The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-12-16

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member it for on that day, as learned
by letter from home by the last mail,
an only brother was killed on the Great
Western railway, in the collision that oc-
Cured near Reading. Well, If you re-
member that evening, we were to have
great spread at Douglas. Thompson,
Wilkinson, and some twenty others were
invited, including Capt. Wilkes. OF
course you know what jovial fellow
Wilkes is, good for story or song, and
can take his part in an argument with
the est of them. Everything went off
very well during dinner; and after the
cloth had been removed, and one or two
songs had been given, the call was for
Will,es. He, however, who is usually 30
ready and willing to oblige, made some
excuse about hoarseness, which, how
ever, was so palpably fictitious, that we
all burst out laughing and upon being
pressed again by some of us, including
old Douglas, he positively refused. and
intimated his intention of going on board
at once. We could see that something
had occurred to irritate him, but for the
life of lis none of us could guess. Be-
fore leaving the room, however, Douglas
called him to one side, and asked him the
cause of his going away SO early. He
replied that he was uneasy in his mind !;
that depression of spirits, such as he
had never felt before, had come over
him within the last half-hour, but for
which he could not account and asked
Douglas kindly not to detain him, as he
wanted to go on board to see that every
thing was all right and if he felt better,
they might expect to see him in the
course of an hour or so. And in an hours
time he did return, not to join our party,
but to .horrify us with the details of
what had occurred on board the Wild
Dayrell. DR.. Anderson, who was one of
our party, went on board Immediately
to attend to you /; and Capt. Wilkes and
two or three of us proceeded to the
police station to report the matter. The
police took the matter up vigorously !;
and thanks to large reward offered by
the owners, one of the gang turned
queens evidence and in the course of
three or four days the whole gang was
safely lodged in the Victoria jail They
were brought up before the magistrate,
and remanded until you are able to ap-
pear against them"
"What time did Capt. Wilkes arrive
on board the Wild Dayrell it was some
time after ten o'clock-of that I am
sure" ..
eyes" he replied; "I believe it was
just half-past ten when he pulled along
side, for five bells were struck from all
the other ships lying alongside of him,
but not from his own, which at the time
he noticed as very singular. AS he ap-
preached the ship he saw two boats COM
ing from the direction of her, but at the
time took no notice of them; but there is
no doubt, he thinks, that these very
boats contained the gang"
"But did they succeed in obtaining
any OF the treasurer" again asked.
"No; not cent of it, thanks to
Chubb. They had tried to pick the
lock; and when they found that they
could not succeed in that, they tried
gunpowder, but with the same result.
The two English seamen were found tied
in their hunks, and quite drunk. They
acknowledged that the steward had
given them three bottles OF brandy early
in the evening, as present; and they
made good use of it, for they were half
drunk the next morning. The rest of
the crew We're too much afraid of their
own necks to offer any resistance or give
the alarm. The Wild Dayren sailed a
couple of days afterward, but with a
fresh crew." And so ended Charley s
account.
About week after this conversation,
continued the narrator, appeared at the
police court, and swore to every one OF
the gang, eight in number. They were
sent for trial to the high court, and were
all found guilty of mutiny and conspi-
racy, and sentenced, four of them to
penal servitude fer life, two for fourteen
years, and the remaining two for seven
years each.
Amongst my letters from home I was
not long in noticing one in the hand
writing of my mother; this, singula,
though it may appear, kept until the
last, and toyed and played with it for G
minute or two before opened it. Ii
that letter, gentlemen, occurs the fol
lowing passage: "What were you doing
dear John, on the night of the eighth ot
March, at about ten o'clock, from thai
to half-past 2 L will tell you my reasons
for asking. l had been very poorly dur
ing the whole of the day; so much so
that after a cup of tea, about six o'clock
l retired for the night. 1 fell asleep very
soon, but it was disturbed sleep, and
awoke two or three times. At abou
eight o'clock Jane brought me cup O
cocoa, and very soon afterward 1 agail
fell asleep, and did not wake until abou
half-past ten, when l awoke with
fright. dreamed that that 1 had see1
you walking along some strange street
and following you were three or fou
Cinnamon. All at once they rushed to
ward you, at which you ran, but the,
ran faster than you did, and were rapid
ly gaming on you, when you at one,
made for the river, which was some hun
dred yards distant. You had gone abou
halfway when you slipped, and fel
down; Immediately the Cinnamon wer
upon you, and one / saw with a lony
knife ready to strike you; but with tina
l awoke with a scream"
Now, gentlemen, wish to draw you
attention to the fact, that on the eightl
of March, as mentioned in my mother
letter, was the same day that the Viii,
Dayrel affair happened, and that tn
time from ten o'clock to half-past wa
the exact time that we were placed il
the most imminent peril by the smash
ing in of the door panel. You can cal
it what you hke-a singular coincidence
or anything else you please; but the fac
remains that, while on the very day an,
hour was placed in great danger of m
life, my mother, IA, 900 miles away, ha,
a dream in which figured conspicuous
ly; and although the incidents of tn
dream did not tally exactly with th
actual facts of the case, yet they wer
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