The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-05-27


ators sprang like tigers on the rest of the
watch. Some were stabbed straight to the
heart with long clasp-knives; some were
hurried overheard into the seething foam
The gigantic Marbleheader flung three
men over the rail as If they had been in
fants. No sounds were heard, so swift
and pitiless was the execution, except
same terrible grasp and hiccough of dy.
ing wretch.
In a moment Taft and his followers
were masters of the decks. Instantly the
hatchways and cabins were closed, spiked
fast and barricaded. The deck-carron.
AIDES, which We're always kept loaded
were dragged into position, so as TO com
mand all eyenues of egress for those con-
| fined below. While cannoneers stood by
/ the pieces with lighted linstocks, the
restof the mutineers proceeded TO get the
/ vessel about.
Abner Taft jammed the helm hard up
and lashed it fast, while he ordered the
men to let 90 the lee-braces and square
the yards. The head of the gallant YES
sci payed off rapidly, and soon she headed
northwest. As the daring ringleader af-
terward said, with an unseemly profanity.
he was bound either for hell or Boston
harbor."
In the meanwhile, the crew below bad
eXtiBguiShed the fire after a hard fight.
but found themselves imprisoned, while
the mysterious noises on deck told them
of some remarkable event having trans
pired. At first, Captain Scott and his
lieutenants, in the stupidity of their de-
bauch, had failed to notice the strange
events going on above them, but the noise
of the hammers spiking the matches. the
rolling Of the carronades, and the Tapping
of the yards impressed at last their drunk
en- senses with the alarming truth. With
the instincts of discipline and obedience,
the crew, in their alarm and amazement,
waited for orders from their superiors.
They had not long to wait. Captain
Scott, though a tyrant. lacked neither
courage nor energy. With a torrent of
fierce imprecations, he ordered his men
to cut their way out to the deck.
While the axes were piled furiously, a
stern voice above was heard ringing out
like a trumpet of doom:
"KeeD doom below for your lives |!
There be six cannon-mOuths guarding th'
matches, said Abner Taft.
"l'll cut every bit of flesh off your
bones, you devilsl" shouted the English
captain, f0aming at the mouth with rage.
gain, to his imprisoned men: "Cut, cut
for your lives -
The axes flew in the hands of the Eng
lish, and soon they had chopped the
matches in fragments. As they thronged
up, the carrOnades were discharged at
close range, and an awful silence followed,
broken by low moanS. The slaughter had
been fearful. The hatchways were again
closed and fastened. Three different at
tempts were made by the English crew to
break forth, attended with similar results.
In one of these Capt. Scott and his Off
GERS succeeded in escaping from the dur
ance of tie cabin, and, stung into a reck-
less fury, charged with sword and pistol
on the fierce band that held the decks
Abner Taft met his chief prosecutor,
cutlass in hand, and d short, sharp COM
bat was ended by terrible stroke, which
beat down Capt. Scott's guard and Glove
his head to the very jaw. Those bloody
stripes were at last avenged The other
officers shared a like fate, as they fought
with dogged courage that refused quar-
ter. But why prolOng the bloody and
monotonOus record, and describe the fruit
less efforts Of the English crew to recover
the advantage?
Suffice it that destiny smiled, as she so
often does on deeds of apparently hope
less daring, on the exploits of the Marble
head hero and his followers. The winds
were fair and light, so that there was not
much more difficulty in working the ship,
and all things conspired to the hOped-fOr
end. Abner Taft had laid the ships course
as nearly as possible for Boston, and his
fishing experiences had made him familiar
with the Massachusetts waters.
So, at the end of the second day from
the uprising, the good townsmen of Bos-
ton were amazed and alarmed at seeing a
British slOop-of-war come into the harbor,
the hated ensign flying at the fore. There
were bustlings and congregations of fear
full faces. There was still deeper amaze
ment, mingled with joy, when the union
jack was lowered and the American flag
went to the fore in its stead. for the Mar
blehead Rlen had improvised national
c0lors from old bunting. There weIe
bonfires and ringing of bells, and al most
frantic reiOicings over the hero of Marble
head, and he and his two comrades were
escorted TO their native town by a great
procession. He had fulfilled his promise
to his beautiful wife Martha. to come home
before she had all the apples strung for
their winters use.
The silent influence of this magnificent
act might easily have had most potent
effect in stimulating the legislation whicA
looked toward the founding of our infant
navy. There is. however, no record or
allusiOn to it in the public annals. The
tradition says that Abner Taft afterward
commanded privateer, but hi, name is
unknown except by those who have heard
the oral legend. His after career, how
ever, must have been daring and heroic
one, and borne splendid if unrecOoniZed
fruit. 1t is but another illustration of the
thought of the poet in apostrophizing the
unknown great. and to which allude in
the first part of this sketch:
90 Their nameless deaths are not Fate's scornful
mocks
At human fame: her dubious forecast always
tries
Much modelling in clay ere carving marble demi-
gods
That through the realms of time and space Titanic
LOOM"
-Appleton's Journal.