River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-25
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4 PRIVATEER STORY.

A PRIyATEER STORY.
On the 18th of December, 1923,
trial for piracy, which excited great at
tention in London and elsewhere, took
ty. The prisoner, who stood arraigned,
and who was liable, if convicted, to
the penalty of death, had passed
through a series of mishaps and adj
ventures stranger than fiction, and only
rivaled by the career of some of
Dumas heros Involuntary the asso-
ciate of crew of murderers and buc-
cancers, whose deeds were such as to
strike terror into every merchant
shippers heat, the prisoner, Aaron
Smith, now stood at criminal bar,
and bad to prove to a jury that his
companionship among pirates had
been compulsory. On that proof his
life hung on that sharp December day.
To a nation like England, rich in mer-
chant shipping, and deriving from it
enormous wealth, the crime of piracy
was always hcinous one. Far back
as the twenty-eighth year of Henry
the Eighth's reign, statute had made
robbery on the high seas punishable
with death and loss of lands. When
to this robbery murder, in its most
cruel form, was added, it is evident
that to Englishmen the crin'e and the
criminals became so hateful as to be
hunted down on every chance. The
reports of the atrocities Of the West
India sea thieves had come, ever and
anon, across the ocean to England, and
had reused hate and fear and honest
wrath
The risk which Aaron Smith ran
was very dangerous one. He was
acquitted, however, for his story which
during the space ofsome hours, heldthe
court, jury and public enthralled by its
interest, was marked by the signs of
truth. He called twenty witnesses to
testify to his humanity and honesty
The girl to whom he was betrothed.
and whose beauty attracted general
admiration, proved that their marriage
would have long since taken place. had
not the prisoner been detained abroad.
The tears of the young lady, and the
emotion of the prisoner, touched those
present as sincere tokens of grief, and
Aaron Smith was held deeply injured
man, and set free He drew up a lit
tie volume called THE Atrocities of
the Pirates" containing a very simple
and unvaInished record of his ad-
ventures, and which was published in
1924 In June, 1921, Aaron Smith left
in the war ship Harrington, for the
West Indies There he staid, having
left the ship, for some time, engaged in
various pursuits, when he became en-
/ 10 &c h. 1..,fr
Zephyr, Mr. Lumsden being master
On the 2Sth of June, the voyage"to En-
gland commenced. Some days brought
the brig off Cape st. Antonio, whence
she stood eastward.
On the next day at , p. M, strange
schooner stood out from the coast of
Cuba toward the Zephyr. The master
was informed Of this by Smith and one
! Captain COwper, a passenger, but OBJ
stinately refused to change his course,
supposing-I presume, on the Girls RO-
ndnus principle-that as he bore the
English flag, none would modest him.
| Mr. Lumsden was doomed to be harsh
| ly undeceived, The grim schooner
came on swiftly, her decks full of men.
and lowered boats. Next came Il
hoarse order to lay to, enforced by IL
volley of musketry, which increased
the rising terror of the Zephyr's mas
ter. The brig was now boarded by
the pirates boats, which were filled
with armed men. The chief, a Zero
ciOus fellow, staid in the schooner, and
had Lumsden, Cowper, Smith, and 9th
ers brought before him on his deck.
His questions, in broken English, as to
cargo, etc, were enforced by threats Of
burning the Zephyr and every soul be-
longing to her if the truth was not told.
Smith was informed by the pirate cap
tain that he would be kept to investi-
gate the schooner The mate en-
treated to be released, and drew har-
rowing picture of an imaginary wife
and children longing for his return;
but all in vain. Ultimately he was
forced to go on board the brig, collect
his property and necessaries for navi-
cation, and return to his new master.
In the interim Lumsden and COwper
were lashed to the pumps, and com
bustibles placed around them and fired,
| to extOrt a confession as to hidden
| treasure The pirates plundered the
brig, and Smith was driven at the point
of the knife into the pirates schooner,
and saw the brig and his companions
sail Oft, leaving him in captivity.
In due course, the schooner touched
at harhor-Rio Medas-where an eyi-
dent understanding existed between
the pirates and the Spanish magistrates,
and where dance took place between
the crew and the fair ladies of the
nei ghborhOOd at the chief magistrates
house. Our hero, compelled to share
in the festivities, made the acquaint-
ance of young Spanish beauty Sera-
phina, who seems to have excited n
reciprocal attachment in his heart
These Arcadian delights of music and
dancing and hobnobbing of Spanish
authorities with corsalrs, were followed
by the sale on board the schooner of
the briggs cargo, the love making on
Smiths part to Seraphina, and his
promises Of marriage if she would aid
his escape, and wound up by furious
fight between two of the pirates, one
being stabbed. Smith was ordered,
despite his protestations, to act as sur
geon, the captain admitting no plea of
ignorance, and the unhappy captive
had to staunch and bandage the best he
could. The cause of the quarrel was
investigated. One wounded man in
formed his captain that the other had
formed a plot to assassinate him. The
crew simultaneously rushed down cut
off the wretch's legs and arms with a
blunt Ratchet, and threw him over
board Such was Smiths first exptI-
fence of pirate customs, and while he
still shuddered, the captain told him
this would be his fate if he concealed
information from him.
The schooner cruised out to sea, and
at last came back to harbor Out to
meet her come the chief mate, with
that portion of the crew who had been
left behind. These were implicated in
the assassination plot. \ white hand
kerchief was held up to decoy them,
and, wnen close, volley fired among
them But one man survived, and he
was doomed by the captain to die In
the favorite fend like manner of the
Cuban pirates. For three hours a
boats crew was occupied in rowing up
and down a narrow, bush-fringed chan
mel, the unhappy victim being stripped
naked and pinioned in the boat, while
mirriads of mosquitoes and sand flies
hoverea round and closed on his flesh.
SAYS Smith: eve had been scarcely |
half an hour in this place when the |
miserable victim was distracted with |