Mutiny And Murder—
Strange Case Of Henry Scott
By EUGENE FALLON
“ . . . And talked to him of
bloody men
Whose deeds tradition saves;
Of horrid stabs in place for
lorn
And murder, done in eaves”
—From ‘The Dream of
Eugene Aram’ by
Thomas Hood.
The time was this very cen
tury, the place was the high seas
only miles off Southport. A
schooner wallowed about in cir
cles, her decks slippery with the
blood of five innocent men.
Mutiny and murder raged almost
within sight of the Brunswick
coast.
The terrible doings on the four
masted Harry A. Berwind, out of
Camden, New Jersey, more re
cently out of Cuba ' and Mobile,
Alabama, and headed for Phila
delphia, became known to the
world on the early morning of
October 9, 1905, when she was
hailed in the darkness by officers
aboard the Blanche H. King.
No answer forthcoming, the
master of the Blanche King or
dered that his command be “idled
close to the mystery ship to await
sunrise.” With the coming of
light the master and mate of the
King received their first shock:
The helpless vessel was a sister
ship, under ownership of the same !
Camdenite!
A boarding party went aboard
the motionless Berwind. For some
reason—call it a sixth sense if
you will—the boarders climbed
onto the strangely becalmed ves
sel armed to the teeth. A wise
precaution as it turned out.
Blood was everywhere ^topside
the Berwind. A Negro lay dead
on deck. Shackled in chains, the
boarders found another Negro, a
huge fellow, who greeted them
with cries of joy. Going below,
pistols at the ready, the visitors
came upon still two more Ne
groes, stretched out in their
bunks in what appeared to be
total exhaustion.
Captain John William Tayl
nudged one of the sleepers wi
his boot. The man’s eyes open
and he leaped to his feet. In t
belt, Captain Taylor saw an ugl
black-handled pistol.
Snatching away the weapo
Taylor shot a question.
Where’s the ship’s officers?
Dead and thrown overboard
P
said the man. “Murdered by the
man tied in chains on the deck.’’
The two Negroes identified
themselves as Robert Sawyer and
Arthur Adams. They had been
hired at Philadelphia, they claim
ed, almost a year earlier.
“That Henry Scott,” said Saw
yer, "he that went mad and
took to killing, he was taken on
at Mobile, It was a- bad day the
Captain ever signed him aboard!”
The nervous pair related a tale
which tightened the mouths of
the captain, mate and engineer
of the Blanche King. They said
they had been awakened during
the night by the sound of pistol
shots. Creeping up to deck, they
claimed to have arrived just in
time to see Scott shoot the mate,
one John T. Hall, and throw the
body overboard. There was no
sign of any of the other white
crew members, they swore, but
they immediately suspected the
others to be dead.
“We slipped on something we
figured must be blood,” they told
the visitors.
Missing was Captain E. R.
Rumill, Engineer C. L. Smith,
2nd Engineer John S. Coakley
(also a Negro), and the cook,
John Falde; like the others, a
white man.
Sawyer and Adams claimed
they later witnessed two addition
murders, those of the cook and
the second engineer, Coakley.
Scott, they said, had disappear
ed below, shot Falde, and coming
back on deck toting the small
body of the cook as if it had
been a child, tossed the corpse
overboard with a laugh.
It was at this time, claimed
the pair, that “we decided we
must overpower Scott or else go
to the sharks ourselves.” Just
then Coakley came up from some
hiding place or other, and the
pair whispered their intentions to
him. He agreed. Taking Scott un
awares the trio got him down
after a furious struggle, and se
cured him with chains taken from
the ship’s brig. Removing their
prisoner’s revolver, the trio
thought the day saved.
But the wily Scott was not
yet through. Sawyer resumed his
dreadful tale:
“Scott begged us to release one
of his arms, claiming circulation
had been cut off, and also ask
ed for a drink of water.”
One arm of the prisoner was
freed, and Coakley went below
for a cup of water. As he was
reaching the tin dipper to the
prisoner. Scott suddenly whipped
out a second pistol from an inner
pair of trousers he was wearing
and shot his benefactor dead.
Forcing the survivors to free
him completely, he allowed the
stark corpse of Coakley to re
main where it fell, a mute testi
monial to madness and murder.
Adams, a thin pale-complexion
ed Negro who called New Bed
ford, Mass., home, took up the
terrible narrative:
“I was crazy with fear.
The engines had cut off and
the wind rose. Clouds cover
ed the moon. Scott sneaked
around and lighted a ship's
lantern. He stood over Coak
ley’s body laughing. He made
us come close. The rays
from the lantern reflected on
the opened eyes of the dead
man (Coakley). It was like
hell must be. I decided to
die fighting.”
The two survivors then set
upon Scott and managed to over
power him anew. They then re
tired to their bunks to await
dawn. That was their story.
Like fafr men everywhere, the
officers of the Blanche King de
sired to hear the other side of
the story. As matters stood they
only knew the frightful score:
Five men missing and presumed
dead, and three survivors aboard
the death ship.
Scott dropped a bombshell in
their laps!
“Adams and Sawyer are mur
derers!” he told the startled
mariners. “Why am I tied up like
an animal then, and those two
sleeping like kings in their
bunks? I tried to help Mate Hall
when they set upon him. They
turned on me after throwing the
mate into the sea. I think they
would have killed me right then,
except they had no sense to oper
ate a vessel at sea. They knew
1 could do it. And so I live to
tell the truth!”
There was but one course open
to Taylor. He had Adams and
Sawyer put in chains also, be
fore sailing the ill-fated Berwind
into Southport.
All three survivors were lock
ed away—still in chains—in the
Quarantine Station. Here they
remained for a full year. During I
their long imprisonment, U. S. I
Marshalls journeyed more than
once downriver from Wilmington
to interrogate the trio and try to
separate truth from falsehood.
All three stuck grimly to their I
original stories.
Meanwhile,, up at Wilmington,
U. S. Commissioner W. Pinner,
conducted a preliminary hearing
for the trio, all of whom were
ordered held without privilege of
bond, for mutiny and murder on
the high seas.
The prisoners went on trial in
the U. S. District Court at Wil
mington. Proceedings were held
in the ancient brownstone post
office building, with Federal
Judge Thomas R. Parnell of Ra- ;
leigh sitting on the bench.
History does not record why
each prisoner was able to secure J
fine legal defense counsel. It is
doubtful they possessed any
money. But the fact remains that
they did, presumably appointed j
by court.
William J. Bellamy represented J
Scott, while George L. Peschau ;
was counsel for Adams and Saw- .
yer. U. S. District Attorney
Harry Skinner got in the first
blow by announcing he would try
Scott and the other defendants
separately. Skinner let it be
known that he would use Scott
as a material witness against the ;
two others.
ine trial got underway on Oct
ober 9, 1906, exactly one year
from the discovery of the crimes.
Scott, on the stand, damned
his companions with his given
testimony. A jury believed him
apparently, for it took them cut
48 hours of deliberation to re
turn a verdict of guilty. Scott
did not manage to absolve him
self. All three were sentenced to
be hanged, and this in spite of
the almost incredible fact that
the jury had asked for mercy for
Scott!
The huge Scott, a native of
Baltimore, was to be executed
before the other defendants, who
were led away to the Wilming
ton jail, there to await the dread
summons.
The case took a sensational
turn, just three days before the
burly Scott was to swing. To a
Negro minister, the Rev. Robert
Bennett, and in the presence of
G. W. Bomeman, a justice of
peace, Scott confessed that he,
and he alone, had turned the
decks of the Berwind into an
abattoir. The story told by Saw
Speak Of History
GREETING—Governor Sanford is shown talking
with a “Gentleman of Brunswick” on his visit to
Shallotte Tuesday. Brunswick Town guide R. V. As
bury was on hand to greet the governor, and remin
ded' him that Brunswick Town was once the home of
Royal Governors Dobbs and Tryon. Education has
come a long way in North Carolina since the slate
pencils found by the archaeologist in the ruins of
Brunswick were used by the children of that historic
town.
yer and Adams, admitted Scott,
was substantially true.
The only reason for the blood
letting given by Scott was that
he had “had trouble with Captain
Rumill prior to sailing from Mo
bile.” Scott also claimed that the
captain and all the other offi
cers of the Berwind “had con
spired to have him arrested upon
the ship’s arrival at Philadel
phia.” This statement, from this
distance, smacks strongly of
mental derangement and a perse
cution complex.
There is little more to add to
the terrible saga of the Berwind
and its doomed crew.
Scott’s confession brought an
automatic stay of execution for
Sawyer and Adams.
Continued On Page 2
Waterfront
lhis week we talked to a fel
low who has just returned from
a week’s vacation on Bald Head
Island and the only complaint he
had is that the place is becoming
too mechanized.
The vacationer was Capt. Jimmie
Loughlin of the Cape Fear Pilots
Association, who had spent an
idyllic week as guest of Care
taker Reese Swan on the nearby
semi-tropical island. The mechani
zation to which he objected were
automobiles which operate up and
down the strand, particularly on
weekends.
"They ferry them across the
little inlet up near Fort Fisher,”
he explained, when we expressed
surprise that there are auto
mobiles on the island. "Lst week
end there were six of them. It
keeps a man busy reeling in his
line and moving about to stay
out of the path of the cars on
the beach.” Capt. Loughlin said
that he understands that Corn
cake Inlet now is completely clos
ed, and that only the one small
inlet separates the island from the
tip of the mainland.
He says that there is a great
migration of fishermen to the
island on the weekend. “It ac
tually gets too crowded for good
surf casting on the point of Bald
Head”, he declared. "Some of the
fishermen who know the condi
tions stay in their boats and fish
just offshore from the island.
Some of them use their boats to
get to the lump, then do their
casting from there.”
Capt. Loughlin, a Wilmington
native with relatives in Southport,
says that his love for life on
Bald Head Island is no newly ac
quired taste. ”1 used to row
down river from Wilmington when
I was a boy and a buddy and I
would spent two or three weeks
each summer over at the island.
I thought it was the best place
in the world—and I still do.”
“If I had enough money to own
the island I’d never sell it,” he
continued, nostalgically. "I would
n't let anybody take a car over
there, but I’d let anybody who
wanted to go over there to camp
out or fish.”
Capt. Loughlin thinks that
Swan has the best job in tha
world. “Imagine being- paid to
stay over there all the time,” he
sighed enviously. “Reese loves it,
too, so Frank Sherrill couldn’t
get a better man for the job.”
There are new rumors regard
ing possible development of the
island. Some say it will be a
gigantic real estate project; oth
ers think it will be an exclusive
residential development. There ap
Continued On Page 2
What Are We Going To Get
For The Bond Money?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is a complete breakdown on the
10 issues to be voted on Nov. 7 in the state wide bond referen
dum. Each issue with the amount of money going to each is lis
ted. It has been noted that no additional taxes will be necessary
to pay for the bonds if passed.
1. Capital Area Buildings . $ 2,858,000
Department Of Administration
State Surplus Property Building .$ 5g 00(j
New State Office Building .’ 2 800 000
2. State Training Schools .. . $ j 110 000
Stonewall Jackson Manual Training and Industrial School ’ ’
Completion of Academic and Vocational School . 373 000
State Home and Industrial School For Girls
Cottage for 25 Girls . 95 000
(Continued on Page 4)
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FRYERS
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RED DELECIOUS
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u. S. No. 1 WHITE
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25-Lb. Bag
49c
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35
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ALL SEASONING ADDED
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PEACHES °'As“«d 5 100
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V2 CHOCOLATE & V2 VANILLA
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