Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-05-13
A Joke on Jehn Bull

Some days ago Russian man.of
war entered New York harbor, sever
al days afterwards British man-o
war came into the harbo- to keep q,
eve on the movements Of the Russian
The presence of the British ship e1
cited the Irish, and that fact led Cap
tain Paul Boyton and few friend:
to play joke on Johnnie Bull, and
reveal to him how easily it would be
to place torpedo under q ship Of
war of a foreign nation should il en-
ter an American port with hostile in
tent. The following is statement OF
the play of the joke:
NV York, MAY 6.-Captain Pal
Boyton went down to Staten Island
at 81 o'clock last night with a party
of ten friends and reporters whom he
had promised to show how easy it
would be for live dynamiter to put
a torpedo underneath a British man
of-war. The Captain had with him IA
rubber bag, which when inflated look
ed like an ordinary torpedo, capable
of holding one hundred and twenty
pounds of dynamite This was duly
inflated, ballasted with bricks and
charged with note conveying to tins
commander of her British Msjesty's
man of war Garnet 1.-The compliments
of Captain Paul Boyton and staff "
The captain crswled into his swim
ming suit, toppled over into the wa
ter and with his light paddle struck
out through the moonlight, dragging
the bogus torpedo behind him. The
reporters huddled into q small boat,
rowed out to within hailing distance
of the Garnet and waited for the Cap
tain, who had gone on ahead, to come
back. Shortly excited voices were
hesrd on the Garnet, mixed with n
loud laugh from the water, and Cap
tain Boyton came scooping out of
the shadow OF the vessels hull, tri-
umphantly blowing bugle which hs
wore around his neck
When he got to the boat all noise
had ceased on the man of war and it
was decided that all hands should
row over and zee how snugly the tor
pedo wa. snchored under the bow of
the Garnet Captain Boyton pad
died alongside the row boat, told how
he had been hailed from the Garnet
and had told them, after getting out
of pistol range, that torpedo was
fast to them.
''Iis, ha!' said he, we've got the
laugh on the British government this
time and don't you for"
Before the Captain had time to fn-
ish his phraze something black came
gliding over the water and part OF
the crew of the Garnet's steam launch
had him by the neck. He jerked d
away, whereupon two Of the half-doz-
en- guns which had been pointed at
the boat were aimed at his head The
Captain expressed his readiness to
go anywhere the owners of the gins
might desire, and, aided by the Eng
lishmen, scrambled up into the launch.
The officer in command ordered ev-
erybody in the boat to climb in with
him, too, but the American who had
been hired to row declined to be &
prisoner.
Il was born and brought up IN
Washington street, in the First ward
of New York he said, ''and ! can lick
the first man that tries to take ms out
of this boat. What's more, you're
rubbing the paint off my property
and I'll sue the British government
for that, anyhow
Thus encouraged every man in the
boat picked out some one in thelaunch
whom he invited where it was warm.
A wild mixture of United States and
British English filed the air for ten
minutes. At its conclusion the Brit
ish held consultation, withdrew the
gun from Boyton's ear and allowed
him to climb into the boat. The
Americans rowed back to Staten Is
land and the launch returned to the
ship. Half an hour afterwards it was
decided that the English ought to
have discovered the torpedo by this
time and Boyton and the reporters
started out to ask them if they bad
Their reception was rather warm than
than cordial. 1t consisted of an or
der to keep of, backed by twenty or
thirty guns and a machine which
somebody said would throw two or
three thousand bullets minute.
The men in the boat decided to re-
treat and did so, with the steam
launch in full pursuit The nose of
the launch struck the bank as the re-
porters clambered on shore. Once
more the guns were pointed and his
British majesty in charge of the
launch ordered everybody to come
down and be prisoner But he did
not McVegh, the Staten Island Con-
stable. happened to be prowling
around, and that son of the free soil