Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-06-12

was opened, and the whole party armed
themselves with navy revolvers, bowie
knives and hatchets, and took possession
of the defenseless boat. The course was
then changed. and after cruising about
at random for some time the pirates
turned back to one of the islands
Middle Bass-and stopped at the dock.
While here the Island Queen, q steamer
plyine between Sandusky andthe islands,
came alongside, and, suspecting moth
ing. threw out a plank il. order to land
some freight. Instantly the pirates
swarmed up her sides, calling upon the
captain to surrender ; shots were fired
apparently more for the purpose of in
timidation than for any real injury
knives and hatchets were held over the
among whom were thirty or
forty one-hunared-days men on their
way to Toledo to be mustered out. The
pirates were few / number, but they
were well armed, and held both steam
ers at their mercy. The captain OF the
Island Queen made sturdy resistance, /
~endeavoring in vain to cut the ropes that
bound his boat to the Parsons /; and the
engineer, refusing to obey the orders of
the pirates, was shot in the cheek. Re
sistance was evidently useless the pas
| sengers were put into the hold, with a
guard over them, and the captain was
asked if many strangers had come to
| Sandusky that morning, and If there was
any excitement there. After some de-
lay and discussion among themselves the
pirates decidedto exact an oath ofsecrecy
for twenty-four hours from the women
and citizen passengers, and allow them
to 90 on shore, together with the hun
dred-days men, whom they paroled, and
then the two steamers, dashed together,
started out toward Sandusky, the captain
of the Island Queen being retained, with
the hope that he could be forced to act
as pilot. When four OF five miles out the
Island Queen was scuttled and aban-
doned. and the Parsons went on alone.
A debate sprung up among the pirates
as to whether or not they should run
into Sandusky Bay evidently something
had failed them, some one had disap-
pointed them. At length the captain
was again put into the hold, the boats
speed was slackened, and she was kept
cruising I'D and down outside as If wait
ing for a signal.
Chief in command of these raiders was
John Yates Beall +; his appearance and
manner renderedhim conspicuous among
the others. who are described, in the Ian
guage of one who saw them, as a "mean,
low-ived set Burley, the second in com
mand, being a perfect desperate" In
the report of Jacob Thompson, secret
agent of the Confederacy in Canada,
a document belonging to the rebel
archives, the whole plot is related.
There were two parts, the first being the
, expedition by water under Beall, and the
second a conspiracy on shore, by means
, of which the officers of the Michigan
. were to be thrown off their guard, sc
that upon a given signal Bea1 could
steam rapidly in, surprise them, and
capture the boat. A c~annon-shot sent
over Johnson's Island was to tell the
6 prisoners that the hour of rescue had
come; Sandusky was next to be attacked.
> and after horses had been secured, the
prisoners were to mount and make fol
: Cleveland, the boats cooperating, ant
: from Cleveland strike across Ohio fol
Wheeling and the Virginia border. Th'
\ KEY to the whole movement was the cap
ture of the Michigan.
! The plot on shore was headed by
s Confederate officer named Cole. As ha
been related, Beal performed his par
q with entire success and had the Othe
n head possessed equal capacity, no doub
o the plan would have been successful
4 and the whole North taken by surprls
at this daring raid and rescue upon
hitherto peaceful and unnoticed border
, The 1000 young officers riding for thei
lives through the heart of Ohio, wher
Is there was no organized force to oppos
them. would have seemed like a phar
N tom band to the astonished .iphabitant;
IT Even the famous raid of John Morgan
q: well-remembered in the great red-bric
re- farm-houses of the central counties
a. would have been eclipsed by this fyin
MS troop, the flower of the Southern arm.
I'd On the lake Beall would have held tt
ID whole coast at his mercy, and the Fl
to miliar old Michigan, turned into a p
ID ratical craft, would have carried telr'
as into every harbor.
sy But the plot on shore failed. Go
nd spent his money freely in Sandusky, Al
ok managed to procure an introduction
ret the officers of the Michigan, invitil
ia them to supper-parties, and playing ii
he part of a genial host whose wines a
ret good and generously offered. The tediu
of the daily life upon the steamer al
es- inthe small town was enlivened byhis he
le- pitality, and for some time all went we
rs. but gradually he began to mar his o0
e a plot by so much incautiousness and su
on a want of dexterity in his moveme1
er. that a suspicion was aroused III Ss
vas dusky, and his maneuvers were watche
ky On the evening of the 18th of Septic
as her. Cole had invited the officers of t
ere Michigan to a supper-party. Eve.
thing was prepared for them, the wi
ers was drugged, and when by this mes
md they had been rendered helpless, a S
md nal was to notify Beall that all Y
hts ready for his attack. But in the mel
vas time suspicion had grown into certain
'oss and, at the very moment of success, G
and was arrested by order Of the comman
was of the Michigan, the signal was ne
han given, and Beall, on board of the 2
4@-