Connecticut western news., 1881-01-12
A STORY OF THE SEA
AN OLD TALE RETOLD.
A Ship Captain Throws Seven Passen. gers Overheard to Tighten Bark at Sea.

gers OVerDOafU to AlSnIen a b0fk at Sea.
 Among the old stories retold at the
 opening of the new year, there is no
 one that created so widespread sensa-
 tion in it's day, and the memory of which
 fingers more profoundly still, than that
 of Capt. Holmes of the ship William
 Brown. The ship with a full cargo and a
 number of steerage passengers left Liver
 pool for New York. On her voyage she
 struck an iceberg and began to sink.
 Two boats left the ship-one with @
 number of sailors, the other, the long
 boat, with the passengers and bal
 ance of the crew. This boat was in
 charge of Capt. Holmes. The passen-
 gers were Scotch and among the num-
 Der, were women and children.
 The boat had been at sea several days,
 when Holmes was noticed by the pas
 sengers to have private conversations
 with the sailors. At first the latter object
 ed to the propositions made to them but
 finally yielded an unwilling assent.
 The boat contained cask of water and
 provisions for few days only. It was
 soon made plain what was the subject
 of Holmes's conversations with the crew,
 and this the passengers learned full
 we'll He thought that the boat was
 over crowded, that it lay too deep in the
 sea for safety, that there were six or
 seven too many people on board. And
 so, in cool blood, he determined to get rid of the extra six or seven. Incredible as the story at this time may seem, he
 made up his mind, and got the other sailors to agree with him, to throw over- board six or seven of the heaviest of the passengers, so as to tighten the long-boat by just the amount these six or seven weighed-making so many lives just the matter of so many pounds.
 There were thirty-two people in the long-boat, countin' Holmes. Holmes made up his mind that there shouldn't be over twenty-five or twenty six (countin' Holmes, of course). Holmes had at first determined to make short speech to the passengers, tellin' lem why he was forced to throw 'em over- board. But he thought afterwards that that sort of 8 speech would make trouble, as it probably would, so he de- termined to throw 'em overheard first and to explain afterwards.
 He waited till night came, and then he waited till eleven o'clock at night It was pitch dark then, except when there was flash of lghtnin', and every now and then it rained little. Alto gether it was gloomy night.
 Suddenly Holmes and two other sail ors came up close to where Q man, one of the passengers, called Owen Reilly, was sittin'. Holmes made sign, and then the three of 'em caught hold of poor Owen Reilly. He looked up, it was lightning pretty fast just then, and Reilly could see, by the flashes, the cruel faces and stern looks of the three men who had hold of him. He clutched tight hold of the side of the boat, and said to the three men "What are you going to do with me?'' The two sail DTS didn't know what to say to this nat ural question they didn't know how to put the deed into words. But Holmes spoke right up, and answered '' We are goin' to throw you overheard and tighten this boat. It is better one should drown than thirty-two." Reilly fought for @ while but he was soon his hands and feet were held fast, and they began to swing his body to and fro, so as to be able to hurl t into the sea so far that he couldn't reach the boat again in his dyin' strug- gles. Then poor Reilly gave up fightin' md called out to the women, who looked 'n, or tried to see what they could, trembling, but afraid and unwilling to interfere. "Ask 'em to spare my life, or Gods sake," said poor Reilly to a girl who had been sittin' next him but he girl didn't or couldn't speak, and in ess time than it takes to write this, poor Reilly was hurled alive into the ca. His death shriek was somethin' .wful, but his cries and struggles didn't ast long. There was silence in min lte, and when the next fash of lightnin' it up the sea, there was nothin' to be cen of poor Owen Reilly.
 There were only thirty-one passengers LOW, and the long-boat was about one hundred and eighty pounds lighter, but 1olmes's and the two sailors con- ciences were heavier by @ good deal nore than one hundred and eighty ounds.
 The two sailors who had been helping Holmes seemed themselves to feel bad, ut Holmes didn't give them time to hink. Telling them to come with him, le stepped up to where another passen- ,er was sitting, man named Frank Alt ins, and seizing him, the three men hrew him overheard, in' spite of the ears and prayers and struggles of retty young girl few feet off from i'm, on another seat. Frank Atkins truggled, but he didn't say anything bout his own life, and only cried out 0 the young girl, "God bless you, fary." Then he went down into the ca, with big splash, like stone. He ouldn't swim.
 "Who's that young woman making Il this noise p asked Holmes, with an ath. 1
 " am the sister of the man you have ust thrown overboard," answered the 7oung girl whom the dying Frank At- ins had just blessed as Mary"
 ''Oh, l thought you was his sweet eart," sneered Holmes, whose bad