The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-21 00:00:00

THE SLAVER ECHO.

(From the Charleston Mercury.)
" The real name of the captured brig is the
General Putnam. These letters are partially
erased and covered over by those of the assumed
name Echo, and would doubtless have been restored
had success crowned the enterprise in which she
was engaged when taken. She is of Baltimore
build, say 280 tons burthen, and, it is believed, was
formerly a packet in the coffee trade between that
port and Rio. On the 6th of March last she
cleared from New Orleans_ with a captain, two
mates, eight seamen, a cook, steward, and one pas-
senger. On the 6th of July she shipped a cargo of
455 slaves on the West Coast of Africa, at Kabenda,
situated in lat. 5.30 south, long. 12.20 cast. It is in
Lower Guinea, in the southern part of the district
of Loango, and not far from the River Congo or
Zaire. These slaves were purchased in a circuit of
500 miles, and assembled at a barracoon near the
point of shipment. The brig set sail with them,
and in 47 days made the, trip, reaching the point of
destination on the morning of the 21st instant.
In this space of time 141 negroes had died,
leaving but' 314 alive. A bay on ' Cape Verde,'
one of the keys on the north coast of Cuba, lat.
23.40, long. 80.20, was the landing-place, wherei
the Echo was detected by the Dolphin. The offi-
cers of the Dolphin left the harbour of Sagua la
Grande the day before, and while cruising west-
ward in search of slavers perceived the Echo at
daylight in the distance, bearing the British flag,
and running down the coast a-head of the Dolphin
in the same direction. Na suspicion was excited.
The brig entered a bay ; the Dolphin ran on her
course, and in good time came in view of the bay
and the Echo. The captain of the slaver now lost
his presence of mind, supposing he was suspected
and pursued, and suddenly hauled off from the
coast. It was then observed that a number of
launches near the shore had their sails set to come
out to the brig. This verified the suspicion excited
by her strange movement, and the Dolphin gave
chase to the flying vessel, still bearing the British
flag. Blank cartridges were fired, and it became
evident that the pursuer gained. The slaver spread
all her canvas in vain, and, finding herself about to
fall into the-clutches of the cruiser, thought to be
British, hauled down the flag and ran up the stars
and stripes.

" The-Dolphin followed suit, displaying her true
colours, and brought her to with a few shottcd guns
fired after her. She was boarded by Lieut. Brad-
ford and 16 men, and surrendered at discretion. No
papers were found, but a signal of a black cross on a
white ground, which had probably just been used to
notify the party on shore by previous agreement.
The crew (19 in number) professed to be all passen-
gers, without captain or officers ; but Lieut. Moffitt
selected the person who appeared to be at the head
of the enterprise and took him aboard the Dolphin,
with a sick seaman and comrade to tend him. The
rest were brought here by Lieut. Bradford. It
seems that the captain and those men were not sent
to Charleston on board the Catawba from Key
West; as was expected, but are now on their way
to Boston in the Dolphin. The names of 18, except-
ing the captain, are as follow :—Dominica de la
Piene, Juan Btevern, Jose Francisco, R. I, Bates,
John Basco, Alex. Rodgers, Frank Clea 7, John E,
Capell, Arch. Scott, George Plaken, Antonio Almera,
Thomas Under, Antonia Somez, Jose de Jave Vital
de Miranda, Antonio Milanaoish, William llenr
Seno, Jose Gonzalez Seno. One is a Greek, one an
Italian ; some of them are Portuguese, some Spa-
niards, and some English. Some of them talk about
New York, but none now admit that they are Ame-
ricans, or have a whereabouts in this country.
These smugglers are a desperate-looking set of fel-
lows. Under the laws of 1819 and 1820 they will
be tried for their lives as pirates sailing on an Ame-
rican bottom under the American flag. They were
committed to gaol on Saturday afternoon. Their
trials will take place at Columbia, South Carolina,
before his Honour Judge Wayne, Circuit Judge
James Connor, United States' District Attorney,
prosecuting officer. The Court begins to sit the
fourth Monday in November.
" Being curious to see the cargo and arrange-
ment of the Echo, we obtained a permit from Dr.
W. C. Ravencl, the port physician, and with
one or two others accompanied Licit. Bradford
in a small boat from the wharf. Upon clambering
up the side of the brig a strange and startling sight
presented itself—a deck covered with native Afri-
cans in a state of complete nudity, with rare in-
stances of a narrow strip of rag an inch wide round
the waist. These people weie seated for the most
part with their legs stretched out flat, or drawn up
in front, or doubled. up ; some squatted on their feet
and hands. A few were standing about and a few
lying down. None were tied or fastened in any
way. The majority were very young, apparently
from 8 to 16 years of age, some younger and some
older—scarcely one, however, over 25. Some of
them were ablebodicd, good sized, and in good case;
but the greater part were half-grown children only,
weak and worn. Many «ere emaciated, and showed
plainly the effects of their long and crowded passage
in a confined ship. A few were evidently ill, and
soon to die. All were pure black in colour except
the dropsical, whose skins were tawny from dis-
ease. Their hair is very short and crisp. Those
who were well appeagreigdgcluguswaldndchpaltetesreidn,g
, some
of them ogling,
and o
cane stems, just as our
others smokiv tobacco out
own negroes do. Those that
were thin and sick looked du
ferocious
ofr short clay pipes with
e andbruiri their
brutish,
there was nothing wild or dull
aspect. They looked amiable and docile, and