Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1824-12-09

~ F~"''~ sss~~sseSe J""tsJ F"stsSNstt.
Extract Of aletter from an American officer
on board the Z. S. ship John Adams. To his
friend in Baltimore, dated
| 'PAssAsE lsIaSD, Nov. 10Th, 1924.
"fou viii, no doubt, hear a great
noise about Commodore PoRrEa taking
a Spanish Town in Porto Rico TIE
circumstances are briefly these:--rhe
Governor imprisoned the commander of
one of the small schooners under his
command and allowed him to be grossly
insulted-As soon as he heard of it,
Commodore Porter proceeded there
with two schooners and the boats and
part of the crew of this ship-he took
two of their batteries, spiked the guns,
and marched with two hundred men to
the town (Foxandal about two miles in
the interior--Ee there found the Spa
niards drawn up to give him battle,
halted mis- men within pistol shot OF
their forces, sent flag ordering the
Governor and the Captain of the port,
two principal offenders, to come to him
and make atonement or have their
town burnt they chose the first, and
in presence of all our officers, begged
pardon of the officer insulted, expressed
great penitence, and promised in future
to respect all American officers, who
might hereafter visit the place.
The Commodore then marched into
the town merely to show them he had
them in his power, and then returned
to the boats and left the place-No dis
tnrbance took place, and not man left
the ranks from the time they landed un-
til they embarked, having been more
than three hours from their vessels
Self defence rendered it necessary to
spike their guns, and this is all they can
| complain of--they had by some means
been appraised Of our intention Of visiting
them. The population of the place is
about two thousand--the country very
thickly settled Before we left them, a
force of three times our number, with
a field piece, had assembled, and in
presence of, and within pistol shot of
this force, our Commodore made them
humble themselves
| PHdteS.-A writer In one OF the New
York papers, suggests the propriety of
purchasing the steam ship Robert Fulton.
The suggestion is made to the merchants
of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, for the purpose of aiding in
the suppression of piracy. We under
stand This ship is built in the man-of-war
style, and is well adapted for such a
purpose.
AT meeting OF the inhabitants of
! Chesterfield county, Virginia, a number
of resolutions were passed, the purport
of which was to instruct the Senators
and Representatives in Congress to use
their best exertions in obtaining such a
provision or appropriation out of the
public resources as will give an honor
able and lasting proof ofthe justice and
gratitude OF the people of the United
States towards Gen. L.rAYETTE.
Shocking A fair-A gentleman yes
terday related the following sad occur
renee, which took place at Snyifer's
Mills ON the 90 mile creek, U. c. He
was on the spot
Above 10olbs. of powder ha d been
purchased by MIR. M'Gill, merchant,
which he lad in his store examining.
There were also two men present when
Mr. NIGH and his clerk were exam
lining the powder which had been damp,
and had some Jumps in it of the size of
hens egg; the powder WAS within or 5
feet of the fire. Just at this time DIR.
Samuel Woodruff Of the place stepped
in and takeing up one OF the humps tos-
sed it into the fire. Itexploded, throw
ing out Goals which communicated to
the rest, and the whole burnt 1t blew
up the roof of the store, which fell in,
broke all the crokery in the store, and
injured the goods, and most distressingly
burntthe clerks, Mr. Nj Gill s. MrWood-
ruff, who are in a hopeless state of reco-
very. The clerk had .inew drawn
out of his arm from the back Of his hand.
The loss of goods amounts to upwards
of $1,000 The other two men, though
badly burnt, are OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Sentinel.
An Ingenious Escape.-A few days
since convict in Massachusetts state
prison, was directed to make large so
ia. He made il with false bottom and
stuffed il with some light materials. In
in the space formed between the top