Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-10-12

mace 10 prevent, generally DY HoatlnS
q sail behind the wheel. Men even
came to connt the chances Of capture
and escape as coolly as they figured the
cost of cloth.
THE PROFITS.
The profits were enormous. A suit
able craft could be purchased in Europe
for from $50, 900 to $l20 900, and as a
rule ane successful trip would clear her
cost. To show what the profits were,
Maj. Willis once cent out a bale OF
cotton worth $400 in Confederate
money. At Nassau it was exchanged
for barrel Of borax, which he sold in
Charleston for $4,000 in the same cur
reucy. Again, he sent ont bale of Sea
Island worth 5000, and received bale
of women's wells which brought him
$4,000. Merchants who bought En-
glish cloth at fifty cents per yard had
no trouble in disposing of it at home
for 81 and IS. A pair of boots costing
$40 brought so and $12 in Charleston.
Tea which could be had in Nassau for
forty cents per pound brought from sl4
to $40 in the South.
If the owners made we'll the men
who assumed the perils were by no
means neglected. The wages of.fhe
common sailors were doubled and
more paid in gold. Many captains bar
gained by the trip. If successful in
making the trip they received from
$3, 500 to $4,000 in good English gold.
Outside of this sum each capAin was
permitted to carry one bale of cotton
each trip on his own account. AS moth
ing wes ssid about weight, they had
two end three ordinary bales compress
ed into one, and often made $4,000
out of their speculation.
Whatever the Confederate govern
ment needed had to come this way and
Ii paid the same prices as individuals
The runners brought in cannon, mus
kets. ammunition, boots and shoes,
clotn, uniforms, equipments, tents,
sabres, medicines, etc, and it was only
in this way that the Confederate armies
were kept in the ficlC. The same
number OF states, geographically stu
ated like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and
Wisconsin, would not have held out so
long. Stringent as was the blockade,
it was never close enough to entirely
stop the business, With twenty-four
Federal vessels off the bar at Charles
ton a Confederate steamer made that
port without receiving q SINGLE shot
pilot to be depended on, and night
such as the runners prayed for, would
take a vessel out or in, no matter how
alert the blockaders.
THE PERKS.
Necessity and avarice were the main
inducements to carry on the trade, but
in making up the crew of the vessel
many man volunteered his services
more for the love of adventure than
any other reason. 1t was business in
which every man took his life in
hand, and he SO understood. An ordi-
narily brave man had no business on
blockade runner He who made sue
cess of it must have the cunning of a
fox, the patience Of job, and the
bravery of an Indian warrior. Uncle
Sam wanted at first to treat them as
pirates, and was never satisfied to con-
slider them contrabandists. The run
ners must not he armed and must not
resist. The only privilege accorded
them when discovered was to outrun
pursuit if they could, and scores of
them were remarkably successful in
making the most of this privilege. In
q stay of ten days in Charleston | had
the good fortune to meet round
dozen ex-captains of blockade runners,
and was thus put in possession of
many particulars never given the pub
lie in print. The history of the bust
ness, written alone and detailing the
adventures, perils, escapes and mis-
haps of the 500 vessels engaged from
first to last, would be the most interest
lug volume of the war.
HARDWARE AT NASSAU.
When Uncle Sam realized that Eng
land was willing to sell whatever the
Confederacy would buy sharp watch
was kept upon everything landed or
loaded at Nassau. In some cases the
Federal agents were bribed with gold
and in others the goods wanted were
passed under their very noses without
being suspected. Four weeks previous
to the battle of Shiloh the steamer Kate
ran the blockade at Charleston and
arrived safely at Nassau. Twenty
thousand English muskets, already
paid for, had arrived and part of
them unloaded. The boxes were
marked hardware" and $500 so
blinded the customs officer that he saw
spades and shovcls where he might
have seen gun-bsrreIs and stocks.
Scarcely any effort was made at SECRECY,
and he Kate got away unquestioned,
landed the arms in Florida, and they
were speedily in the hands of the Con-
federates confronting Grant. The sup
ply of arms brought about the battle.
One cannon ball from a Federal cruiser
fired into the Kate would have had
mighty bearing upon the campaign in
the west.
There never was a time from first to
last, no matter how thick the Federal
spies, THAI the confederates could not
obtain foil cargoes at Nassau 1t was
trick of the Federal cruisers to lie in
wait fot the runners coming out, so
that the craft practically had to run
two blocades to reach a southern port,