The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-08-09

who fights for his life against such odds.
He welded his poisoned knife with ter
nble effect, and says that at one time
when he plunged It into one IF the viii
lains he felt the blade crate on the bones
and heard them crack and give way be.
fore the steel. He had the wou1d-be
assassins at q great disadvantage In the
total darkness they scarcely dared use
their knives for fear of cutting each other,
while Williams struck out right and left,
regardless of anything except the protec.
ton of his own person, knowing that
every time his weapon entered flesh it
drew blood from an enemy. Thus he
could slash away in the darkness with no
fear of hurting friend. The cabin
proper of the boat, like those of all
schOoners, is very small apartment, and
during the progress of the terrible fight
the blood of the three men literally ran
on the floor in streams, and spattered all
over the walls. The frightful encounter
was of short duration. While Williams
was pressing one of the would be assas-
sins to the wall and stabbing him, the
other withdrawing probably lost his
knife in the melee-wrenched off leg of
the cabin table and knocked Williams
senseless with it. Then the villains fed
from the cabin, supposing that they had
killed their victim. In going up the
cabin stairs the blood flowed prOfuscly
from their wounds, and they left blood
red trail which marked their course out of
the cabin and along the deck. On the
rail of the vessel are two very large spots
of blood, and the MARKS Of bloody fingers,
over the side of the boat.
0froon,c rf h1oo1 pov, Aouyvn ho osdo IF
the schooner, and the red drops on the
fender streaks show that the fellows evi.
IDENTIFY steadied themselves a moment on
the rail before sliding down to the dock,
the blood in the meantime dripping from
their wounds and from off their clothes.
Their course along the dock for few feet
can be plainly traced by blood stains on
the timbers; then the trail is lost, as the
fellows evidently entered q small boat at
that point and pulled out into the bay.
Capt. Nichols, the commander of the
schooner Merry, vent to his vessel at five
O'Clock in the morning and was horror
stricken at finding what he supposed to be
the dead body of man, literally covered
with blood, lying at the foot of the cabin
stairs. He recognized Williams, who lay
perfectly inscnsible on the floor in a pool
Uf blood, with no clothing on his person
except q thin undershirt, which was
pierced with knife-holes and covered with
blood clots. Williams was terrible look
ing object, and the sight of him in that
condition made cold shiver run through
the Captain. During the entire fight in
the cabin not word had been spoken by
any of the principals 10 the frightful
affray, as an alarm was something to be
especially avoided by the would-be MUIR
derers, and Williams did not dare to cry
out, as that would not only have given his
assailants q precise knowledge of his
whereabouts, but would have been an in
dication that he needed help, and feared
that he would not he able to cope with them.
As quickly as possible Capt. Nichols
awakened his son, who, as stated above,
was asleep in the forecastle, and a mes
senger was at cnce dispatched for DR..
Clemens, who hurried to the boat and
dressed the unfortunate mans wounds.
He found six terrible cuts on Williams
person-on his leg, shoulder, breast and
side. An examination of Williams bed
on board the schooner revealed the fact
that the knife of the would be murderer
who stabbed him in the side while he was
asleep had passed through Williams
flesh, through a thick quilt and heavy
mattress, and cut large cash in the can
vas hammock! That blow was struck to
kill! The wounded man was quite COM
Portable last evening.
A number of seasons ago Williams was
Mate of a a-going vessel running be-
tween Baltimore and European ports.
Antonio was one of the crew. During one
of the trips there was a mutiny, which
Williams helped to quell. Two of Anto,
MOS relatives were killed in the melee,
and Antonio swOre vengeance on Will
Jams, whom he supposed was responsible
for their taking off. He followed Will
Jams from Baltimore, and made an attempt
to kill at Buffalo, but failing in that made
the second attempt as narrated above.--
SGndusky (OhiO) ReQister.