Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-08-02


ried out his preconcerted plan Of killing the
captain and two mates with hatchet and
throwing the bodies overheard. The job was
all done in five minutes. Tillman taking COM
mand, and steering the schooner nOrthward.-
One of the remaining men was tied up till the
next morning, when he was released upon
promise to help work the vessel. Not one
on board understood navigation, but having
once got hold of the land, Tillnan brought the
schooner safely up to pilot ground, when
Charles E. Warner of the pilot-bOat Jane, took
charge of her.
One Of the schooner's men, Donald Mcleod,
refused to assist in her recapture, the whole
duty falling on the stewart and a sailor.
The names Of the schOOner's men are: VIM.
Tillman, steward VIM. Shedding, seaman,
who assisted Donald Mcleod, seaman, who
refused.
The following is a portion Of the story of
VIM. Tillman, the steward:
lie says that he was born of free colored pa
rents in Milford, Delaware, aud is q years Of
age. His parents moved to Providence, r. l.,
when he was IA years old, and be has since
called that place his home. He has followed
the sea for ten years, and has been in the en-
ploy of Jonas Smith & Co, No. 227 Front
street, by whom the schooner was owned, fer
the last three years. He is of medium height
rather strongly built, crisp hair, of nearly un-
mixed negro blood and bears in his countcn-
ance an expression of honesty, strong common
sense, with some touches of humOr.
The schooner S. j. Waring had started on
a voyage to Buenos Ayres in Montevideo, with
an assorted cargo, which, with the vessel, was
valued at $780, 900. There were on board the
j captain and mate; w. Tillman, steward; VIM.
| Shedding, seaman, born in Germany, % years
of age, has been sailing four years out of New
| York. Donald Mcleod, seaman, of Cape Bre
ton, Nova Scotia, 80 years of age, has been
sailing out of New York for seven or eight
years and Bryce Mackinnon, a passenger.
On the 7th of July they fell in with the
JEFF. Davis, and prize crew of five were put
aboard, who were unarmed. To use the lar
guagc of Mr.. Timan, they run ten days and
didn't find Charleston we were, however, on
/ Iy so miles south of Charleston and 100 to the |
eastward. On the voyage they treated me the
! best kind of way, and talked the best kind of
talk.
One day the First Lieutenant of the pirates
was sitting in the cabin, croSs-lcgged, smoking, |
and he said to nc, when you go down to Sa.
vanna-i, l want you to go 10 my house, and I
will take care of yoH. / thought, continued
the negro, yes, you viii take care Of me, when
you get me there. raised my hat, and said:
''Yes, sir, thank you" But altcrward l said
to Billy (the Germany ] am not going to
Charleston live man they may take me
there dead. He had been told by the prize
master that he would get rewarded in Charles
! ton, for performing his duty so well in bringing
the schooner in he had also heard conveTsa-
tion not intended for his ears in regard to the
price he would probably bring; and he had
heard the prize master say to one of his men:
You talk to that Steward, and keep him in
good heart. By Cd, said the prize master,
he will never see the North again.
Tillman conferred with two of the seamen
about taking possession of the schooner but
they declined adopting any plan, saying that
none of them knew how to navigate her back,
should they succeed in getting control. Till
man thought the matter over for three days
and then made an appeal to the German, and
said, "Ifyou are a man to stick to your word,
we can take this vessel easy" Then we made
a plan that l should go to my berth, and when
most of them were asleep he was to give me
some sign, or awake me. We tried this for
Two nights, but no good chance offered. But
last Tuesday night we caught them asleep, and
we went to work.
Mr.. McKinnon the passenger gives the fol-
lowing thrilling account Of how the ''work"
was done:
It could not have been more than ten min
utos later when I was awakened from light
sleep by a peculiar sound in the captains
room, which l knew instiuctively could only
have been produced by an ax cleaving AmieIs
skull No sooner did the ''thush' strike upon
; my ear than I leaped out of bed, and leaning
against the decreasing in the partition, saw
the steward dart through the twilight-for he
had extinguished the light-noiseless as cat,
across the cabin toward the second mates
room. 1 also saw, at the same glance, Capt.
Amel rise from his berth, and attempt to fol-
low him; but the blood blinded him, and he
fell to the floor with horrid gurgling sound
in his throat. All this was but the work of
q second, The cleaving of the skull like the
G flash from q gun proceeding the report, was
followed by weak, faint cry, like that Of a
, sick child, and tue gurging in the throat
!, ! knew then that his wound was mortal.A
T STOPPING sideways the steward entered the
l second mates cabin, and once more swung his
i nx but not so effectively.
The mate started up with cd d-n
T you, dont't strike me again," and clutched at
the stewards breast, but eluding the wounded
Z man he ran on deck, TO where the man lay
: near the wheel-house, and keeping his ak be
hind him, demanded "what all this noise was
about!" The mate who bad been aroused by
the outcries of the captain and mate, had
r raised himself upon his elbow, and stared at
e the steward in hall stupid, half fascinated
way, not seeing the pistol which Shedding, the
man at the helm, had pointed at him f,r use
e in case of necessity. AS he turned his face
= toward the steward, the latter drove his weap-
D on home into the base of his skull. Shedding
and the steward then tumbled him overheard
He rose on the wave, with hoarse cry, when
abeut two lengths astern, the water having
I raised him but he must have soon gone down
s to his long account.
! Then the steward came down to the cabin
! where still stood, while Shedding stood, pis-
: tol in hand, to guard the deck. The captain
: cried family twice to me by name, "Help me
help me- but he was past help. Another