a vessel was ex-
ari1ined from top to bottom and nearly
taken apart, according to an fmmi-
grafton official, in order to find any
| passenger who might possibly have
avoided an examination. Then the
| announcement that the ships interior
| was to be gassed was megaphoned
about the decks. Only then did eleven
| husky stowaways creep out from hid
ing. preferring detection to death. In
some cases, tho, the ships authorities
have not been so considerate In an
flouncing current events, and stow
aways have been fatally gassed in
their hiding places.
How the Ring Works.
From the little that has been
Learned concerning the stowaway ring,
it seems probable that they have con-
federates on nearly every ship leaving
a south European port. as we'll as
many leaving north European ports.
In some instances the stowaway has
been required to bring his own food.
but usually this is supplied to him
while on board. If discovered by those
not in the rings service. he is imme-
diately taken before the captain. who
decides his fate. Sometimes the treat
nnent is extremely severe. He may be
placed in pen and given merely bread
and water. or he may be chained un-
comfortably to a post, but in most
cases he is apt to be put to work.
Sometimes so many stowaways are
found on one ship that the captain
nuts them under lock and key-a wise
precaution since it has been discov-
cred that many of them are desperate