Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-10-07
A Tragedy of the Sea.

out in the trial now pending in the United
States District Court in this city, form an
exciting tale of perilous adventure On the
'adark blue sea" which lacks only the
element of romance to be as thrilling and
fascinating as any in the books of Capt.
MaTTyatt or Mayne Reid. The dark
browed and bloody-handed sailors who
killed the two mates of the vessel in the
darkness Of midnight and threw them over
board, and marked the Captain for slaugh-
ter, but dealt with him so bunglingly that
he suspected their intent and escaped their
deadly purpose, were apparently animated
only by brutal hate for their officers, who
had been forced to use hard measures to
suppress INSTRUMENTATION. They had for
a header no hero Of wickedness fired with
secret love for the Captains wife and a
pOetical ambition to make her the queen
of some tropical island; nor was there
any maiden in captivity for them to re-
lease and make the idol of their savage
worship in the caves and Businesses of
some unfrequeated coast; neither had
fhey a wild ambition to skirmish along
the Spanish Main as bold buccaneers,
Plandering rich argosies that travel the
highways of the sea.
There is not CLEAN Of poetry or ro-
mance about this dismal tragedy The
vessel itself was most unpoetlcal craft, a
schooner laden with cotton seed oil-cakes,
bound from New Orleans to London. She
was in charge of Capt. William Patterson,
IA part owner, whose brother was the first
Enate. The Captains wife shared the dan
gers and hardships Of the voyage, and
four seamen, the steward and boy consti-
dated the crew. Some of the men seem
to have been ugly specimens. Scarcely
bad the schooner got out Of the port of
New Orleans when they began to show
bad temper and to exhibit a disposition
TO disobey orders and defy the authority
of the Captain. After a while one of
them was punished by being put in irons
for twenty-fOur hours IN spite of violent
resistance. From that time he seems to
have cherished the purpose of revenge
An the darkness of the night of April 90
dering on the Atlantic for more than six
weeks, and was about two thirds the way
across, Capt Patterson was awakened
from sleep by Miller, the ringleader of the
mutineers, who tried to get him to go for
ward, on the pretense that some one was
hurt. He refused to go, and by keeping
a wary eye on the sailor defeated
his intent, which was evidently mischiev-
GUS. He could get no information re-
garding his mates, and during the rest of
the night kept watch on deck, armed with
hls revolver. In the morning the mates
did not appear, and the three mutinous
sailors were at bay behind the forward
house OF the schooner. All day the Cap
tain and the steward, with revolvers and
double-barreled gun, tried to force them
10 surrender, and fired upon them when
ever they exposed any part of their per
sons to sight. They returned the fire with
stones, pieces of iron and missiles, but
though severely wounded, refused to give
themselves into the hands of their officer
CT make any answer to his questions and
demands The next night, in the loneli-
mess and darkness Of that distant sea, the
Captain kept his watch, supported by the
faithful steward, both armed and ready to
meet any violent movement of the mutt
neers. In the morning they were found
TO have entrenched themselves below the
forward hatch in the forecastle Holes
were cut into their stronghold, guns fired
through the openings and buckets of hot
water poured in to bring them to terms.
Finally they found it was useless to hold
cut, and surrendered, submitting their
hands to be ironed at the windows of the
forecastle.
This was Ger tainly a strange conflict to
be carried on for two days on frail
schooner drifting at the mercy of the ele-
ments i'll the middle of the broad Atlantic
After the surrender of the three men they
made inconsistent and contrary confes-
slons, from which it is gathered that Mil
Ter and Smith murdered the two mates
with piece OF iron and a capstan bar and
threw them overheard, and intended to
Kill the Captain also, run the schooner
near to land and scuttle her, having first
bound the Captains wife to stanchion in
the forehold to sink with the vessel. No
motive but revenge Is apparent in the
whole diabolical proceeding. The men
evidently expected to escape detection
and leave it to be surmised that the
schooner had been lost, with all on board.
Their purpose was defeated and they are
NOW arraigned for murder on the high
seas, This is another illustration of the
awful risks Of crime. There is nothing
more foolish, from the point of view of
pare selfshnesS. than violation of the laws
made to protect the community against
violence. We suspect that the Captains
way OF treating his men, which excited
such deadly hatred, must have been far
from kindly; bat the crime of the men
can hardly admit Of extenuation. 1t was
dark tragedy of the most brutal kind
and, IN itself, shows that they were men
upon whom Kindness would, in all proba-
hility, have been wasted, and no discipline
would have been effective but that of