AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 129, 12 October 1877, Page 5 (Supplement)

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

Just as we were going to press, says the Dunedin Saturday Advertiser, of October 6th, a seaman, who said he was one of the crew of* the James Nicol Fleming, came into our office and volunteered the following extraordinary statement, relative to the murderer Sullivan and Sulieman Pasha. We give his own words verbatim et literatim :— " I've been a readin , an account in one o' the papers about Sullivan, the West Coast murderer, which stated that he was seen in'the*Sydney country, and I've called into your office to contradict that statement. I've also been a readin , about Sulieman Pasha, in which it is stated that his name is Patsey Sullivan or John Sullivan. Now, nothing of the sort is the . case, for Sulieman pasha is no more nor

Tyrell, which was a lyin' at Newcastle, in New South "Wales. Wβ were about three weeks in port, when one niornin' a villainous lookin' chap came aboard and offered the captain one hundred golden sovereigns if he would take him to New Caledonia. Captain Johnson closed with the fellow, and the next day we set sail. Well, we were just five days out when there came on a regular nor'-east buster which played the very deuce with our craft. We felt we were in Queer Street, and expected every moment to be tumbled into Davy Jones' locker. Up to this time we did not know who our fellow passenger was. Up to this time we did not know who our fellew passenger was. But in the middle of the storm the cowardly wretch fell upon his knees imploring mercy for his crimes, and confessing his name. Several of our shipmates were for pitchin' him overboard, but the captain and myself prevailed on the men to let him live until we could put him ashore. Well, at daybreak the next morning a barque-rigged foreigner hove in sight, and bore down upon us. She turned out to be a Turkish gun-boat, and her captain being short of hands, he was easily induced to take Sullivan into his crew, and I can assure you we were glad enough to get rid of such a rascal. Well, I never heard another word ,about the villain until we were leaving Glasgow a few months ago, when a man who keeps a low pub near the Salt Market, who had known Sullivan in Inglewood, showed me a letter which he had received from the seat of war from Sullivan, who signed himself Sulieman Pasha. The writer gave a very straight-forward account of his adventures since he was picked up by the gun-boat, and stated that he was now in his proper groove. He asserted that the cause of his misfortunes in the colonies was his not being in a congenial sphere. " Every man," he remarked in his letter, " has his own particular line in which he excels, and my line is killing. I have never had a chance to display my abilities before, but now I am in my element, and the Eussians know it well." The publican let me read the letter, so I swear to the truth of its contents, and you can put this statement in the Saturday Advertiser if you wish." We promised to comply with his request, and we now give it to our readers for what it is worth.