PIRATES SENTENCED TO DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9401, 6 January 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

PIRATES SENTENCED TO DEATH.

SPATE OF A CAPTAIN AND HIS -*r "-T CREW. END OF A TRAGEDY OF THE ■■■■■ SOUTH SEAS. - feßiST(Franco), December 8.-—Alexander and Joseph Rodrique, brothers, on trial before the naval court-martial, charged with murder, mutiny, and piracy in the South Pacific, have been condemned to death. . STORY OF THE CRIME. , The story of the flagitious crime for which these brothers were convicted was brought to San Francisco in August, 1892, by a schooner trading between that port and the Tahitian group, and aroused considerable interest at the time. The vessel on which the crime was committed was the schooner. Dolly, built at Bonicia, on San Francisco bay, and used for a considerable period in the South Sea trade, but subsequently sold to King Pomare of the Tahitian Islands, by whom she was used as a pleasure boat. Eventually she was purchased from the King by a commercial firm on the islands and fitted out as a trading vessel, but the night before she was to have sailed she disappeared from the harbour, and no further •word of the craft was heard till she was captured by a Spanish warship, and the story of the murder of the captain and crew made known by the cook, of whom the brothers Rodrique had made an accomplice. , r THE COOK'S NARRATIVE. According to the story told by the cook, the mate, Rodrique, smuggled his brother on board at Tahiti the night the schooner left the port. Both men were well armed, and as soon as it was dark enough for their purpose the brothers unshackled the chain to avoid the noise that would be made by heaving up the anchor. Then at the point of their revolvers the captain and supercargo were placed in iron* and the sailors compelled to make sail on the vessel.. In this manner the schooner was taken out of the harbour without attracting any attention, and once clear of the land she was headed for the Permoto group, and every etitch cracked on the vessel to escape pursuit. It was not until the third day oub that the brothers felt safe enough to . carrjrout the rest of their horrible programme. Then while his brother kept guard on deck the mate went to the galley and forcißd the cook to put poison in the soup he was cooking for the sailors' dinner. The poor fellows little thought when they filled their plates that they were eating their last meal on earth. A FATAL MEAL. When the poor fellows began to eat, Rodrique and his brother watched them through the skylight, and a fiendish smile spread over their faces as the fatal drug performed its deadly work and the four men rolled on the floor in their death agony. The poison selected by the pair of hands was most powerful, and inside of half an boar from the time the soup was ladled out the four men lay stiff in de»t>h on the floor of the forecastle. The murderers then held a council to decide on how Captain Castella and Supercargo Gibson were to be disposed of. The mate wanted to poison them, also, bub his brother was in favour of shooting them and getting the work done as quickly as possible. The mate at last agreed, and the pair at once ran into the cabin to seek the life of two more victims. Captain Castella and Gibson had no idea that the four Kanakas had been murdered, and when the mate entered the cabin he asked what the crew were doing. THE CAPTAIN SHOT HEAD. "They are doing nothing," answered the brute, as he drew his revolver and levelled it at the captain's heaS, while poor Gibson tried to save himself by rushing past the two murderers to reach the deck. In an Instant the double report rang out, and Captain Castella fell across the table with a bullet in his brain. The mate's aim had been true, but his brother's hand trembled as he palled the trigger, and the supercargo staggered across the cabin and sank into a chair with a bullet in his shoulder. The poor fellow begged the men nob to kill him, bub dead men tell no tales, and another shot scattered his brains over the body of his captain, and the fearful work was complete. While this bloody work was being carried on the poor cook watched through the skylight, fully expecting his turn would come next). After killing the captain and Gibson the mate took the wheel, while his brother and the cook, who dared not disobey the pirates, dragged the bodies of the two men oat of the cabin and threw them over the side. BODIES THROWN to the sharks. The bodies were hardly in the water before scores of sharks appeared, and in an instant the bodies were torn to pieces and devoured. The cook was then directed to dean up the cabin and wash away the blood. The bodies of the sailors were left in the forecastle until the following day, when they were hoisted on deck and laid on the main hatch. The sharks were still close to the schooner, as if they knew there was to be a repetition of their ghastly feasb, and when the mate threw the first body over the side it hardly touched the water before it was torn to pieces and devoured. The pair of murderers seemed to take a keen delight in witnessing the ravenous tigers of the sea at their fearful meal, and as each body was cast over the side they watched until the last portion of it had disappeared. The cook was then told that if he wanted to live he had to do as he was told or he would be dropped over the side alive, and a glance at the cruel eyes of the monsters that fallowed in the track of the schooner showed what that meant. The schooner was kept on her course until one of the islands of the Permoto group was reached, where a crew of natives was shipped, and the mate installed himself as captain and his brother as mate. < _ • - THE MUTINEERS ARRESTED. Considerable trading was done, and then the schooner was headed for the Kingman group. Here the two brothers went on a debauch that lasted several days. The brothers were still drunk when a Spanish warship entered the harbour, and then the cook made up his mind to go on board and let the Spanish commander know what had occurred. He waited until the pair of murderers had fallen into a drunken stupor, and then, lowering the boat, the cook rowed to the warship and told his story. A cutter was at once lowered and sent to the schooner, and when the pirates awoke from their drunken slumber they found themselves ironed hand and foot and on the lower deck of the Spanish warship. A prize crew was placed on the schooner, and five days after the two vessels sailed for Tahiti, where the pirates were turned over to the French authorities. ' ?