The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-09-08

breast to the deck by fragment of a board
ing pike, his golden hair dabbling in the min
gled pool of his own and his brothers blood;
their faces CHASTITY in death, and contorted in
their last agony, seemed to look at us re-
proachfully from their filmed and CLASSY eyes.
Around the deck lay the bodies Of the rest
of our unfortunate shipmates, all slaughtered
in their unconscious, drunken lethargy, by
the revengeful Mexicans. Bill was found by
them alone in the cabin, and secured alive
for the purpose of giving his captors what
information they might require. And was
found to have been only stunned by an ill.,
directed blow from cutlass, after the Mex
leans thirst for revenge had been satiatcd by
the butchery of our comrades. 1t was now
broad daylight. Poor Bill Wainwright sat
with his hands tied behind him, looking with
a strong fxedness Of gaze on his murdered
brothers-not muscle, not feature moved.
He sat silent and expressionless as a statue,
but the great tears fell slowly one by one
down his cheek. spoke to him, but he did
not seem to hear me.
Zone of the Mexicans now approached
humane looking man-and after few words
of apparent remonstrance with his comrades,
cut the settings that bound us. He then re-
quested Bill to show them where the specie
was slowed, and thus save them some trou-
BILE in looking for promising at the same
time that we should be well treated. He as
sented, and taking out cigar asked for a
light, which was given to him. He took out
another, and giving it to me, while was
lighting it at his, said in whisper, with
quick glance of intelligence:
"It is in the run with the powder!'
81 understood him, and my heart felt for
an instant like an icicle. But whispered
in reply: hf'a is'f
"'Do it-don't mind me- ''''s @E. @
"'God bless you Paulv replied poor Bill
Tfyou wish to jump, jump when whistle
Good bye 7 'E"S f
"Those were the last words that Bill VAIN
wright ever spoke. He went slowly down
the companionway, followed by the Mexican
officer, but just before he disappeared from
view, he turned and looked at me once more
His face was deadly pale, and his eyes, CLASSY
and lustreless as those Of a corpse, were fixed
on me with a meaningless stare. Recovering
himself, he started, flushed up to his very
hair and went down into the cabin. I tell
you, shipmates, I've been in some awful sit
uations in my lifetime, but my heart never
beat, nor my limbs trembled, as they did at
that moment. A minute passed, and then
| from the depth of the after hold heard
faint whistle, and rushing suddenly to the
gangway, Iplunged headforemost overheard
81 descended some depth, and was rising
again to the surface, when the Antelope blew
up with a tremendous explosion. The sud
den compression of the water made me feel
for the moment as if were being crushed
together, but | was uninjured, and on rising
| was fain to dive under again for a time,
for the fragments of the wreck, spars, rig
ging, etc., fell thick as hail; but in few mo-
ments all was again quiet, and all that re-
manned of the Antelope was the heavy cloud
of dense smoke that rolled slowly out sea-
ward before the morning land breeze, and
the masses of shattered wreck. and blacken-
ed, disfgured corpses that foated on the
waters around. l got on a piece of the
wreck and drifted out to sea for two days,
attended by body guard of sharks, and
was then picked up by a brig bound into
Galveston. Shipmates, never tasted rum
from that day to this. A r,,sl 4sgsa
As Paul Farnham concluded his story,
eight bells struck, the wheel was, relieved,
and the watch below retired quietly and
thoughtfhly to their hammocks.