Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-08-08

Il
smith part t. =, raILIus, ani his prom
l-,s ot I1srr.Ag- If she would aid hI-
escape. AID wound up 10y furious
igLi between two Of the pirates, one
Icing stabbed.
Smith was ordered. despite his pro-
testaiT,n. % act a. surgeon, the captain
admitting 10 plea Of -,uorance, aud the
unhappy captive hal 10 stAunch and
baniag,. as les; he coGld.
The caus.. of the quarrel was inves-
tIgA'ei. one wuuIucd man Informed
Al> captain that the ether had formed a
plot to assassIuate him. The crew ii
muliaueUusly rushed down, cut of tue
poor wrctchs leg. and arms With a
blunt Ratchet, and threw him over
board. Such was Smiths first eXpe-
rience Of pirate customs, and, viii e he
still shuddered, the captain told Him
this would be his fate if he concealed
information from him.
The schooner cruised out 10 sea, and
at last came back to harbor. Out to
meet her came tie chief mate, with that
! portion Of the crew who had been left
behind. These were implicated in the
assassination plot.
A white handkerchief was held up to
deco them, and, when close, volley
| free among them. But one man sur
vived, and he was doomed by the cap
! tain to die in the favorite tiend like
manner Of the Cuban pirates.
For three hours boats crew was
occupied IN rowing up and down mar
row bush fringed channel, the unhappy
wretch being stripped naked and pin
toned i'll the boat, while myriads of
mosquitoes and sand-fies lowered
round, and closed on his flesh. Says
Smith: I'VE had been scarcely half an
hour in this place. when the miserable
victim was distracted with pain his
body began to swell, and he appeared
one complete blister from head to foot. "
His voice failed, his features became
undistinguishable, and IN this condi
ton they brought him back. The cap
tain had the boat moored, and ordered
six muskets to be fired at the dying
man. He only tainted. A pig of iron
was fastened round his neck, and he
flung into the sea.
So ended this specimen OF vengeance;
and next came the turn of Aaron Smith
to feel the captains cruelty. Refusing
to board a merchant brig, the rage OF
the corsair was so great with his cap
tive, that he had him tied to the mast,
circle of gunpowder strewn round
him, train laid, and q match applied
to it.
The blaze burst up, Tapped the un-
happy man in its embrace, and, his
clothes all on fire, he fell insensible.
Recovering, he found himself unable to
move, both hands and legs lacerated,
and, in fact, the bones laid bare, and
large blisters on various parts of his
body.
Compassion was excited in the heart
of one of the crew, who showed kind
ness and attention to the unfortunate
prisoner. The latter, in the pain he
was, was made to make sails, to act as
surgeon, and even to mount the rig
ging, by the captain, whose brief fits of
humanity ended in bursts of ferocious
threats.
About this time collision occurre /
between some survivors of the chief
mates gang (who lurked in the woods
near the harbor in which the schooner
constantly made her headquarters) and
the crew. The friendly magistrate,
before referred to, was wounded, and
the mutilated Smith was carried on a
mattress two miles inland to the house,
to dress the officials wounds.
Here he saw the charming daughter
Seraphina again, and hopes of escape
were INDUCED in by both. 70 lull sus-
plcion, he affected reluctance to go
ashore, which produced compulsion.
One day, on his return, one of the
gang" was captured by the boats
crew, exposed to the sand-fies, half
maddened, blindfolded, tied to a tree
and shot, ere their return to their up.
proving captain and comrades.
Other unhappy traitors were made
targets of, tied to trees, and bets in
dulged in as to hitting or missing them.
All these things Smith was compelled
to witness silently on peril Of life,
while his own manned, tortured limbs
forcibly reminded him of his captor's
state of mind.
A Dutch vessel was next captured,
and her cargo taken, while Smith was
made to act the surgeon. About this
time he met with Seraphina, on one OF
AAAo sAoAto w AOI thtAoI, duu Was ONcI-
joyed to find she had arranged matters
for their flight.
Some days elapsed, the feverish hope
IN the prisoners mind making him una
BILE to remain quiet. While thus on
tenterhooks, he witnessed another scene
of murder.
The French cook of the Dutch ves-
sci, leased by his captors, seized a
Ratchet and wounded one. The rest
simultaneously plunged their knives
into his body, and flung him, still
breathing, overheard. Again Smith
was made to become the injured pirates
surgeon.
Two more prizes were taken, and then
the famous Rio grew too hot to hold the
pirates. Five gunboats were ordered
down by the Governor of Havana, a
fact which the friendly magistrate duly
informed the pirate captain.
The corsair eluded the flotilla (which
seems to have shown little real will to
capture herr and remained for three
weeks off the Morillia, where O French
vessel was captured by her. The pi-
rates plundered her, cut away her miz-