The Penn's Grove record., 1884-02-23

Dblls L tdlltu lC III L<AAAhN AAN 4
made many profitable runs along the
coast of the gulf, and two or three
times 1 doubled the capes of Florida.
While we lay at Mobile taking in a
load for New Orleans, two of the most
desperate villains in Alabama we're APP
pretended. Theirnames wereAdolphLe-
roy and Matt Vickers, and they had com.
mitted a good many robberies and more
than one murder il the country between
the two big rivers. They were lodged
in the Jail at Mobile, and as oon as
they were thus secure the evidence came
in against them fast and strong, the
number of burglaries and highway rob-
berries they had committed was also
beyond compute, and at least five muir
ders were fastened upon them. But
/. one morning it was found that the pris-
Oners had escaped, and those who had
been so free to testify against them
turned pale when they received the in
formation, and turned away in mortal
terror. A reward of $1,000 was
offered for their recapture, or $4,000
for one of them. But they were not
to be found. No one had seen them,
and no traces of them could be discOv-
cred.
On the second day after the escape of
these rascals l was ready to sail, and
got under way about 3 O'Clock in the
afternoon. My crew consisted of only
myself and my two sons, Stephen and
John. Stephen was 20 years old and
Jack Is, and they were both of them
stout, rugged boys. Our u M were so
short that l found this to be crew
enough, though, very frequently | took
one or two more hands. But on this
occasion we had promise of a quick,
fair passage, and we three concluded to
run her through. We had Il fair wind
for a start, and ran down the bay at a
good rate, opening the passages between
the Dauphin and Mobile Point a little
after 6. We were just passing the
light house, and | had the helm, when
l sung out to the boys to stand by the
sheets. Stephen went to the main
sheet, but L didn't see Jack. L waited
a few minutes, anu then sang out AGAIN.
Presently the boy came up from the
forepeak, but instead of going to the
sheet he came aft, and L was just gong
to tell him to go back to the fore sheet
when l discovered that he looked real
kind o. startled and fearful.
"What is it?" says l, forgetting the
sheets; for l knew that when n of
my boys showed a quiYeTing lip there
was something more than ordinary to
pay.
He put his fingers to his lips and told
me to speak low. "For," said he
"we've got passengers aboard"
"Ha-runaway ~negroesi" said [.
mot quite 50 simple, " returned Jack,
with a dubious shake of the head I'VE
have got two villains aboard"
"What two?"
'Leroy and Vickersl"
sect outl' said l, thinking he must
be joking.
"Father," said he-and when he
spoke "father' in that way / knew
there was nothing but sober serious.
ness in what was to come after It'll
tell you they're aboard this schooner!
They're in the hold, chock for'rd; and,
what's more, they mean to come out
when we get well out-sidel I've heard it
alp
l steered straight out and listened to
Jack, for l knew it must be as he said.
We had no forecastle parted off from
the hold, as all of us that aver wanted
passage had plenty of room in the
cabin; but we had a forepeak parted
off chock in between the bows, where
we slowed all rigging and tar buckets
and such kind of stuff. While we were
running down, Jack had gone into this
place to pick out some rope yarn, and
as he found al easy seat upon an old
sail, he sat down there, with his back
against the bulkhead, and began to
unlay a piece of rope for the yarns.
He had not been at work a great while
before he heard a noise among the
boxes in the hold, and after listening a
few minutes he knew that somebody
was in there. He knew it could not be
either I OF Stephen for he had heard us
both on deck; so he thought it must be
a negro. Presently he heard a voice
and then an answer. There were two
of them-and they were white men,
too. Jack sat as still as a mouse, with
his ear to the thin bulkhead, and he
could hear nearly all that was said. He
soon discovered that they were the two
villains who had escaped from the
ockup in Mobile, and that they meant
TO kill us and throw us overheard as
soon a We got outside and then make
a run across the gulf to Cuba.
As 500 as | heard jacks story |
knew it was all just so, for he could
repeat the very words they had spoken.
They had crawled INTO the hold two
nights before, and as we had commenced
TO fill up forward before that, they had
not been disturbed. They had weapons
with them, and had managed to get
some bread and water. And they had
kept the run of the time pretty well,
for Jack heard them tell over how long
it would be before night would set IN,
and they had it to a very few minutes.
They knew we should be outside by
dark, and then they meant to come on
deck, l asked Jack if he was sure
they hadn't heard him in the forepeak.
They couldn't" he said, ''for l
never made a bit of noise after / knew
they were there. They had been fur