The Rogue of the Sound

The other day, while Seeley, the smuggler, and three or four of his companions were being taken to the United States Penitentiary on McNeil Island, from Port Townsend, to await trial on a charge of smuggling, the prisoner became very talkative and related many reminiscences of their lawless careers. Seeley, however, gained the greatest amount of attention, as his stories were the most thrilling. Among the stories related by him was the following: 'Last summer, while we were carrying on a lively ferry business, transporting Chinese from Victoria to the American side at $25 per head, I remember one night I left the British side with several Chinese passengers. Early in the evening an Italian, with a fishing smack, left port with seven Chinamen. We had a light breeze, and as my sloop was much faster than his boat, I overtook him before morning, and we kept along close together. When near the American side, we sighted the cutter far in the distance. The breeze by this time was fresher, and I knew I could slip in behind an island till she passed by, but the Italian was in a devil of a fix. As the cutter approached he became more and more frightened, and seeing that he would be captured, concluded to get rid of the contraband Chinamen, who were stowed in a little dirty cabin in the bow of his smack. He called them out, only allowing one to come on deck at a time. As soon as the Chinaman would close the cabin door after him, the Italian would strike him on the head with a heavy instrument, throw him overboard, and then call out another victim. In this way he got rid of his seven passengers inside of ten minutes, and before the cutter came up to him the blood was all washed from the decks of the smack, and there was nothing on board to show that there had ever been a soul on the craft.'