Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-25
u. S. LINER CREWS
. MUT|NY REPORTED
Officer Is Stabbed and Sailor
Is Shot-StoWaWay
Is Maro0ned.
BY EDGAR ANsEL MowRER.

DIX EDGAh ANSEL MOWRGns
BY Gable to The Star.
BERLIN, Germany, September U.s.
Mutiny and attempted murder on an
American steamship il the Mediter-
ranean, the stabbing of the first OH
Ger, the shooting of rebellious sailor,
the captains failure, for mysterious
reasons, to complain to the American
consuls at either Messina or Leghorn,
the flight from the ship at the latter
port by three of the five American pas
sengers who possessed the means to
purchase other transportation home
ward-theSe are the CORY spots OF q
story told to me today by William Ed
mund Aughinbaugh, NJ. D., formerly OF
Columbia University, who reached Ber-
lin yesterday with a tale that rivals
the best of Joseph Conrad.
Dr. Aughinbaugh's story runs as fol-
lows:
For four months he had been trav-
cling through the Near East, investigat-
ing the economic and political situa-
ton and collecting material for book.
Early In August he embarked at Con-
stanza. Rumania, on the steamship
Excelsior of the American Export Line,
|C. H. Wilson, captain, for New York.
The Excelsior is freighter that idles
along coasts, stopping at every port for
cargo and carrying few passengers.
From the beginning DR.. Auglnbaugh
noticed the peculiar relations between
the officers and the American members
of the crew. The food was none too
good and the passengers and crew COM
planned.
St0waway Found.
The first Incident came just after the
Excelsior left Saloniki. The crew de-
tected an Albanian stowaway who had
hidden in the hold. Capt. Wilson, furi-
Gus, ordered that the man be put ashore
at the first land sighted.
The crew, who declared that the ship
was undermined, wanted the stow
away taken as a sailor The captain
insisted, and on August % the Excelsior
drew near small Greek island too
small to have a name and the stowaway
was ordered put ashore.
Barefoot and brown-Skinned, the
stowaway, dressed only in cotton shirt
and trousers, was thrust into a boat.
The crew muttered protests. A sailor
went below and brought from the pan
try a huge loaf of bread, which he gave
to the Albanian. Thereupon Capt. VIII
son, with a curse, snatched the bread
from the stowaway's hands and tossed
1t into the sea.
The small boat departed for the bar
rem shore of the tiny island, where a
single hut betrayed the existence of hui
man beings. The stowaway would not
really starve, but it might be months
before passing boat would bring him
to the mainland, and the captains de-
cision to land him was equivalent to
weeks or months Of Punishment.
The captains seizure of the bread
brought loud curses from the Excel
Sior'S crew, whose sense OF humanity
was outraged.
The boat returned from the island,
and the Excelsior continued its trip
around the southern tip of Greece, since
the Corinth Canal was temporarily
closed.
Dog Disappears.
The next incident occurred just be-
fore the Excelsior reached the Italian
port of Bari in the Adriatic. Among
the handful of passengers was an
American woman, Mrs. Helen Lawrence
Of New York, travelling with her dog, q
Belgian Chiffon, to which she referred
as my little boy" The dog was in
sured, according to its mistress, for
81 900. The animal, called Deedee, was
unfortunately suffering from intestinal
and kidney trouble and in the hot
weather it repeatedly befouled the
decks, deck chairs and rugs, much to
the crews disgust. -
Shortly before the Excelsior reached
Bari Deedee disappeared. The captain
had the ship secured, but the animal
was never found. DR.. Aughinbaugh as
sumes that some member of the crew
tossed it overheard. Mrs. Lawrence
left the ship at Bari, threatening to
make the captain responsible for the
valuable animal.
Enrnity between the officers and crew
of the Excelsior grew from hour to hour.
The Excelsior left Bari and IL hours
later a mutiny occurred. 1t began as
strike. The crew complained OF inhu-
man treatment over long hours IN the
pitiless sunshine The cff1cers' authority
had sunk to zero.
on the Excelsior, the officers are
chartered forward and the crew aft. At
the end Of the hot day, the crew re-
fused to work longer. Capt. Wilson and
the first. second and third officers
armed themselves with reviewers and
went on deck aft.
The crew lined up and defied the Of
ficers to cross given line. one sailor,
an Irishman named Duchane, from
BROOKLYN, N. Y. drew long knife and
said: 'I'Il kill any ofacer who crosses
the line
Officer Stabbed Thrice.
The officers hesitated and then the
| first officer, named Whetmore, crossed
| the line, revolver in hand. Duchane
/ leaped upon him and stabbed him three
I, times. Whetmore recoiled, bleeding
| heavily. Capt. Wilson, with shaking
hand. fired at Duchane and hit him in
/ the leg.
The, crew never finched. The officers
Finally Dining Room Steward Joe
Ryan, a graduate OF the University OF
Michigan, spoke:
"Captain, If you don't go back, there1l
| be four dead officers on this ship. Leave
| this to me. and I'll arrest Duchane."
The oficers retired shamefacedly to
| their own quarters and five minutes
later Ryan appeared with Duchane's
knife, saying:
Hes under arrest"
DIR. Auginbaugh dressed the wounds
| of the oficer and the sailor. The five
American passengers were virtually in a
panic.
When the Excelsior stopped at Mes
| sina. Capt. Wilson failed to complain
| to the American consul, possibly because
| the ship was not in entire conformity
| with American mercantile marine law.
The Excelsior continued to Leghorn,
which it reached September 81. DR..
| Aueinbaugh and the two woman pas
sengers with means Immediately
| left the ship, reserving claims upon the
| American Export Line. Two American
passengers, Harrison Jones of New York
and q woman, remained because they
| had not enough money to purchase q
second passage home.
what happened at Leghorn DR.. Au-
| limbaugh does not exactly know, but he
| irnaQines that the Excelsior continued
/ its voyage to Marseille and finally to
New York, which it is due to reach
| october IT.
1.-THE captain and officers were afraid
l ~.