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Show SHIP'S CAPTAIN I HAS GOOD LUCK I Fate and a Stout Heart Save , Commander of Steamer II Willamette. J PIRATE PLANS ROBBERY After Hand to Hand Encounter Encoun-ter Bandit and Confederate Are Put in Irons. ( San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 2. Good luck at a critical moment and a atout heart saved Captain Reiner of tne steamship Willamette from being shot last Wednesday night at sea by a fantastically fan-tastically disguised pirate, who planned plan-ned to rob the ship's safe of the ?1500 it contained, clean out the 25 passengers of cash and valuables, and escape in a launch that was following the vessel. The Willamette arrived this morning morn-ing and Captain Reiner, his hands badly torn and cut from his battle with the pirate, told his story. A. B. Nelson, the pirate, and Joe Lorain, suspected of being a confederate, confed-erate, were turned over to the United States marshal. "About 7 o'clock Tuesday night,'' i said the captain, "I was sitting in my J cabin. We were then off Cape Vin- i cent, about midway between San Pe- j dro and Redondo. 1 Confronted by Masked Figure. j "I heard the knob of my door turn It wasn't locked and I found myself my-self confronted by a strange figure in a white mask, wearing a false moustache, mous-tache, and a wig. The lower half ot the apparition's face was swathed In a handkerchief. In Its right hand was a loaded automatic pistol. "I jumped for the pistol and for some reason I shall never be able to give you, I got hold of it before tho fellow could crook his trigger finger. fin-ger. "Then wc began fighting all ovet the room. All the while the fellow if was pulling the trigger of his auto- matic, but my clutch upon It in aomo way had disarranged the magazine. "The pirate then threw the pistol on the floor. With one free hand he drew another weapon, this time a double action revolver. "I was shouting for help, which came in time to save me, for by this time I was pretty well played out. A waiter and a seaman came to my rescue, disarmed Nelson and put him in irons," Motor Boat Follow Vessel. During the progress of the fight and for some time afterwards a motor boat had been following the vessel at a distance ot about a half mile. Captain Cap-tain Reiner believes the pirate expected ex-pected to escape to shore in tho launch, after he had gone through the ship. Nelson took passage at San Pedro for San Francisco under the name or M. Lard. Captain Reiner remembered remember-ed to have seen him before, and on cross-examination, learned readily his true name and that he has a members mem-bers card in California harbor No. 15, an organization of mates and i pilots. The Willamette, a steam lumber f carrier, owned here, carried a crew j of 25 men and 25 passengers. None 4 JD of the passengers knew of the battle until after the pirate was safely in ironB Captain Reiner sailed for Seattle today to-day with the Willamette. At the city jail, where the alleged pirates have been confined tempora rily, it was said the men were federal fed-eral prisoners. The United States marshal removed the prisoners to the federal prison a( noon, and said they would be taken south to Los Angeles by the first train and given into custody of the marshal of the southern district ot California. rtn |