M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1855-05-18
ExpLor oF a pRIvATEgRaMAN.

ExPLor OF a PRlvATFrRsMAN.
A writerln the Salem Evening Jour.
nal gives some interesting facts in re- |
laiion to the marine Of Salem il years
gone by. Among other things he gives
The following account ola exploit Of
one of the Salem privateersmen in
1914.
December 9th, the Macedonia,
Captain Penn Townsend, arrived with
prize goods and % prisoners. The
way in which the Captain came at.
and captured one of bis prizes, is fully
Slucidated in the following anecdote,
the substance Of which the writer had
from his own lips.
l.appears that Just after he had left
the Western Islands, where he had
stopped to recruit, and while he was
cruising between those islands and
Tristan de Acunna, a sail was disCov>
cred on his lee bow, tow ards which he
Immediately kept away.
Whilst running down, with a light
breeze, the lookout at the masthead
vas hailed from the quarter deck as
follows:
'Mast>head, there =
'Sir2'
DO you see that sail now2'
AYE aye SIR
GUhat done che look Ekp p
'She looks very large, sir. Guess
she is either irigate or lndiaman.'
On hearing this, Captain T. took
his glass and went sloft TO satisfy him
self in regard both TO his enemy's
strength and calibre. After doing so,
he came down from alott, lufied then
bis vessel up in the wind, selt all his
men, with exception Of nine or ten, be,
low, hoisted Dutch colors and kept of
again before the wind. Disgusting
himself SO as to appear as much as pos
sible like Dutch skipper, and having
transformed such OF his men as remain.
ed on deck into very respectable Dutch
Sailors, Capt. T, ran down across the
enemy's stern, and comingto under her
lee quarters was hailed as follows:
ship ahoyP
HALO
'What ship is thatp'
The name OF some Dutch vessel with
which the Captain was we'll acquaint-
ed, but which we have forgotten, was
given In reply, and then Capt. T. in
broken English, inquired;
'Vot ship is dat?'
In reply to this the name of a noted
lndisman was give, with the following
addition:
'We are last from Barbary, bound
10 London, and short Of provisions;
can't you supply usT
In answer to this, Capt. T. replied
in substance, that il the Captain OF the
Indiaman would favor him with Wis.,
il he would See what he could do about
il, and short time afterwards he had
the satisfaction OF seeing boat along,
side his vessel with the English Capt. |
in full uniform, who Immediately came
on board.
With the utmost poIiteness and civ
ility OF manner, Capt. T. invited the
stranger into his cabin, as was custo-
mary in those days, to take glass oil
wine. This invitation was OF course
Immediately accepted, and the Capt.
went below, where The first officer ol
the Macedonia, as had been previously
arranged, acted the part OF stewart BY
placing upon the table wine and such
other refreshments as the larder Of the
vessel at the time afforded.
Then the two shippers sat down to
the table and after pedging each other
in friendly glass Of wine entered into
an animated but general conversation,
in the course Of which the Englshman
snimadver.ed at considerable length
and with much warmth, upon the pro.
eeedings of certain privateersman
commanded by one Townsend, who
he solemnly avered was regular Yam
kee devil.
At this point of proceeding, Capt. T.
gave the wink to his steward pro TEN,
who in q clandestine manner handed
him couple OF pistols, one OF them
be instantly presented at the English
Captain, saying as he did so:
Sir, you are my prisoner. / am
that Yankee devil T. about whom you
have been SO freely speaking. Choose
now whether you will have your brains
blown out or surrender your ship
Seeing IN moment that all resis-
tance would be perfectly useless, the
Englishman said.
i surrender Then he gave orders
10 bis I'd Lieutenant, who had charge
of bis boat, to return to his vessel and
haul down the celors, which was i'm,
mediately done. A prize crew was
then put on board and the prisoners
were transferred to the Macedonia,
and the result was that one of the rich.
est prizes taken during the war arrived
safely in the United States
The Chinese of California celebrat
ed New Years in high old Style
Among the dishes prepared at the e'Bow-
Wow Hotel was pot pie made of the