Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-02-15
PIRACY.


GAMERS who infest them-Nat. Int.
Extract ola letter from a uery respectable Ame-
rican to a Senator of the United States.
"SH1p-, MATANzAs, Jan. 9, 1925.
"The object of this letter is to &C.
quaint you with one of the most horri-
BILE and atrocious acts the pirates have
ever committed, which has come to
light. The person, who alone has
made his escape, ard is able to tell the
melancholy story, is now before me;
and feel it duty to give you de-
tailed account of the affair, as related
by him, particularly as l know you are
feelingly alive on this subject, and are
in situation to do much towards put
ting a stop to those scenes OF murder
and rapine.
The person saved, and who now
gives me the following account, is Mr..
Daniel Collins, Of Wiscasset, state of
Maine. He was second officer of the
vessel lost. He states that he left Wis
casset November 25th, in the brig Bet
sey, with Captain Ellis Hilton, bound
to this port; that when twenty-one days
out, about A. M. the vessel struck on
one of the double headed Shot Keys
In about ten minutes she went to pie
ces-the deck load and boat being
swept through passage where the wa
ter was smoother, they all succeeded
in getting into the boat. AT day light,
blowing very hard from the westward,
they steered the boat all that day and
night to the southward-in the morn
ing made a low sandy key, and disco
vered two buildings upon it-landed,
and found five men, whom they sup
posed to be fishermen. They were with
them two days. There was at this
place one vessel of about IL tons, and
two canoes, which they said belong
ed to them. There were two other
boats there which looked like the yawls
of merchant vessels, and which the
fishermen said did not belong to them,
but to some people that were absent,
and who would soon be back. Captain
H. made an agreement with the head
fisherman to take them to Matanzas for
forty-one dollars, and was to help them
to load their vessel with fish, which
Captain H. and crew did, with great
labor and fatigue, being obliged to
wade off considerable distance from
the shore to put the fish on board
The vessel of eleven tons spoken Of,
they had got loaded, and were getting
under way, when boat OF about ten
tons came in, and fired several times
at them with muskets and blunderbuss-
es-then anchored and boarded them.
Part of the Piratical crew examined the
fishing vessel, and part went on shore
to the huts. They gave one ofthe fish
ermen two doubloons, and took him
and the others on board Of their boat.
There they drank and caroused about
half an hour, making threatening men.
aces towards Captain H. in the fishing
boat. During the time they sent Jug
of liquor to Capt. H. and crew, and
made them drink some. Soon after,
those who went to the huts joined the
others, and came along side OF the fish
ing vessel, with two canoes, drawn by
the fishermen-the piratical crew &C
companying, with swords and long
knives, which they pointed at Captain
H. and his men, feeling Of the edges of
the knives, and making the most ap-
palling signs to them. At length they
took them and bound their arms be-
hind them with cords, putting them IN
the greatest possible torment, then tum-
bled Captain Hilton and MIR. Merary,
first officer, and two of the men, into
one of the canoes, and MIR. Collins and
the rest of the crew, two others, into
the other canoe, and drew them round
some distance into cove. The tsh-
ermen, two at each canoe, drawing
them, and the others wading beside
| with their knives and cutlases drawn,
giving them to understand that they
were soon to feel them, which, horrl'
BILE to relate, was the case. MIR. Col
Inns says that they first struk the Cap
tain with a cutlass on the side OF his
neck, then put his head across the gun
vale of the boat, or canoe, and chop
ped it off. He saw the heads O
MIR. Merary and the rest in the canoe
cleaved open, and their bodies stabbed
and cut in the most horrible manner
The canoe that Mr.. Collins was in wa:
nearest to the shore, and he sat in the
middle between his two comrades--one
of them an old man, by the name Of
Russell, had his head entirely split opeer
to his body, his blood flying over Mr.
c. Mr.. c. attempted to spring from
the canoe; at the same time he received
heavy blow on the head, which nearly
stunned him. He however soon nae
his reason, so as to perceive nimsel'
out of the canoe, and under the wafer,
and the lashing on his arms either Gu
or broken, which he supposed was oon'