At one point during this period it was home to a Chinese community, which worked as dockhands and ran restaurants. By the late 19th century it all changed. Till then, as previous 1864 Census figures for Bombay indicate, other areas had a larger population of prostitutes, like Girgaum (1,044), Phanaswadi (1,323) and Oomburkharee (1,583) compared with Kamathipura (601), all which declined after 1864.Tambe, p. 62 This small region boasted the most exotic consorts.
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Still and the five dockhands were charged with forcible abduction, rioting, disorderly conduct, and assault. On August 29, 1855, Johnson appeared as a surprise witness at their trial, and testified that she had voluntarily walked away from Wheeler. The most serious charges against the men were dismissed, although the two who had restrained Wheeler were convicted of assault and spent a week in jail. Johnson was escorted out of the courthouse by Lucretia Mott, Rev.
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They found Johnson and her sons with their master on the ferry's upper deck. Williamson approached her and explained that Pennsylvania law guaranteed her freedom, if she chose it: As Still led Johnson and her sons away, five black dockhands prevented Wheeler from stopping them. Williamson remained to explain to authorities that this had been a lawful act, not a kidnapping. Williamson, the only white man involved, was arrested and charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act.
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The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, but appeared to originate with an oil tank on which the two men who were killed, engineer De Monte W. Wade and fireman Merrill B. Stayton, were working. Wade and Stayton were in the process of connecting the right and left oil tanks, in preparation for which they had drilled holes in both tanks. Suddenly a huge explosion occurred in the forward part of the steamer, and the vessel took fire. Eighteen ship carpenters and labors were at work on the vessel at the time, as well as five dockhands under the supervision of Capt.
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Escorted by six gunboats mounting heavy guns to support the landings, the fleet got underway and sailed for Sabine Pass. On September 8, 1863, a company of 42 immigrant Irish dockhands from Galveston, under the command of a young Lt. Richard W. Dowling, were manning six antiquated cannon in an earthen fortification, known as Fort Griffin, at Sabine Pass. On the evening of the 7th, the Federal fleet arrived off the bar and sent four gunboats up the pass (rather than six, due to the shallow waters of the Sabine River) to neutralize the fort. Dowling withheld the fire of his guns until the Federal vessels came within close range, then opened fire.
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He bribed several members of the crew to help him in transporting his possessions into the Okinawan ships, while the doctor invited a number of Okinawan dockhands below decks, and entertained them with drink. Intoxicated, the Okinawans were persuaded to take the Bettelheims, and their possessions ashore; when they arrived it had already grown dark and was too late to turn back. The local officials offered the family shelter in the Gokoku-ji temple for the night, and the priests in residence there left, out of respect for the women's privacy. The following morning, the Bettelheims refused to leave. They would remain in the Gokoku-ji for seven years.Kerr. pp.283-4.
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