Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1854-10-20
Mistellaxeous.
SCENES IN THE LIFE OF A SLAYER.
auELLISo A MurISY.

lu lpuhfilb ONti DtdutA hit)tI pup"
ular work. entitled "Capt. Canot, or
Twenty Years of an African Slavrr,"
We learn that the adventurous Italian
sailed from Havana on his FIRST voyage
to the coast on the ed Of September,
1896. The schooner was commanded
by n Minoiean, and the crew WAS com
posed OF twenty-one scamps--the re-
fuse Of the press gang and jail-birds--
Spaniards. Portuguese, Frenchmen and
mongrels. OF this motely crowd
Canot was third officer. After various
fortunes they reached the mouth Of the
Rio pongo. and the captain and four
hands went on shore for pilot. but
did not return. In the evening. Ca
not learned. that an attempt had been
made to shoot the captain by those
who accompanied him, and that. q
conspiracy had been formed among
the crew to seize the schooner Hav-
ING ascertained that the armory had
been forced, and several pistols and
cutasses abstracled, he took measures
10 counteract their plans. The fol-
lowing extract will show how he sue
cscded;
Preparations had undoubtedly been
made to assassinate us. AS night
drew on. my judgment as well rs
nervousness, convinced me that the
darkness would not pass without a
murderous attempt There was an
unusual silence. On reaching port,
there is commonly fun and merriment
among crews; but the usual song and
invarablc guitar were omitted from
the evenings entertainment. / search
cd the deck carefully, yet but two mar
rincrs were found above the matches
apparently asleep.
lnasmuch as was only subordn-
ate officer, could not command, nor
had any confidence in the nerve or
judgement Of the chief mate. IL trus-
ted my information TO him. Still /
deemed it duty to tell him the story
as we'll as my discovery about the
missing arms. Accordingly, | called
the first officer, boatswain and cook,
as quietly as possible, into the cabin;
leaving our English cabin boy to witch
in the companion way. Here / i'm
parted our danger, and asked.their as
sistance in striking the first blow. Ny
plan was to secure the crew, and give
them battle.
The mate. MS expected, shrank
like girl declining any step III the
Captain returned. The cook and boats
vain, however, silently approved my
movement so that we counsclled our
cowardly comrade to remain below,
while we assumed the responsibility
and risk of the enterprise.
II might have been rather rash; but
| resolved to begin the rescue by shoot
ing down like n dog, and without a
word, the notorious Cuban convict who
had attempted the captains life
This, | thought, would strike panic
into lhc mutinecrs-a enl tie mutt
ny in thclmost bloodless ways Draw
ing pair of largs horse-pistola from
beneath the captains pillow, and ex-
amining the load, | ordered tn cook
and boatswain TO follow me to tn. deck.
But the craven officer would not quit
his hold on my person. He besought
me not TO commit murder. He clung
TO me with the painting fear and grasp
Of women. lie begged me, with
every term of endcarment, 10 desist.
and in the midst Of my scuille to
throw him off, one Of the pistols acci-
dently exploded. A moment after.
my vigilant wateh-boy screamed from
the starboard warning "look outW
and, peering forward in the binding
darkness rs | emerged from the light.
ed cabin, / beheld the stalwart form of
the ringleader brandishing q cullass
within y stride Of me. ! aimed and
fired. We both fell; the mutincer
with two balls in his abdomen, and |
from the recoil Of an oyer-charged pis-
tol.
Nv face was cut, and my eye injured
by the concussion; but as neither COM
batant wias deprived of consciousness,
in a moment we were both on our feot
The Spanish felon, however, press Il
his hand OH l.is bowels, and rushcI
forward exclaiming he was slain; but,
in his descent 20 the forecastle, he was
stabbed In the shonlder with bayonet
by the boatswain, whose vigorous
blow drove the weapon with such tre-
mendous force that it could hardly be
withdrawn from the scoundrel's car
cas5.
said was up in minute; and,
feeling my face with my hand, per-
ceivcd aquantity ofblood on my cheek
around which hastily tied handkcr-
chief below my eyes. | then rushed
10 the arm-chest. AT that moment u
crack Of pistol, and a sharp boyish
cry, told me that my pet was wounded
beside me. | laid him behind the
hatchway, and returned to the charge.
BY this time / was blind with rage.
and fought, il seemed like mddmdn.
/ confess. that have no personal rec
collection whatever of the following
events, and only learned them from
the. subsequent report of the cook and
boatswain.
/ stood. they said, over the arm
chest like one spell. bound My eyes
were fixed on The forecastle; and rs
head after head loomed out of the
darkness above the hatch, Il discharged
carbine after carbino at the mark
Every thing that moved fell by my
aim. As / fred the weapons. l flung
them away TO grasp fresh ones, and,
when the battle was over, the cook ~
oused me from my mad stupor, still
cropping widely for arms in theiemptied