THE FATE OF A STOWAWAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2381, 24 August 1886, Page 2

THE FATE OF A STOWAWAY.

The London Daily Telestiaph recently devoted an. artiolo: to the subject of stowaways, its-remarks being prompted by acase in whioh.two men wore- landed - in Dover from an .outward-bound ship after beituj threatened by: the captain that they would the .'■ plank. ' Apropos to the subject the - following tale is related:—'? A n inoidens ■■ of tho. most tragical nature happened many years ago, when Australia, was . yeunger by a quarter of-, a eentury. thaa ; she is now, aud when the vessels: trading ■■ there were all sailing Blujw r ,...,A-younger--sen of a'.baronet went out to syduoy as a : ouddy.or saloen p'areeugeV'at a ebarg© of seventy, or'eighty jjuiubas.; iilt wat.. apparently the last bhance'given him by his family. He was going toibstralift to see what he could find Mm\c do. He had agood' outfit,- mI-Mw in Mi pocket besides. The ship arrived at ' Sydney, and nothing more was hoM of the young man until within two ofthree days of the sailint; of the vosaelf She'had then been lyin? in Sydney harbor for . three months, discharging cargo, and filling up wifch'wool. An apprentice standing at the gangway, noticed; a ragged" "* hollow-faoed young man eyeing tho ahip from the wharf. Presently he stopped on board, touched his oap with a subdued humble gesture, and askod him if ho knew him. ' The' appreutico' answered . '• No.".' On this the'young men said that he was the baronet's son who had coma out as a saloon passenger.', He declared i that he was starving, that he had not a , halfpenny in the world, and that he was - mad to get home. . He. offered to fill any situation that might be offered; but when the captain was spoken to, he doclined to take him on board, .and two days after the ship sailed for the port of London. On her arrivara dreadful discovery was - made.. Wedged among soine of wool right forward in the midhijpffilsokness of the hold there was foufii' the skeleton of a man, the flesh of, .whioh had been entirely;consumed by rats, The remains .were ."dosed, and they were recognised by the apprentice and others as being those of the young fellow .who had applied for a situation to enable ten . to got home, How he had contrived to • jam himself into. the particular rpart of . the hold where ho was discovered no one

could imagine. .He, had manifestly worked himßelf.into'su'oh a situation that

he could not extricate himself from it No cries' could have penetrated to the deck out of the suffocating atmosphere of that wool-packed interior; hence it was inferred that the miserable stowaway had died a dreadful .lingering- death from starvation."