The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1843-01-11

il and the officers of the Somers, and such Q
81 the crew as you could not seduce to you
i'plans,and to enter upon course of piracyl
j. Il may have told him something like it" b
Is replied. "but it was only in joke" "You ad
d Unit, then, that you told him of such plan.
s'l"Yes sir" "This, sir" continued, ''yol
!. must know is joking upon forbidden sub
elect. This joke, sir, may cost you your life
: Be pleased, sir, to remove your neck hand
d Ikerchief." He did so. took it and open
y ed it, but there was nothing in it. asked
Il him what he had done with the paper tina
f was in it? THE paper" he said, (which
dlhad been in it contained my days work
. and destroyed it" at is strange place
it sir" said l, "to keep your accounts. He
" acquiesced with an air of the greatest de.
n ference and blandness. said to him, Y oul
design was to make yourself commander Of
this vessel. You must have been aware that
I you could compass it only by passing over
} my dead body and over the dead bodies Of
s all the officers of the Somers. You had laid
D out for yourself, sir, great deal to do. 1t
oIis my duty to confine you" Turning to
Lieut.. Gansevoort,I said, "Arrest Mr.. Spen-
5 Ger, and place him in double IRONS" Lieut..
J IGansevoort stepped forward and received
iron Mr.. Spencer his sword. Mr.. Spencer
was then ordered to sit down: he did so.-
double irons were then put upon him, as
were also handouts for the sake ofgreat-
|er security. directed Lieut.. Gansevoort
to place watch over Mr.. Spencer, and to
give orders to put him to instant death if he
was detected in speaking or holding any
Communication with any of the crew. The
nature of these orders was told to Mr. Spen-
Ger. At the same time, directed him to
allow him every possible indulgence con-
sistent with his safe keeping. The task
was executed by Lieut.. Gansevoort with the
greatest kindness and humanity. While he
watched with an eagle eye over all his move
ments, and was ready at moments war.
ming to take his life upon a violation of those
conditions on which his safety depended,
he attended to all his wants, covered him
with his own garment from the squalls of
rain by which we were visited, and minis
tered in every way to his comfort with all
the tenderness and assiduity Of a woman.
i The officers were then remanded to quar-
ters the crew and batteries were inspected,
the orders were repeated, and the retreat
was beaten. The officers of the watch were
all directed TO be fully armed with cutlas-
'es and pistols, with rounds of ammunition,
md every thing was put IN order for the
night.
On searching the locker of Spencer, a
razor case was found in it, which he had
recently drawn from the Purser. On OPEN
ing it there was no razor within, but in its
stead piece of paper in which was rolled
mother. On the inner paper was written
string of characters, AFTERWARDS found to be
creek letters, which Spencer was known to
De familiar. 1t fortunately happened that
here was on board another individual who
Twas we'll acquainted with Greek-one whose
knowledge of this as Of everything else,was
devoted wholly to the service of his coun.
try. The Greek characters, on being con-
verted into our own language by Mr.. Henry
Rogers, proved 70 contain the plan for the
proposed mutiny. There was list of the
different members of the crew, some Of
whom were marked certain and others
doubtful; some were marked to be kept at
all events, and others to be Destroyed
These were designated who were to do the
work of murder in the various apartments !;
others were to open the arm-chest, and the
stations of all were assigned.
The following day was Sunday, and all
were to be inspected al 10 o'clock. took
my station aft for the purpose of observing
-tCromwell and Small as they should come
along upon the quarterback. The persons
of both were faultlessly clean and neat
hey being determined that their appear
,nce should provoke no reproof on account
IF a fault in that particular. CROMWELL
stood up to his full stature, carrying his bat
tle-axe firmly and steadily; his cheeks pale,
out his eve fixed to starboard. He wore a
determined and dangerous arr. SMALL
presented very different figure. His ap-
pearance was hastily, his manner uneasy /;
ne shifted his weight from side to side, and
! ais battle.axe from hand to hand. His eye
was never for moment fixed, but always
turned from me. attributed his conduct
to fear; though now believe the business
upon which he had entered was repugnant
to his nature, but that his love for money
and rum was too strong for his fidelity
Five bells, or 10 o'clock, was the time for
Divine service. The First Lieutenant ask
ed ifhe should call the roll. l told him it
would be best to wait till the time was up.
Five bells struck and all were called TO
muster. The crew were all present, were
Unusually attentive, land theirresponses were
more than ordinarily full and audible. In
The examination their countenances exhibit
ed nothing to excite distrust.
In the afternoon the sky-sails and stud
iing-saiIs were set Casey, one fthe best
Of the apprentices, was sent aloft on the
royal yard to make some alteration in the
Ilrigging. At once a sudden jerk was given
Ito the brace by Small and another.who has
not been discovered, and the re-topmast,
with the topsail, gallant-staysail and head
,aff.topsaiI, at once came down. Casey
WAS on the royal yard. scarcely dared to
look to see the spot where the boy should
llfall. The next moment his shadow appear.
led at the masthead, and presently discov-