The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-08


FIRST mate and excited his serpent spirit to dead
hest haired Of ihe brothers. His senmlty was, how
ever, of slight cons.qn,nco 20 them, 90 long as
! Captain Russell held ruie Ia the ship.
| The Charles required somewhat extensive re-
| pairs, and ny the time they were completed, aud
. full freight obtained, She month OF September
1903 had arrived. The cargo was In its Duik oOn-
sisting Of silks, spices, &c. al unusually vauible
one but there was one or more correctly Two,
items In her nil ut mdItg OF very costly CHARACTER
| Two ron OoXCsCoa.atung precious gems, CON
stued TO London hOu Cs, of tu2 enormous viluc
atog ther Of one hundred thousand pOuads
| Ihtte were plRctd under the special charge Of
Capam Russell himself Two yuuug chi drGn Of
aReltfa officer, going to England for the bsnehg
OF their health, M charge Of ara English mlll-sHr-
want, we're also embarked in the Charles. They
were boy and g.r-ttc boy dbnu. seven, the
gitl Fix yeats Old. The auNiIus mother, when
she brought them on hoard guild a, M doubt, Dy
a a'uRgestiOn Of the captains, solicited for thom
the watehful care and attention Of she Hen Ter
sons, duty which they promised 10 diligently
perform.
Tho ship sailed on the path Of September. at
which time, Of course, no news of the renewal OF
the war with France had reached India Had
there teen the least suspicion that 80 speedy a
rupture Of the Amiens treaty might have taken
| place, the iron boxes would unQnestiOnably nave
b'en pt back Tor future transport in ship Of
war. lhe crew were neither so numerous nor of
such quality aS those who shipped IN tue Chaylay
al buslOl No fewer than seven of the hest men
hHd dled OF excess aud the Indian climate, whose
places could only very insutiicienty he supplied
by four Malay sailors. To render the deficiency
in capable hands yet more deplorablo, FIVE Eng.
lish sailors we're swept overheard and lost during
q tremendous night hurricane, and when the
! ChdriCS had been only eight days at sea. To
crown al the captain was seized with a sudden
and Sc. iOus line 8, from which he from the FIRST
felt strong presentimeut he sheu d not recover.
| One of the first precautions he took, in antci-
patton of "A fatal issue, was to place the irOu
boxes under the care OF the Hcndersons. His
gloomy lorebOding was unhapplly realized. On
the evening Of the fifth day after the attack the
good and gallant wi aiUupd n tba
deep, ana Daniel Fletcher regned in his stead
IhencIfOrth the HendersOns were exposed to all
the petty anuoyances that a mean-spirited cur,
dressed in a little brief authority, could inlliCt
They bore II all patiently, continuing zealousy
to perform their duty. One of Fletcher first de-
mands waS, that the iron boxes should be- rep DaCed
in his (the captains) charge "a rcquisitiOn
firmly refused a refusal justified by CAPITA Rus
sells written directions, given to Robert Hender-
son the day before he died.
There was no fear that Fletcher would have
recourse to actual violence; the brothers were
iayOrltes of the best men amongst the crew, and
any unlawful stretch of power on the acting cap
taln's part would have been boldly, and there
could be little doubt successfully, resisted.
Things continued much in the same state till the
Charles was nearing the Line, when they spoke
the PdAdS frgate, outward bound, and learned
that war was again raging between France and
England. The news caused the greatest con-
steInatiOn on board, from which the second and
third mates were not exempt. Fletcher had
raised one OF the forecaste seamen, per Sahun, TO
the post OF FIRST mate,
The Charles was a slow saier and moreover
in consequence of her insufficient, and rs whole,
inefficient crew, badly handled; and no one
could hope 10 escape capureiin the North Atlantic,
unless hOmeward-bound convoy, which it was
s absurd to count upon, was fallen in with. From
8 that day there were frequent conferences held
O with each other by the captain, first mate, aud
English crew, from all of which the Henderson5
{ by Fletcher's desire, were vigorously excluded
. The brothers, nevertheless, overheard enough
a TO enable them 10 guess pretty accurately at the
little ElcLghpris Infamous
pOsal, gradually acquiesced in by every man on
board, was TO run the ship on shore at some place
on the coast OF the United States, where landing
IN the boats could he easily effected, seize and
carry of the two boxes of precious stones, and
whatever else worth taking, and divide the
, plunder cqutably amongst the plunderers.
1t seemed to be also understood that the Hem
dersoDs were not 10 be permitted to go with the
crew, nor were the Generals children or their
attendant to be cared for. In fact, the enormous
sum 20 be realized by the jewes-amounting
Fletcher assured the men, 10 nearly ten thousand
pounds each, there being but twelve to share
eXtineuished whatever of moral principle they
had ever possessed, degrading their human
nature TO the level of that of brutes.
The situation Was q trying one for the two
young men, but they encouraged each other TO
lace the peril Valiantiy, whenever IL should pre-
sent itself, and trust the Issue 10 God.
That peril came suddenly, before the plotters
them1elYes were prepared for it. On the 9th OF
| January, 1894, aud at dawn OF that day, frgase
was seen steering southwards, under easy sail
! She showed no cOlors, but practised eye could
easily by the set Of her spars, the cut of her can
vas, decide her nationality, as certainly as if the
! tTiCOlOr had been Tying from her masthead. Sne
was unmsiakaby French, and saw the Charles
| almost AS soon as she herself was seen. Up ran
the tricolOr; the white smoke and fash of gun
/ broke out of her side, and bail, ouCstrpplng
! the report, came skipping towards the British
merchant brig. 1t fell short by at least half the
distance between the vessels, aud the frigate was
/ fortunately dead 10 leeward. There WAS a smart
] breeze blOMing and the nj he vi
| gish Charles was simply impossible. In a mo-
ment all was hurTy-skurry on board the brig the
main preparations had been made; the launch
was deity lowered; water, rum, biscuit, and beef
were safely slowed, and then Fletcher, with six or
| seven OF his fellows armed TO theteeth, demanded
the delivery, the immediate delivery, into their
hands, Of the iron boxes. The HendeTsons were
iu no condition TO resist that demand the boxes
were reluctantly surrendered; the keys we're not
asked for, and If they had been, satisfactory
nswer would have been ready. The crew,
Maays included, sixteen scoundres in all,
wished the Hendersons joy Of the capital prospect
they had of enjoying French prison, most likely
for twenty years OF more, and with O loud hurrah
pulled westward, in the certainty of striking the
Brazilian coast in, az the most, fortyeight hours
should the weather continue moderate. As in
the case of the Peggy, it was quite certain the
French captain, having secured the ship, would
not trouble himself TO pursue dozen or 80 of
r niiserables escaping In boat. Poor Mary Joyce,
the English servant, was quite bewidered BY the
incomprehensibiites passing before her eyes, and
even the merry hearted children were hushed
into seTiOusnesssand silence.
The first hour which elapsed after the departure
a Of Fletcher and his fellows must have been an
= ineXpressibly bitter one to Robert and James
Henderson, whose memory sill retained, in
; primitive yigor of impression, their mothers
Q parting words :-"DO not forget that we have nov
9 no earthly dependence except you :" and they,
1 the sole props OF a lOwly yet proud household,
= who must, but for them, sink into pauperism,
were on their way ~ French prison, And their
i sisters, who so much needed Chcrishing! The
: | cup held by fate to their lips must indeed have
4 been bitter ore.
: They were not then doomed to drink il. The
J. ! launch had disappeared, and the FrenChman, VINO
i had not fired again, was within half mile of the
b Charles, which had not changed ITS course. "All
c at once there was a great hustle on board the
French frigate she lutied sharply hurriedly let
fall all the canvas she could spr ad, and sped Off
{ clOse-hauled, in direction which showed that
5 she was no longer desirOus Of closing with tue
}, Charles. The reason was not long 70 seek A
heavy British trigate, showing six more teeth in
8 her side than the Frencnman, was just in sight
:. and bounding along at tremendous speed. II
T was the Doris fr;gate-the Frcnchman La Cleo
I potre, which after long and varied chase, man
( aged 70 escape.
The Heudersons we're, / need scarcely say,
g hugely delighted by 80 signal deLyerance. Ii