Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1851-11-20


IA moments silent Indignation night came OF
e The town was on fire in several places, an
a the urid glare lighted up the scene of rapint
, Of death and of violence At length, toward
midnight, the sound ceased, and fearing
f should fall asleep in the tree and be prccipltat
e ed to the ground, descended, and crcpt alon
+ the shore until | reached boat lying by tn
S bank. got into it, and padding across tn
e river, tied it on the opposite shore, and lai
a down and went to sleep. When | awokc,
t found myself near the mouth of the river an
close to large English lrigae, which was re
celving hundreds of prisoners on board from tn
town | was soon hailed, and commanded t,
come along side. But had no desire to faI
into their bloody hands, and padded about anC
run for il towards the land, which was hall
} mile off, Upon this, they began to crack away
at me with muskcts, but was out of reach O.
the balls which chpt into the water fifty yard,
asteru Of me. Never boat went faster through
the water than mine just at that time.
Suddenl Il roar of a cannon behind me tolC
me that the thing was up; and the very first
shot deluged me with water, and the second
knocked my boat to pieces and nearly knocked
my head off, and found myself Aoundering in
the sea. A boat was sent off to pick me up,
and | was taken on board dripping like awater
rat.
"A pretty Yankee you, said the officer at
the gangway, smartly striking me with the flat
OF his sword. you shall have the price of the
shot and power that has been sent after you
taken out of your allowance Go below!'
| was saved the trouble ofgoing, by being
kicked along, dragged along, cutled along, and
nearly sent headIong to the lower gun deck
Here found myself one of two hundred poor
men prisoners taken from all along shore, skip
pers, boys, farmers, boatmcn, fishermen, labor
ers, all huddled together in this black hole,
which was lighted only by one lantern, hung
near the main hatch-way
This trigate was the Solebay, and was now
on its way to New York, then in the hands of
the English, to discharge its prisoners, ofwhich
on both decks, it had full four hundred. We
were here scarcely fed, and suffering for pure
air for eight days. thought, and so did my
tellow-sutlerers, that nothing could be worse
than what we were compelled to endure from
the cruelty of our captors, want Of exercise -
for we were too crowded to have walking
rooms, ,-unwhoIesome provisions, and the pois-
onous air of the hold; but we had not then
seen the inside ofthe old Jersey prison-ship.
added Captain Darby, as he knocked out the
ashes Of his pipe and proceeded to fill it with
flesh tobacco. Everything in this world, lieut..
is good or bad Just by comparison. Worst is
worse until you see the worser is my proverh.
Good is best until you find a bettern Them
is my sentiments ever since | was in the 'Jer-
sey.
We'll, we sailed through Hell Gate, and
then it was hel-gate to us, for | never expect
to see more dreadful hell-ifI ever see any,
which Heaven forbid than that we went into
after getting through He'll Gate The Jersey
was lying this side Of York about mile, not
far from Just opposite Corbars Hook She was
anchored close to the Long Island shore, with
in twenty rods Of it. The way we knew we
were going to be transferred to the Jersey, was
by shout from one Of the officers, to tumble
up there, and bcar-a-hand to go on board the
hulk, and be id to usn So the men that
were nearest the hatch began to move up first;
ard if their stiff limbs or weakness would not
let them mount the ladders fast enough they
were made to move quicker by men who stood
at each landing with cats, with which they
struck them with great severity.
i was one Of the last, for remained behind
to receive the dying words Of the only one of
the seven lads who had come into the army tor
the love of Kate. His name was Tobias Cor
ry. lie said to me, for he was dying of abso-
lutte despair, and suffering in that hole, 'Tel
her, Dan, tell her loved her to the last
lI do it, Toby | said
Take your knife and cut of lock of my
hair, and give her 1t may remind her of me-
Df Irin | Gl,,r
try and get you on deck to breathe the fresh
air..
i shall never see the daylight again, he
answered family; good-by, Dan Ifyou mar
ry her, treat her kindly for my sake, and do
not either of you forget me-
He then let go my hand and was dead. l
watched to cut of lock of his hair, notwitl,=
the officer at the gangway kept yelling
to me to tumble up!' As | made way to the
hatchway, passed three stiff corpscs of men
who had died in the night and one more lay on
his back, gaspiug his last. As ! went up, Il
felt my heart burn within me, and was half a
mind to seize sword from one of the officers,
cut right and left, and die game; for was fe-
vcrish and excited for want Of food; and halfotI
US that were not sick from the stencil and foul
air of the hold were almost in state Of fren-
zy. 'On reaching the deck, continued Capt.
Darby, 4 found myself standing one among a
closely c.owded mass of men, waiting to be
transferred to the Jersey. She was rotten,
old, filthy siXty-tour, that having become unfit
Tor service, had been dismasted and moored
stem and stern near the shore, as a receiving
ship sort of floating Dartmoor prison, the
black hole in Calcutta, on a larger scale.
never shall forget the sinking Of the heart, |
Lieutenant Darlington, with which, as | went
over the side to get into the boat that was to
take us to her, first cast eyes on that prison
ship, the report of the horrors of which had
even reached the retired village where | had
lived Her black, dirty, mournlul looking hull
mnde me think Of huge aepulchre. As the