, 1866-12-06
PIRACY On AN AMERICAN VESSEL.
Murder Of the Captain and Five Of the

The Hong Kong Daily Press Of septcm-
ber s5th, gives the iollowin. account Of an
attack on the American brig Lubra. COM
handed BY Captain Benz. Ho*es, Of Dennis,
the murder Of Captain Howes and several
ofthe crew. Brief mention of the tragic
affair has been made In our dispatches:
Tho American brigantine Lubra, which
lett this port OIL Saturday last. loaded chief
y with arms and ammunition, bound for
Yokohama, returned at o'clock last eve
ming, having been attacked by pirates, aud
the captain and five Of the crew killed or
missing
The account Is that. abont 61< o'clock on
Pedro Brauco, q junk was observed to wind
ward on the same track us the Lubra. cdr
Ing down toward her. She came close to,
asking where the vessel was from, and where
bound TO, and upon being told By the chief
mate Japan" an inquiry was then made Us
10 whether they did not want an inlaud sca
pilot. 4 negative answer was returned and
the junk told to sheer Oft, instead Of " hich
she put her helm up and run alongside the
erigantlne, stink pot was thrown on her
oeeks. number ct men jumped on board.
and the vessel was at once In the hands Of
The pirates. It appcars that the Lubra car
rled no cannon on deck, and had but few
small arms Oh board. None IN board appear
to have had any suspicious as to the clarac-
tcr q the junk until she ran them aboard,
The captain had his wife aud two children
on board, md be went down below to pro-
tect them the mate followed md told the
captain that II he liked they would resist all
entry to the .ahiu, and fight side By side un-
VI overpuwered. The captain kuew that
this would be useless, and told the mate to
look out for himself, and n ot to lift his hand
agninst any OF the pirates. The crew had by
this time taken refuge aloft and were or
dercd down but refused to come. One. how
IL YCN NE h riV .v$r.- rI.z
and tell overheard. They kept popping ut
the men in the foretop, and when asked why
they did so, MS they had the vessel and could
lake what they liked, one Of them who
we mahce kill you" When the pirates ilrst
went into tie cubin they were told by the
captain to take what they liked and 20.
They did not Interfere with him at first hut
proceeded to plumber the cargo and over
haul the cabin, literally turning everything
UPSIDE down. At u. N. yesterday morning
they were apparently satisfied with what
they had taken t11aving welt loaded their
5unk) and proceeded to cast oil before
going, however, they hlled up the measure
Of their crimes by deliberate murder.
The captain was In the cabin On 4 sofa,
with one arm round his wife's waist, holding
one Of his children In the other. One of the
scoundrels came below, presented pistol at
him and deliberately fired. The ball Gu
tered ;ns, pear Tue right eye, and death was al
out of twelve men, the captain aud one Of
| the eeamcn were found dead, aud four more
missing. one Of wh5m was seen to fall OVER
| board after being wounded. The chief mate,
who was unhurt, although he made a uar-
row escape. then put the vessel round with
the remainder of the crew, and returned to
Hong Kong, orrfring here at 6 P, m. yestcr.
day evening.
There arc some Suspicious circumstances
attached to the case, ns three of the suryi-
vors swear positively that while aloft they
could distinctly recognize the voice Of the
stevedorc Of the vessel, and again, the Chi
nese cook. who was one of the survivors, DIS
appeared from the vessel about + p. M. last
night,