Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-06-18
A TERRIBLE STORY.
IN M II rSs a>r sss ltr.ua A l..1rsas n ailn y,

Capture Of asn EuHl African Shaver.
A correspondent, writing to the Pail
Mall Gazetto from Znnzibnr, on March
23, says:
"The Daphne has just arrived from
Madagascar, having had the good luck
to capture the finest prize that has been
made forseveral years. 1t appears that
on March Ii, while cruising in the
vicinity of Cape st. Andrew, she sight
cd dhow standing in for the land, and
after an exciting chase Of moro than
three hours, she succeeded in bringing
her to, but not until eight or ten shots
had been fired, the last two of which
struck the water within few feet of
her. She proved to be n large dhow of
upward of 200 tons, and ut the time OF
capture had 23O slaves and forty others,
consisting of the guard, crew and slave
owners, on board. She had sailed
from d town within twenty miles of
Mozambique eight days previously,
and, having lost thirty slaves on the
passage, she must have no less than
300 souls on board ut the time of her
departure. 1t is easy to see that,
though large dhow, the crowding
must have been terrible, and in conse-
quence, the sufferings of the wretched
victims is indesc-ibable. 1t is said
that papers found in the .dhow prove
that the slaves were destined for Nos
Bcll, where, under the designation of
engages they would be employed by
the French sugar planters on that s al
most. the-latest French annexation, and
learn not only the meaning but the
beauty Of the legend, 'Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternite.
Another Zanzibar correspondent,
writing to the same paper on the I'd of
April, sends al account of this capture,
which only differs from the foregoing
in a few minor points. He goes on to
say;
"But what seems SO extraordinary is
that, after making so fine seizure, she
did not at once proceed to Seychelles
and land the poor emaciated wretches,
where everything is always in 'readi-
ness for their reception moreover,
from the place of capture to the Sey-
chelles was only five days run in the
southeast trade, with fine weather all
the way. I have it ON good authority
That, had this course been adopted not
more than five slaves would have died.
Instead Of this, notwithstanding that it
was notoriously the bad weather season,
the Daphne first of all went to Mozam-
bique and had bad weather all the way,
but still only one slave was lost. Then
from Mozambique she returned to
Madagascar, and on the way encoun-
tered u cyclone. The result may be
guessed ; more than 200 slaves, naked,
weak and ill, unused to the sea, were
forced to rough it out on tho upper
deck through the storm and pitilcss
rain. I would willingly draw a veil
over the rest of this sad story, but pub
licity is the only safeguard against such
a mistake being allowed to take place a
second time. I have tried to get at the
exact number, but have not been quite
successful. However, I am ON the
right side when I tell you that one
tenth of the whole were dead within
four days of the cyclone-they at any
rate have been emanclpated. Twenty
have died since that so I fancy the
survivors would tell strange story of
capture and recapture if ever they re-