TRAGEDY OF ARCTIC WHALER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 26 January 1907, Page 4

TRAGEDY OF ARCTIC WHALER

CAITAIX ACCi'sKD 01-' MUIiDEKIXU FUL'I! MEN'. At'u \ (>vk, XitVrlilltjV -2 sl . -Ifil-y l,t' ill !l llll):| [t cl'U','!l y on nil wli.i'cr which like a -en lloVi 'l of till- .-.Oil is relllt.'d 1\ .lullll.-Oli, tj:i: 11; yro eouk ( f the steam whaling schooner Olga, who U.-> jn»t arrived at S.-attle t'.om tin- IMiriag Sea

■lolm'-on charges Cap.aiti, K. inkcn-I't-r;-'. tin nia-tcr of the Olga, with muidering !ho c-liit-1 engineer liv -hut '■V- ;t "'l witii 111111<ii■ ii lllt an able so;' lnail by jjoisrmitijf as well as malooning two oLln-i members on an ice Ity-S "'here the.v perished, aud. with treating the rest with great eneUy throughout last winter, when the 01 ga was lieid fast in the ice oft'liallins Land.

After a short and successful whaling expedition in tha summer of l!)0j. the Olga put into Banks Laud for the winter." 1 tie civw suffered intensely. Only three weeks' provisions wore on board, and men lived oil Walrus, seal, and Polar bear. They even had to boii wall-US hide for food.

Soon after arriving at Banks Land, states Johnson;, Captain Klinfcenbcrg and the fir s l engineer, Jackson, quarrelled. The captain liually went to Jackson s bunk while he was sleeping and shot liiui. The wound was not fatai, however, and Jackson pulled down his rifle and fired four shots at Captaiu Klinkeuberg. The latter escaped unhurt. While Jackson was recovering from kis wound, Captain Klinkenborg 'ordered, th(N u'egto cook, jjohnson, to, put strychnine in a bowl of milk intended ioir the wounded engineer. Johnson says he substituted baking powder, and told Jackson of the plot. I-ailing in this, Captain Kanken erg then crept into thej engineer's stu-e. room and shot him through the head while he-was asleen.

Frank Miller. a p.-Uy officer who witnessed the shooting, informed the American authorities on the revenue cutter Thetis at Point Barrow.

Captain Klinkenberg was afraid that the other members of the crew would be witnesses against him. and he forced several uf them to sign statements that he had killed Jack son in self-defence.

Two members of the crew, who refused ro sign such a statement, went on a limning expedition with Captain Klinkenberg. The latter returned aione, and a native who accompanied the expedition afterwards declared ihat Captain Klinkenberg marooned the men out on an ice pack and left them, to freeze to death.

Johnson alleges that Captain Klin kenber gthen took a dislike to a seaman named Mitchell. When the latter was incapacitated with frozen feet last February, the captain ordered the man to nail up his bunk. Later he caught Mitchell warming himself at a gasolene fire on deck, and threw him into the forecastle, fastening hi'u to the lose end of an anchor chain. Several nrontilis ilatcr Mitchell be came seriously ill, and while delirious annoyed the captain by iiis cries for water. Therefore, states the nr-gro cook, Captain Klinkenberg poisoned iiim with strychnine.

When the ice released the Olga last; spring Captain Klinkenberg proceeded to the Hersehell Islands, where iic went before the British authorities and swore that he killed Jackson in self defence. He afterwards left the Oiga and proceeded to Point Barrow in a small oat. Captain Klinkenberg is still at Point Barrow. He is to be tried on tiie charge of murdering the engineer and the seaman Mitchell, as well as charges of treating the crew with great cruelty.