Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-12-13
At RRrBLE TALE OF The SEA.

on 18th of October last, bound for Wall
parajso. She was loaded with one hun
dred and fifty tons of gunpowder, and
following the statement of the crew,
as given in the Liverpool Daily Post
with Il. gen raj cargo, in which a quanti-
ty of matches conveniently figured.
Tho ship was making a good passage,
and all was going well till she had been
about twenty days ont, when symptoms
OF insanity began to appear in the con-
duct of the captain. The symptoms ra-
pidly increased in intensity, and pre-
sently manifested themselves in an ex-
ceedingly unmistakable manner. AT
midnight on the 7th Of the present
month the crew, sleeping in their berths,
were aroused by shouting and the shut
fling of feet, and rushing on deck they
found their captain with loaded fire.
arms in his hand, gesticulating, raving,
and threatening to shoot the watch.
This was not n pleasant situation, to be
at sea with captain prone to turn out
of his cabin in the dead of night with
loaded pistols, and an evident reckless
ness as to where their contents might
go. But the sailors seemed to have
t0hCD ltlN AlsdthSA Wei hhN
ing the mailman in their kind but very
clumsy manner, they induced him to
turn-in again, he promising like child
who had been naughty, to Ego TO sleep"
and not make any fresh disturbances.
Half an hour passed away, the ship
meanwhile pursuing her course over the
darkened sea, and the sailors all asleep
again save the watch. Suddenly there
was another alarm, and the crew crowd
cd again on deck to find sight more
startling even than that OF mailman
armed with loaded pistols. The cap
tain had, in accordance with his pro-
mise, gone down into his cabin and fas
tened his door, but far from "going to
sleep" he had set the place on fire, and,
looking down through the skylight, the
, Mortified crew could sec the flames
through the lurid cloud of smoke that
filled the room. With one hundred and
fifty tons of gunpowder in the hold the
case was plainly one that demanded in
slant treatment. The cabin door was
shut, and SO the men dashed in the
skylight and tried to get down through
that. But This course was found to be
impracticable, and the second mate and
the carpenter volunteered to go down,
break open the cabin door, and secure
the mailman who, still armed 70 the
teeth, was pacing round the cabin ut
tering shouts of domaniac glee The
two men succeeded in breaking down
the door, and the second mate entering
was shot in the head by the captain, and
retreated, followed by the carpenter.
Tho Aapano tparo od;Y, with roy,
dity which presently led to the discov
cry that the captain had carefully pre-
pared for the fearful scene by soaking
parts of the vessel in parafine oil.
When the sailors learned this hey gave
up all hope of saving the ship, and a
move was made for the boats. AS tho
longboat was swung round ready to
drop from the davits the infuriate cap
tain, having now added bayonet tc his
armory, appeared on the deck, and see
ing the preparations for escape, rushed
at the crew gathered around the boat.
fired at the head of one, and stabbed
another in the shoulder with the bay
onet.
A sailor, picking up a handspike,
smote down the madman's arm, and the
rest rushing upon him he was over.
powered and disarmed. The crew
then got into the boat, and rowing
found to the stern implored the captain
to leap over and join them. But he was
not going leave spectacle which he
had prepared with such forethought
and trouble, and waving the boat away
he continued to walk up and down the
deck, above which the flames were al
ready beginning to leap. Should they
leave him to the fate he had designed
for and gloried in for himself He
was violent maniac, perhaps best out
Of the way, and, moreover, the gentle
wind that drove the almost deserted
ship through the waves was slowly but
surely blowing sheets of fire over the
hold in which were slowed one hundred
and fifty tons of gunpowder and the
convenient quantity of matches. 1t
was a situation in which men might well
hesitate, and it seems from the story
that ut first the doubt was decided
against the captain, and tho boats
crew turned their back upon the ship,
drifting towards the Line" with its
fearful cargo and its solitary passenger.
But on second thought the sailors de-
cided, as is the general habit of English
sailors, to do the thing that was right
and manly at whatever cost and SO
they pulled back, got the raying mad
man safely into the boat and rowed
in time to view from safe distance the
sudden going up skyward of the good
ship Eden by the explosion of one hun
bred and fifty tons Of gunpowder. AT
daybreak the boat had the good fortune
to be sighted by the Juniata, of Scar
borough, bound for Bahia, and all were
got safely on board. The captain of
the Eden still being raving mad, was
put in irons, where he remained for
four days, after which period he got
an anchor loose" and running to the
side of the vessel leaned overheard, and
weighted with his irons, went straight
down in the sea and was never moro
seen. AS for the crew they went on to
Bahia, whence they were sent home in
one of the Pacific company's boats, and
arrivino IN ivayoooI nm Wadnardav