Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-12-07

that his pockets had been rifled, and his
watch and wallet taken, together with
the keys of his Office door and safe.
On the morning following MIR.
Young's abduction, Mrs. Comft, his
housekeeper, awaited in vain his ap-
pearance at the breakfast table. Never
before, during the fifteen years she had
lived with him, had he been ten minutes
behind time. Of course, he must be
indisposed. With some trepidation she
she went up stairs and knocked at his
chamber door. The summons, again
and again repeated, awakened no re-
sponse. He might have gone out for q
walk, though such had never been bis
habit. An hour passed, and she grew
seriously alarmed. Finally, when q
business acquaintance of Mr.. Young's
called 10 inquire why his store remained
closed, Mrs. Comit procured assistance,
and her masters door was broken open.
A careful search of the apartment only
resulted in showing that it had appa-
rently not been occupied during the pre-
ceding night.
Days and weeks rolled on, and moth
ing was seen or heard OF the missing
merchant. Advertisements appeared in
the leading journals, offering liberal re-
wards for information concerning him ;
but none was forthcoming. The case
created considerable excitement as well
in the community at large, as among
Mr.. Young's immediate connections,
but all attempts to unravel the mys-
terry proved unavailipg and when, one
morning, his Office safe was found open,
and robbed of all its valuable contents,
the conclusion was generally arrived at
that be had been foully dealt with, and
that his temperance was not to be
looked for. A distant relative OF the
lost man came forward, instituted the
necessary proceedings, and took quiet
possession of the property which MIR.
Young had toiled through 80 many years
to arnass.
To return, now, to our ill-fated hero
himself.
After drifting in his boat for two
lays, the weather being fortunately
,aln and moderate, he was picked up by
u homeward bound italian brig. As
Mr. Young spoke only his native Ian
yuage, of which none of bis rescuers un-
ierstood a single word, he could com
municste very little respecting himself,
md was barely able to make out the
name OF the port to which they were
sailing. Just before entering the
Mediterranean, they were chased and
captured by pirate, to whom they
could offer no resistance. Their vessel
was .cuttled, and themselves were car
ried as slaves to the coast of Morocco.
By the Italians Young had been treated
kindly; at the hands Of the half-savage
captors, he met with nothing but hard
ship, being forced to toll almost inces-
sanity beneath burning sun.
After three years of this suffering, he
effected his escape by the aid fellow
slave, an Englishman, with whom he
was sometimes allowed to go fishing,
and with whom, under cover OF night,
he flung himself overheard and swan to
the opposite coast of Spain, where they
found themselves with possessions but
the clothes on their backs. They man
aged to make their way to the nearest
seaport town, whence they intended, il
possible. to procure a passage to the
United States. All went we'll; ship
was soon found, which in q few days
was to weigh anchor for New York, and
on which their services were at once en-
gagged for the voyage.
Almost on the eve of their embarka-
ton, fearful murder was committed In
the house where the fugitives erelodg-
ing. Circumstances pointed strongly
toward them as the perpetrators, and
they were arrested on suspicion. Poor,
friendless, and ignorant OF the language
of their prosecutors, they were unable
TO make an adequate defense, and were
summarily found guilty. MIR. Young
unfortunate companion was executed,
and he himself sentenced to the galleys
for life.
After he had undergone the lingering
horrors of this worst of punishment tor
Ave years, the real murderer was made
known by a deathbed confession, and
Mr.. Young was set at liberty. His story
had excited the active sympathy OF sey.
eral humane individuals, and he found
no difficulty in procuring means OF
transportation to his own country. In
a few weeks he once more trod the
streets of New York, nearly eight years
from the time of his enforced departure;
but he returned to find himself beg
gar. His relative had thrown away bus
property in wild speculations, and died,
the year before, hopelessly insolvent.
Broken in health and spirits, and pre-
matl ely old, the once prosperous mer-
chant, after his protracted misfortune,
incu ed solely by yielding to sudden
impp SO of humanity, was driven to the
occur alton of selling small wares at q
stall outside Washington market, and
migh have been regularly seen thus en-
gagged for several years, until prostrated
by lingering sickness which brought
him to his'end, under circumstances OF
lamentable privation.
Who shall say that the ways OF Prov.
dencs in this world are not inscrutable
illustrated Weekly.