THREE KILLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

THREE KILLED.

HORROR ON HIGH SEAS,

MATE PARDONED,

Nothing ever written by Clark Russell, the master of sea fiction, could quite compare in intensity and dramatic quality with the actual story or the triple murder on the high sea on the lumber vessel the Herbert Fuller, which had sailed a few weeks previously from the Port of Boston. Those aboard "the floating coffin," as it has' been called, consisted of Captain Nash and his wife, the two mates, a passenger and the crew. The first mate, who was to be in the limelight for many years after the tragic event, was Thomas M. Bram. The lone passenger was Lester H. Monks, and the things he saw and heard would have made a romantic narrative in themselves. The ship had been out three or four weeks when Mr. Monks was awakened from a sound sleep by the frenzied shrieks of a woman. He heard sounds from the chartroom—sounds that were never afterwards explained. He dressed hurriedly and went to the forward. cabin and the sight he_ witnessed filled him with horror. Captain Nash's cot had bee'n tipped over and the man lay on the floor bleeding, with his breath rattling in his throat. Nearby in another cot wag the captain's wife, also covered with blood. It was a thrilling moment. Alone in mid-ocean, with two bodies confronting him, the passenger found his brain in a whirl. As he turned to leave- the cabin he saw Bram, the chief mate, walking on the deck between the main and the mizzen mast. Monks pulled out a revolver and pointed it directly at the mate. In response, the mate picked up a heavy plank and hurled it at the passenger. . ■ •» i When Monks recovered, he raised his voice in a wild shout: "Come below," he cried, "the captain has been murdered! Come below, for God's sake!" "A Mutiny." The next thing he knew was when he heard the sound of Bram's voice. . '"There is a mutiny," exclaimed that individual, "the second' mate is forward with the crew." The second mate was forward, but he had also been murdered. Presently Bram and Monks found themselves alone on the deck. As the passenger looked about hdm he saw a bloodcovered axe in' front of him. Bram picked this up and threw it overboard, saying that he feared some of the mutinous' crew might use it against him. The steward approached about this time and Bram threw his arms about him, crying: "You look after me; take care of me, steward! This was the gist of the evidence which was rehearsed again and again in the two Federal trials which followed. Monks said that his theory was that Mr. Blum the second mate, who had been drinking, had gone below and insulted Mrs. Nash. Then Captain Nash ?T, ™ and 5?, fc an axe and attempted to kill -Blum. Blum seized the axe and hit Captain Nash and his wife, and then staggered back to his bunk. Bram was placed on trial for the three murders. He protested his innocence vehemently. He claimed that he had not heard the cry of Mrs. Nash, although it had awakened the passenger. The jury after being out for 26 hours, brought in a ™? rdlct oi B*®* on January 2, 1897 The prisoner ejjill declared his innocence, appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and that tribunal on a legal technicality set the verdict aside and ordered a new trial. This took longer than the first, but the decision was guilty,- but without capital punishment. * He was sentenced to Atlanta for life, but after serving 15 years, five years for President Wilson, on April 22, 1919, while in Pans, granted him a full pardon. Bram, informing his attorney of r at" 18 him Belf ' "Your innocent