Evening star. [volume], June 19, 1927, Page 2, Image 70

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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2
Young Officers Imprisoned on Warship When Manhole Closes
Comdr. Green Is * naval officer of un
usually wide experience, as well as a
writer well qualified to tell of adven
tures met in the Nation’* first line of
defense. A graduate of Annapolis and
of the Naval War College. Comdr. Green
became a specialist in gunnery and ex
plosives. He was one of the American
officers attached to the British grand
fleet during the World War.
The following article, the first of a
series of three recounts a harrowing ex
perience that fell to the author shortly
after he was detailed to the first dread
nawrfit In the T'nited States Navy.
In addition to hts distinguished Navy
eervioe. which hna taken him all over
the world. Comdr. Green passed nearly
four years living with the North Green
land Eskimos, and became an authority
on the people snd conditions of the
Arcllc regions. He i* the author of 15
book* and of numerous short stories and
magazine articles.
BY FITZHIGH GREEN, U. S. X.
IT wasr not a Rood day to die. I
mean by that, it was one of those
sparkling May mornings when
the waters of Hampton Hoads re
flected the blue sky in every wave
let. and the big battleship Michigan
rede merrily to a fresh breeze out of
the clear-weather north.
Also we were too young to die.
Gates and I. We were two carefree
midshipmen who had not been out of
Annapolis long enough to feel the
burden of professional responsibility.
But carelessness and death go hand
in hand, whether Its victims are young
or the day is full of sunshine.
How death and carelessness must
have grinned when young Gates came
to me after drill was over and said:
“The old man's going to give us a
lecture.” (The old man was our com
manding officer, Capt.—since ad
miral and retired—Nathaniel Usher,
hero of the Spanish-American War
and one of the finest old sea dogs
that ever trod a quarterdeck.) “But
he doesn't check up on attendance.
Let's go down and have ourselves a
nice little party in the fifth division
bottoms.”
I think my nose must have twisted
at the thought. Double bottoms of a
battleship, or of any ship, for that
matter, are about the most uninviting
setting for a party that I can think of.
Great, dark, eiamrrry steel cata
combs, they are, far below the water
line. Bottoms are formed by the in
ner and outer skins of a ship. There
is usually too little room for a man
to stand erect in them. A maze of
steel bulkheads pierced by circular
apertures act as braces to support the
outer bottom upon the inner one.
To protect the ship by formation of
watertight compartments, one set of
bottoms is separated from another by
a complete surrounding wall of un
pierced steel. But any set of bottoms
comprises in itself a labyrinth of wind
ing, unlighted caverns, which are un
nerving to the novice.
Bottoms are never opened at sea <
except in cases of emergency. In port
they are rarely opened save for in
spection and cleaning. Thus there
exists under every modern man-of- 1
war a regular sepulcher, which for (
Paris Police Nab Chief of Pistoleros,
Hunted for Years in Many Lands
; BY STERLING HEILIG.
PARIS, June i, 1927.
IN the plumb middle of May. when
shacks cm waste land skirting
' Paris are agreeable to live in. a
mobile- brigade of Paris secret
police nabbed. In such a flowery
■hack, the chief of the pistoleros.
Half Fiance and all Spain were de
manding that this man be discovered
and arrested.
"Ptotolero” means a gunman par
ticularly' previous at the trigger. It
was a two years’ job to hunt him
down; be bad help everywhere. When
they found him. the thing was to
take him alive—and safely to them
-
It wws a little shanty among others,
harbdrhig waste people fa waste
land. They build with fhoj* own
hands, on the wide «weh space*'round
all Paris Where' the c&y nas just tom
down ifs' old fortification*, a. shack
with flowery garden-patch and strong
staked fence. No rent to pay.
Very early that May morning two
high police inspectors knocked lound
ly on the palifcg*. A man in hie shirt
looked out. “What do yon want?”
"You are a fereigner?” “yes, Span
ish. 1 * "Wh are verifying foreigners’
paper* Have you yours?” “Certain
ly. I’fl go and get them.’*
The Spaniard disappeared inside the
shack. A long time passed. Might
he not be preparing some desperate
defense? The police knew him to be
an extremely dangerous criminal and
were determined to take him.
-■****
A T he reappeared. He ap
proached the fence, outside which
stood Commissaries Galntadier and
Simon, and offered them some papers.
Instantly his two wrists, stuck
through the fence to hand the papers,
were snapped together in thin steel
bracelets—the new American hand
cuffs, not the old French kind. And
the two police were over the fence and
held the athlete.
This extraordinary man, famous in
France and Italy as Valero Solamas,
was in reality Martinez Jimenez, bom
in Spain of an honorable family in
1992, and up to 19 an engineer student
of the School of Arts and Trades. In
the shack, near his bed, they found
two big automatics, cocked to be fired,
and a set of perfected apparatus for
•’piercing burglarproof safes.”
Rambler Continues Story of Slave Owners and Slaves in District
JOHN HARRY of Georgetown was
one of the “large slave owners”
of the District of Columbia. He
owned 28 slaves in 1862, when
the commissioners on emancipa
tion were sitting in the grand Jury
room at City Hall and putting in oper
ation the terms of the District eman
cipation act. approved by President
Lincoln April 16. 1862. The Rambler
knows little of John Harry. He does
not know whether he lived in George
town or Washington County west of
Rock Creek. He does not know
whether he worked his slaves on his
own land or hired them to other men.
The emancipation commissioners took
early action on John Harry’s petition
for payment for his slaves, Congress
having appropriated $1,000,000 to com
pensate the slightly fewer than 1,000
owners of 3,100 slaves in the District.
John Harry had all his slaves pres
ent before the commissioners, and ap
praisal of their value was mainly on
the Judgment of B. M. Campbell of
Baltimore, a slave dealer. The price
put on the slaves by Campbell was
that which they should have brought
at public sale in 1839 or 1860, when
slaves had a "sales value.” The price
bo put upon District slaves was then
scaled down by the commissioners,
that the appropriation by Congress
should not be exceeded and that the
average price per slave for the 3,000
or 3,100 slaves in the District should
not exceed 300. John Harry was
allowed $8,168.70 for his 28 slaves, and
the list of them and the price allowed
for each follow: Grace Butler, $43.80;
Martha Butler, $330.40; Eliza Ann But
ler. $481.80; Jane Coney, $219; Walter
Butler, $306.60; Lydia Meredith,
5131.40; Edward Meredith. $262.80;
John Meredith. $569 40; Philip •Mere
dith. $569.40; Lizzie Meredith, $481.80;
Adeline Meredith. $438; Henry Mere
dith, $153.30; Alfred Meredith. $219;
Charles Meredith, $43.80; Maria Mere
dith, $394.20; Kate Meredith, $87.60;
Rogers Meredith. $43.80; Henrietta
Crusey, $175.20; Eveline Crusey, $438;
William Crusey, $569.40; John Lewis
Crusey, $657; Martha Crusey, 5438;
James Crusey, 5350; Anna Cru
Death Trap of Double Bottom Brings Experience Wbicb Barely Escapes Being Fatal on Fighting Craft—A Lark Fraught
With Danger—Clammy Steel Catacombs —When the Light Was Smashed.
intricacy may well be compared to
the sinuous catacombs below the
streets of Rome.
"What say?” said Gates.
I didn’t know what to say. A long
drawn-out lecture in the captain's
cabin was discouraging enough, but
to go down Into the bowels of the
ship, where the oozing moisture of the
inner bottom mingled with the chok
ing fumes of heavy paint, was, if any
thing, worse.
*T’ve a bit. of that chocolate cake,”
tempted my friend. ‘‘And. half a bot
tle of that last batch of Madeira we
got at Gibraltar."
** * *
YVfHETHER it was the cake or not, I
can’t say. Tragic events that
followed have cleared my memory of
unessential details. But I succumbed.
“I’ll be at the after port gun deck
hatch,” I told him.
We met at the hatch and then went
forward to the main lower section.
Quickly Gates led the way to a smajl
storeroom where spare armatures were
stowed for the turret motors. He
pulled a key from his pocket and
opened the door. Within was another
manhole, securely bottled down and
labeled with the numbers of the dou
ble bottoms into which it opened.
We unbolted the door and de
scended. But first we took care to
close the door to the storeroom and
dog it down, in case any inspection
party passed that way and wanted to
take a look In.
Remember, we weren’t breaking
any laws. And we weren't doing any
thing that we didn't have a perfect
right to do. But we were still In the
flush of our early 20s, which isn’t
far removed from the boarding school
state of mind. The very fact that we
were digging deep down into the vitals
of the ship and going to have a bit
of a feed by the light of an electric
torch lent a certain thrill to tha occa
sion that only youth can know.
We clambered down some 15 feet
of ladder. By the flickering rays of
our torch we felt our way along the
sloping steel surface at the bottom
until we reached the level floor plating
of the main section.
Then we crawled forward through a
series of plates that had holes in them
just large enough to admit a human
body. If the reader has ever looked
into a big boiler he will have an idea
cn a small scale of the road we were
traveling.
Gates carefully laid th« electric
torch on a nearby shelf of steel, made
by a projection in the plating. He
drew out his wine and his cake. He
There were amazing kits of jimmies
and other tools, some enknown, like
special circular saws; a “chignole” for
p cutting thick metal and an enormous
’ and bizarre machine with extremely
‘ heavy steel cutter like a bill book, with
, which Jimenez could "open a safe
like a box of sardines.”
The Surete General* and Ist Mobile
Brigade of Versailles had already dis
-1 covered a band of Italian, Spanish and
Polish anarchists specialized in bur
' glary, of which Jimenez had become
' chief. Previously in France and Spain
1 he worked with tragically famous
bands. He was with Ramon Lopez,
’ Ramon Garcia and Ramon Rodrigues,
all celebrated. Ha was with the mys
terious ”£3 Negro” in burglarizing the
1 Talende factory, near Bordeaux. *ln
1921. with murder. Two accomplices
| were executed, but Jimenez IW* tof
Spain, where he accumulated a dozen
; deatb sentences, all by default.
Among the alleged assassinations
1 were those of the Archbishop of Sara
gossa and the Governor of Barcelona,
along with the dynamiting of the
\ Spanish Bank at Gtjoa. In September.
; 1922, Jimenez and accomplices at
tacked that train at Muerto-Nuevo.
near Barcelona, where, after killing
several employes, they got away with
' 200,000 pesetas.
, Arriving in France in flight. Jimenez
: came as “The Plstolero.” who carried
, not only his automatics but bombs;
' in fact, they had bombed that train in
[ Spain. Three times the Spanish gov
ernment demanded his extradition, but
“The Pistolero” waa systematically
protected from discovery by his new
" band of Italian. Polish and Spanish
i anarchists.
I** * *
■ gINCE 192 S these international burg
giing anarchists, the most wide
-1 spread, aspable and systematizing
• ever known, committed 200 important
j robberies, with breaking-in and vio
lence. Their profits not only kept
i them In luxury and safety but fed a
• propaganda fund for anarchist prln
\ ciples and aided to attract the best
t new disciples, ready to become bur
i glars and assassins.
I They attacked factories In the sub
, urbs of Paris particularly, and got
r much good cash money in important
railroad stations of the same neighbor
sey, $306.60; Lydia Crusey, $219; Julius
Crusey, $131.40; Frank Crusey, $87.66;
Martha Crusey (no value).
The Rambler has taken from the re
port of the emancipation commission
ers the names of owners of six or
more slaves in the District and the
amount paid the owners. It follows:
Dr. Noble Young, 7 slaves, $2,737.50;
Fanny B. Ewell, 8. $2,430.90; Sally T.
Mathews, 6. $985.50; Thomas Donoho,
9, $2,562.30; Charles Vinson, 9,
$2,956.50; Thomas Carbery, 12. $3.-
292.95; John Davidson, 15. $4,270.50;
Martha Manning, 10, $2,058.60; Sarah
Jones, 11, $3,525.90; Caroline Mackall,
7, $2,562.30; Catharine Windsor, 8,
$1,839.60; Sarah Davis of Abel, 7, $2,-
211.40; Ann Scott, 8, $1,971; T. L. Alex
ander, 7. $2,102.40; George McCeney,
14. $3,963.90; Francis S. Walsh. 7,
$1,270.70; Mary E. Fenwick. 6, sl.-
423.60; Eleanor R. Lang, 10, $3,504;
l*eter Von Essen (or Vonessen). 20,
$5,226; Catherine Pearson, 21, $6,044.40;
James W. West and Eliza M. West, 11,
$2,956.50; Margaret A. Loughborough,
6, $919.80; Joseph N. Fearson, 9, $2,-
146.20; Fielder Magruder. 6, $1,226.40;
Selby B. S<*aggs, 13, $3,109.80; Harriet (
Smith, 8, $2,847; Benjamin P. Smith,
7, $2,146.20; Charles R. Belt. 7, $3.-
i 109.80 (one of his slaves, George
I Bowie, was appraised at $857); Wil
liam D. C. Murdock, 9. $3,635.40 (one
of his slaves. William H. Lee, was op
praised at $657); Elizabeth Abbott, 11,
53,197.40; George Mattingly, 10, $3.-
898.20; Elizabeth Blrkheud, 8, $1,609.65;
Frederick G. Hesse. 11, $3,920.16;
t Sarah Ann Ureevea, 11, $1,565.85 (one
slave, Nelson Jones, appraised at $613);
Susan B. Sheriff, 10, $3,394.50; Giorge
W. Talburtt, 16, $5,234.10 (four slaves
appraised as follows: Charles Lee,
$591.30; Milly Mathews, $569.40; Hen
rietta Brown, $525.60, and Rose Diggs.
; $547.50); William O. Stone, 8, $3,394.50
(two slaves appraised as follows:
; Cornelius Diggs, $613.20, and Polly
. Pleasants. $525.60): John Manning. 15,
; ' $4,401.90 (two slaves appraised as fol
i lows: Joseph Bell, $613.20, and Nelly
; I Ann, $569.40); Melvina H. Bowie, 7.
' $2,387.10 (one slave, LeinueJ Perry,
THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. 0.. .TUNE 19, 1927-PART "
m
dto, -. '^sagwlrai
spread the paper down on the hard
metal surface on which we squatted.
With a gracious show of hospitality
he portioned out the sweet food and
offered the bottle to me tor first swig
at its fragrant contents.
And at tbe same time Death must
hoods. But they also went in for rich
business houses of the center of the
city, so that, in fact, half Paris, like
half France, was demanding their dis
covery and arrest.
Each national crew of “The Pisto
leros’ ” big band had its favorite
method of working. The Italians em
ployed by preference the circular saw
and the "shears.” The Poles used
oftenest the blow-pipe, while the
Spanish had the machines recom
mended and invented by Jbnlnez, in
cluding his famous "ripper.” with
which he could “open a safe like a
box of sardines.”
In France they were called “the
foreign anarchists,’* but it is now es
tablished that Jlminez was in relations
with the French garage owner, Leo
pold Dancart, in whose place, twice
at IS months apart. In Paris, were
found veritable arsenals of war. Dan
cart furnished arms and bombs to
Jlminez through intermediary of an
other Frenchman, the junk dealer
Peyart. Recently 150 bombs were
transported in the suburbs by Peyart.
Jlminez and others and were tempo
rarily hidden.
Note, now, that in the time of the
Catalan plot, in which Garibaldi’a
grandson was said to have been im
plicated. they say that these bootleg
gers of arms furnished Cot. Macia
largely. Os course, neither Macia,
Garibaldi's grandson nor the Catalan
revolutionists had any real contact
with the anarchist burglars as such.
The revolutionists pursued a political
ideal, while the anarchists dreamed
of money, rapines and terrorist explo
sions. It would be an insult to Coi.
Macia and his friends not to state
this clearly.
On the other hand, tho judicial in
quiry shows every day new collusions
between the anarchist organization
and the Communists of France, Spain
and Italy. Dancart has always re
mained in relations with the French
Communists. He does not belong to
them openly, but he is their secret
agent and the secret agent of the bol
sheviks, and all the more dangerous
for the secrecy of it.
Os course, the French par
ticularly want to know if these ban
dits. acting Separately and instanta
neously with bombs and revolvers,
are not in touch with the militant
Communists and bolsheviks.
appraised at $657); Notley Moreland,
6, $1,270.20; George Washington
Young, 69, $17,771.85 (three slaves ap
praised as follows: Nannie Bell,
$547.50; Clement Sims, $613.3P, and
Sally Sims, $547.50).
Margaret C. Barber, thirty-four,
$9,351.30 (four slaves appraised as fol
lows: Richard Williams, $591.30; Henry
Toyer, $613.20; Joseph Toyer, $613.20;
and Andrew Yates, $569.40); Edwin H.
Edelin, fourteen, $3,963.90; William
Hickey, sixteen, $6,745,20 (three slaves
appraised as follows: Dick Masai or
Lee, $613.20; Henry Gantt, $657; Au
gustus Fletcher, $635.10; and half a
dozen others between SSOO and $590);
Ann M. Biscoe, Angelica Chew and
Emma Biscoe. twenty six, $6,548.10
(one slave, Cecilia Bell, appraised at
$525.60); Emeline Sheriff, seven, $2.-
146.20 (two slaves appraised as follows:
Benjamin Watkins, $569.40 and
Martha Johnson, $547.50); Lucy E.
Mattingly eight. $1,795.80; Anthony
Addison, seven. $1,401.60; Benjamin S.
Bohrer, thirteen (total sum missing
from my notes, but two of Bohrer’s
slaves, Alexander Green and George
Green, were appraised at $657 and $669,
respectively); Mary C. Dean, six.
$2,124.31 (one slave. Albert Clarke, ap
praised at $613.20); Pierce Shoemaker,
twenty, $5,803.50 (one slave, Leander
Lyles, uppraised at. $596.40); Ann Piek
rell, seven, $2,321.40 (one slave, Samuel
Collins, appraised at $700.80, next to
the highest appraised slave In the Dis
trict); John H. C. Coffin, seven. sl.-
795.15; Harriett White, twenty-one, $6.-
876.60 (two slaves appraised as fol
low's: Archibald Regney, $569.40. and
Edmund Herbert, $591.30); John A.
Smith, fourteen, $5,146.50 (four slaves
appraised as follows: Henry, $657;
1/eonard, $591; Bill Woodley, $613.20,
and Anthony, $657); George W. and
John S. Hopkins, executors and trus
tees of John Hopkins, ten. $2,912.30;
Leonard O. Cook, eight, $1,642.50 (one
slave. Susannah Harper, appraised at
$525.60); George W. and Catherine A.
Wren. nine. $2,146.20 (one slave, Os
c*r Lewis, appraised at $613.20); Caro
ling IS. Sanders, seventeen, $4,949.40
have also squatted invisibly nearby
and rubbed his hands in self-esteem
at permitting us to have what surely
he planned to lie our last man-made
viands in this life.
“Good, what?” queried Gates, with
his mouth full of cake.
Relaxed by the wine and wholly un- >
mindful of the peril that was closing 1
in upon us, I agreed.
Gates rose to his knees. He
couldn't stand up. But he had to
stretch. His arms went wide. The
next instant we were plunged in dark
ness. Awkwardly he had knocked
the electric torch from its shelf and
broken it irreparably.
“Oh, for the love of Pete!” I chided
him. “Talk about your hull in a china
shop.” ‘ .
“I’m sorry.”
“I fumbled for the light. It’s
smashed. And you’ll have to go to
the manhole and get a portable. I’m
hanged if I'm going to break my
bean scrambling around in this black
hole!”
After some discussion, in which I
pointed out the Justice of my argu
ment, he agreed to make his way to
the manhole and bring .down the
portable lamp as far as it would
stretch. This would enable us to get
out.
♦* * *
poR some 10 minutes I heard my
friend bumping his way in the
general direction from which we had
come. Time after time he broke out
into angry protests when he bangpd
his head or tender skin on the sharp
steel beam*. Gradually his puffings
and pantingw and complaints became
more distant. They nearly faded
away altogether.
Suddenly I had a flash of anxiety.
“Hey, Gates,” I called. “You're
going too far. The manhole isn’t
away down there.”
It was some seconds before his
reply came back, muffled: "I can’t
find it. You'd better come along and
help.”
That was about the third big mis
take we had made, not sticking to
gether.
We didn’t know that one section of
the bottoms had recently been rebuilt
to open into another. And that
the second set had manholes that, 1
from the Inside, were almost indis
tinguishable from the other plating
overhead.
Probably we both got a. little ner- 1
vous at the darkness and the trouble ;
that Gates seemed to have in finding
the entrance. We both began a move
toward one another. No doubt that
we felt we could start over again and !
soon find our way out. But such 1
was not to be the case.
We did a good deal of shouting <
back and forth. But the sinuous bulk- J
heads that separated us and the air
pockets between them gave a weird, i
unearthly tone to our voices and made I
it very difficult to tell the exact direc- i
tion from which they came.
(one slave, Sylvester Brooks, appraised
at $657); Aloysius Graham, ten, $3,-
219 30; Mary and Elizabeth Queen,
twenty-four, $8,256.30 (one slave,
Louis Taylor, $591.30); Jane E. Beall.
Matilda B. L. Beuil and Margaret J.
Beal), seventeen, $3,810.60; Rebecca
Sears, eight. $1,883.40; Emily Beale,
fifteen, $2,606.10 (two slaves, Susan
Chase, $4Bl, and Rachel Ross. $459);
Lucy B. Walker, thirteen, $5,168.40
(four slaves, John Hall, $657; Hilleary
Speaks, $657; Philip Bruce, $613, and
Sophia Ross, $525.60); Henry Naylor,
eighteen, $5,518.80 (three slaves,
Stephen Dixon, $613.20; Mary Jane
Diggs, $525.60; William Taney, $525.60);
Martha A. Linton, eight. $2,430.90
(one slave, George P. Mudd, $613.20);
Bladen Forrest, eight, $2,628; Richard
L. Ross, nineteen, $6,307.20 (two
slaves, Alfred and Thomas Smith. $613
each): Philip T. Berry, thirteen, $3,-
723; Clark Mills, eleven. $1.916.2a;
John Little, twelve, $3,635.40 (three
slaves. Lender, $613.20; Hortensl,
$525.60, and Benjamin Purnell,
5613.20; Thomas Young, eight, $3,285;
Joshua Pierce, ten, $3,635.40 (two
slaves, Thomas Rhodes, $613.20; and
Ellen Beckett. $525.60).
Leah L. G. Wilson, nine, $2,671.80
(two slaves, James, $569.40, and Ibbey,
$525.60); Rebecca Williams, eight, $2,-
890.80; executors of William H. Tur
ton. sixteen. $4,139.10; J. Fenwick
Young, fourteen, 53.219.20 (one slave,
Anthony Lewis, $657); Charles Homil
ler, twelve. $3,263.10 (two slaves, Kins
ley Etchlson, $657, and Dallas Etchi
son. §613.20), Artana J. Lyles, thir
teen, $3,679.20; Columbus Alexander,
fifteen. $4,818 (4 slaves, Beverly Da
vis, $657; Nancy Holmes, §503.70;
George Singleton, $613.20, and Trank
Diggs, $744.60 —the last the highest
appraised slave In the District);
Charles E. Mix, nine, $2,715.60; James
Selden, trustee for George L. Selden,
$1,883.40
** * *
'JpHE Sister of the Visitation owned
12 slaves and were awarded $4,-
073.40. From that sum the Commis
sioners deducted $298.75, as having
“HE COULDN’T STAND UP, BUT HE HAD TO STRETCH. HIS
ARMS WENT WIDE. THE NEXT INSTANT WE WERE PLUNGED
IN DARKNESS.”
For some minutes Gates’ voice had
been getting louder and louder. At
last, to my intense relief, I heard
him but a few feet away in the pitchy
darkness.
“Thank goodness, you’re back, old
scout!” I exclaimed, gratefully drink
ing in with my ears the intimate
sibilance of his breath and the mut
tered imprecations that still dripped
from his lips.
“Me, too,” I heard him say. Surely
he was right in front of ine. I reached
out my hand to touc Ii him. but even
as 1 did so, I realized there was some
thing wrong with his voice. -
My hand touched no human body.
The vestigial hairs o i my backbone
raised and stayed that way when, ab
ruptly, my reaching fingers came into
contact with the cold, unyielding sur
face of a steel plate I knew what had
happened to Gates' voice; it had to
pass through steel to reach my ears!
Nervously, l felt u ; ong. As Gates
said nothing, I imr x ned he was doing
the same. But i; was of no use. A
bulkhead separated as.
“Work along it. old man,” I told
him.
We did. We each went as far as
we could In both directions. But there
was no opening.
“That means we'll have to work
back and around,” were my next in
structions. I tried to make ray voice
ns cheerful as I could.' But I wasn’t
very successful. Afterward Gates told
me that I sounded as 1f I had given
up all hope, then and- there.
♦* * *
B trr If our case seemed hopeless
then, it was desperate an hour
from then. For in the course of his
wanderings Gates found the manhole.
I could hear his shout of triumph
when he did so. Then next instant
all the joy went out of life for us
botn.
“It’s locked!” he yelled. “It’s lock
ed!” he repeated. “Dogged down
hard!”
My heart sank. This could mean
only that some one had come along
and seen the little 1 open entry door
and decided that some careless sailor
had forgotten to close it. If this was
the case, then the door to the store
room was probably closed, too. And
that wuld mean its being locked.
Not only was it unlikely that the
bottom would bo visited again for
days even weeks, but the chances of
our being heard if we banged on the
manhole were terrifyingly remote.
There was air enough to last us for
an indefinite time. But this was not
a negligible factor, for bottoms are
made watertight, which means they
also are impervious to air.
We had Just eaten; and we had
some crumbs of cake left. There was
at least one small pool of scummy
water which we had passed when we
entered. Sweating of the bottom would
no doubt give us a few drops more.
But I knew enough about bottoms,
and the merciless certainty of the
fragile items that stood between us
and death, to see very clearly the
fearful peril of our situation. Only so
been paid on account by Ignatius
Tlghlman, one of the slaves, for the
purchase of himself and family, wife
and seven children.
The Rambler told you last Sunday
that the report of the Emancipation
Commissioners shows that three Dis
trict slave owners were negroes—
Robert Gunnell, Gabriel Coakley and
James W. McDaniel. Gunnell owned
10 slaves and was awarded $2,1(58.10.
His slaves and their appraised value
were: Paulina Booth, $438; Sarah Fair
fax. $438; Florida, $503.70; Anna,
$284.70; William, $153.30; Frank,
$131.40; Thomas, $109.50; Joseph,
$43.80; Sally, $43.50,. and Charles,
$21.80.
Gabriel Coakley owned 8 slaves and
was awarded $1,489.20. His slaves
were Ann M. Coakley, Mary Coakley,
Mary Ann Coakley, Genora Coakley,
Veronica Coakley, Sophia Coakley,
Sarah Coakley and Gertrude Coakley.
McDaniel owned 2 slaves, Jemima,
$438, and Lucy, $175.20.
There may be something about these
cases of negroes owning slaves which is
not shown by the record and which
the Rambler does not understand. It
may be, for example, in the Coakley
case, that Coakley after buying his
freedom or being freed in some other
way, bought the 10 staves, who may
have been his own family, and that
the title to them was in him as
owner. Ido not know anything about
it except what is in the record, or the
report of the Emancipation Commis
sioners.
Slaves of high valoo belonged to
“small slave owners,*’ or to persons
who owned from 1 to 6 slaves. Four
slaves belonging to Joseph C. and
Henry A. Willard were appraised as
follows: William Thomas, $5(59.40; John
Thomas, $591; Jack Bowie, $547.50. and
James Montgomery, $547.50. Other
high-appraised slaves were: Jesse
. Mitchell belonging to William A. T,
Maddox, $657; William Mills, belonging
to Thomas A. Newman. $613; Clara
Btjvvie, belonging to William H. Don*
gal. $613; William Caesar, belonging to
Samuel Rhreve, $591.50; Georgo King,
belonging to Augusta Mcßlair, $613.20;
William Bateman, belonging to Mar
— ■ ■ ■ i ;
much air and water, no food to speak
of, and anywhere from a week to
three months before we might he
rescued. Death by thirst, starvation 1
or suffocation seemed staring us in
the face.
The first human reaction to fear is ,
self preservation. If there is no straw
at which to grasp, the human yearns ,
for companionship of another of bis
species. This desire gripped Gates
and me. We determined to find one
another.’ f
i; 1! i ■ U iBSaBxBSDB3&3&BB32BEE&S&SSg£mS
-
■.)£. »; »'-]>*pjiBw3B|WBBMBBBHjMBMMHpBHB[BSH3[^MHUaarIaKgie
v. ißVtwwlwS
' I Y'■ ''WIIMP
iSBIhBHBB
W- , V V "i"A\* AWwHKKHR
“HE BEAT A TATTOO WITH %|M
THE HEEL OF HIS SHOE OIN m
THE SMALL METAL DOOR VtWm IWOVA
OVERHEAD. IT WASNT MUCH nV^VvO
OF A NOISE, BUT WE STAKED ®WwM\\w \\\V
OIIR LIVES ON IT.” ' v v '
t garet W. Getty, $569.40, and Henry
i Gillis, belonging to Jonathan Ride
i nour, $591.30.
You have noticed the repetition of
the figure $613? My memory holds
i the Impression that a young, healthy,
strong and apt man slave for farm
■ work had a sales value of SI,OOO be
i fore the Civil War, and I have the
; thought that these slaves were
those which the Baltimore slave deal
er, Campbell, testified were worth
SI,OOO in 1839-60. 'tv Idea Is that
, $613 was the scaled down appraisal
, reached by the Emancipation Commis
sioners to bring the average price of
the 3,100 District slaves down to S3OO,
or within the $1,000,000 appropriated
by Congress. Some of the city slaves
had high value because of their skill
as cooks, butlers, laundresses and
housemaids. Some of the high-priced
man slaves were artisans—black
smiths, wheelwrights, horseshoers and
carpenters. In the case of Columbus
Alexander’s slave, Frank Diggs, ap
praised at $744.60, I imagine that he
was the butler and doorman of the
Alexander family, and in the ease of
Ann Pickrell’s slave, Samuel Collins,
appraised at S7OO, I imagine that he
was an artisan who was hired to
others at so much per month. These
are but surmises, and If you know the ,
facts you might write a contribution
to the rambles.
*** * j
VOU may want a sketch of the 1
course in Congress of the District i
emancipation bill. The following para- ;
graphs are from the Congressional
Globe:
“In the Senate. Monday. December ’
16, 1861—Mr. Wilson (Henry Wilson <
of Massachusetts) naked and by unani- 1
mous consent obtained leave to Intro- 1
duce a bill (Senate. No. 108) for the j
release of certain persons held to 1
service and labor in the District of i
Columbia, which was passed to a sec- 1
ond reading and ordered printed.” *
“In the Senate, Friday, December 1
20, 1861—On motion of Mr. Wilson, the I
bill for the release of certain persona \
held to service and labor in the Dls* 1
triot of Columbia was taken from the t
tattle, read the second time and re- J
We were lost. And we were seared;
far more seared than either would,
ever have admitted. But we cheered
each other with words called through
the Stygian darkness, words of cheer
or of humor, mingled with curses at
the cruel steel beams which continual
ly hammered our heads and shins as
we crawled about.
It was not long before I could feel
warm blood trickling down »ny nose
and my leg. This was not good, I
thought. In a few days of this horror
every atom of strength and endurance
would begin to count.
It seemed hours, but we finally
found one another. Since that baleful
day I have loved and I have married.
But never have I known a greater
thrill in the touch of another’s body
than when I felt the firm flesh of the
friend who was buried alive with me
in that living tomb of steeL
*• * * *
VVTE were now more courageous and
™ less frantic, when we could sit
together and face the awful facts. I
suppose that a certain pride kept our
iieads up; though if we had been able
to see one another's worried faces, in
that lightless hole, we might not have
been so reassuring.
“We must stand watch,” said Gates.
“If we stay by that manhole and
hammer on it every 10 minutes, night
and day. then we will not miss any
one that, happens to come in the
storeroom.”
“Will any one come in?” I asked.
“Not likely.”
“When were the last armatures
taken out?”
“Only a week ago. That means it
might be two months at least before
they'll need another.”
t could feel despair stealing over
me. “What about the cleaning
schedule?”
“Just finished,” droaned Gates.
“Might be three month* before an
other came along.”
If ever there was a hopeless out
look, it was ours. We began to make
calculations. How long would the
human body last on a spoonful of
water a day? How long would a
normal breakfast and a lunch of wine
and cake last?
Gates asked another; "What wilr
they think when they don't see us
around?”
“They won't think of u* as desert
ers, anyway,” said I. "Don’t you
think some one might have seen us
come down here?”
"I doubt it. You remember how
careful we were.”
Abruptly we realized that we were
wasting time. We should be at the
manhole banging away for help. It
took us a painful 20 minutes to find
ferred to the committee of the District
of Columbia.’*
“In the Senate. Friday, February
14. 1862—Mr. Morrill (Lot M. Morrill
of Maine), from the committee on the
District of Columbia, to whom was re
ferred the bill for the release of cer
tain persons held to service and labor
in the District of Columbia, reported
it with amendments and submitted a
report. It was ordered to be printed.”
“In the Senate, February 28, 1862
(under the heading. “Slavery in th©
District”)—Mr. Morrill: ‘I move to take
up the Dill for the release of certain
persons held to service or labor in
the District of Columbia, with a view
to assigning a time for its considera
tion.’ The motion was agreed to. Mr.
Morrill moved that the bill be made
the special order for the following
Wednesday at 1 o’elock.”
At that time the Senate District
Committee was: J. W. Grimes. lowa,
boarding at Mrs. Chapman’s. 470 east
aide of Seventh street, between K
and F; J. Dixon, Connecticut, Mrs.
Ulrich’s, 446, comer of 15th and G
streets: L. M. Morrill. Me.. 251. south
side of F street, between 13th and
14th; B. F. Wade. Ohio, Mrs. Hyatt’s.
339 south side of Pennsylvania
avenue, between Sixth and Seventh
streets; H. B. Anthony, Rhode Island,
28 Pennsylvania avenue, between
Fifteenth and Fifteenth-and-a-half
streets; A. Kennedy, Maryland, No.
6 Louisiana avenue, between Four
and-a-half and Sixth, and John B.
Henderson, Missouri, Metropolitan
Hotel.
The hill came before the Senate
Wednesday, March 12, 1362. Certain
committee amendments, were agreed
to. As amended In minor ways the
first section of the bill read: "That
all persons held to service or labor
within the District of Columbia, by
reason of African descent, are here
by discharged and freed of and from
all claims to such service or labor;
and from and after the passage of
this act neither slavery nor Invol
untary servitude, except for crime,
whereof the party shall he duly con
victed, shall hereafter exist in said t
District ” j
it again. And we discovered that the
bottom was slanting and cramped at
that point. But we took up our
wretched vigil In earnest. Our lives
depended on the chance that some
person hvould come and enter the
storeroom and hear us banging.
We couldn't tell time. We had to
guess at the intervals. But when the
one on wag oh considered that about
10 minutes had i>asaed. he beat a
tattoo with 3he heel of hia shoe, our
only hammer# on the small metal door
overhead. It wasn't much of a noise.
But we staked our lives on it. Houra
crept by. each one years long. We
measured time by pulse beats. . . .
i The second phase net in after we
haul spent a nigh*—at least we judged
it so—in that borrihle place. We
both went to steep several times,
breaking the steadiness of our vigil.
We fell tilent.
We began to quarrel about the time
intervals between tappings with the
shoe. We began to look for the
water, now that our thirst had come
up. 'We scraped our pockets for
crumbs, and went over carefully the
place where we had eaten the cake.
At different times we both got lost.
Then we began to explore and mem
orized oar lightless catacomb. We be* •
came depressed and irritable. In a
word, we lost hope. Our little tap
pings on the manhole door might not
even be audible from the outside. If
so, we were lost.
* *• * *
passed. We lost count of
days and nights; not that we ever
had real count of them. But the first
4$ hours must have been fairly well
delineated by our desire to sleep.
Then sleep became irregular and
neither of us knew which was day
and which was night# It was all
night for us; impenetrable, inky
night, filled with only the increasingly
frightful horrof of our imaginations.
We had lost all sense rtf time. Our
sufferings had become acute. Both
were suffering physically /ram thirst
and cramp and hunger; and mentally
from the despair that had overtaken
our early courage.
We were ooth asleep, on the third
day, when a flood of blinding light
poured down usion us from tyje man
hole, which suddenly opened. Dazed
and blinking, we opened our ayes.
"Thank God”* I heard some on ex
claim.
Helping hand* dragged our arching
bodies into the storeroom.
Five minutes later we stood in lha
skipper’s cabin. C&pt. Usher looked
very grave.
-1 "You young gentlemen should bp
hung at the yardarm for such be-*
havtor,” he rasped. Glancing over hia
spectacle**, he added, not without a.
twinkle of human in hia weathered
eyes: "Or equipped with nursemaid*
to follow you about.”
“Yes, sir,” said we both sheepishly.
"But I think you’ve learned your
lesson, haven’t you?”
Again, humbly, we murmured, "Yea,
sir.”
“Then yo* may go.**
We melted away through the door.
Outside we met the executive officer.
“You both might getr a lino on tha
old man’s estimate of your characters
when I tett you he suggested looking
in the double bottoms the minute I let
him in on the secret of pour disap
pear'd nco, ’ ’
(Cenymbt. inr.J
ate^vil
BWI
M^..to
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l!
m nßroli i
lillllP
raj flprnpw
\ N,’/want l»i.
Senator Lot M. Morrill offered the
following amendment, which was
agreed to:
"That no claim shall be allowed
for any slave brought into the Dis
trict after the passage of this act:
or which originates in or by virtue
of any transfer mads or which shall
hereafter be made, by any person
who has in any manner aided or sus
tained the rebellion against the gov
ernment of the United States."
Senator Morrill offered another
amendment, which was agreed to. It
was:
“That any person who shall kidnap
or in any manner transport or pro
cure to be taken out of the said Dis
trict any person discharged or freed
by the provisions of this act. or any
free person, with intent to re-inslave
or sell such person into slavery, the
person so offending shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and on oon
vlotion thereof In any court of com
petent Jurisdiction in ''said District
shall be Imprisoned in the peniten
tiary not less than five years por
more than twenty years.**
The next amendment offered was
by Senator Garrett Davis of Mount
Sterling. Kentucky. It started some
thing. The amendment was:
“That all persons liberated under
this act shall be colonised out of the
limits of the United States, and the
sum of SIOO,OOO, out of any money
in the Treasury not otherwise appro
priated. ahall he expended under
direction of the Preaident of the
United States for that purpose.”
That amendment provoked discus
sion between Senators Davis. K:-.:
John Parker Hale, N. H.; Samuel C.
Pomeroy, Kan., and Doolittle of Wis
consin. That discussion will make a
good beginning for next Sunday’s
story, and besides, the time is now
18 something o’clock Saturday, June
11. and the Lindbergh parade is in
the Avenue, crossing Seventh street. *
My window is jammed by friends
who come to see me only on days of
big parades. I want to see some
os the remarkable show my
self and get a glimpse of the wondgr
man, so I will end this story here.