News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-09-02

British vessels trading among the
islands had mysteriously disappeared.
and on several occasions reports had
been made of piratical pursuits and at
tacks. The name of our cruiser was
the Pandora, and her orders came from
the home office. The instructions were
to cruise from Avoo Island, off the west
coast of Guinea, scrOss to Celebes.
taking in the whole length of the Banda
Sea, distance of thousand miles.
We had been cruising month before
anything happened out of the usual
routine of sea life. Then, one mo~nino
soon after daylight. as We were steamin9
at half speed to the west of the Am,
boyna Islands, and about three leagues
away, we picked up sailor lashed to
plank. We at first thought him done
TO, but after the surgeon had worked
over him for awhile he came back To-
life, and in couple of hours was strong
enough to tell his story He was a Ger
man, and one of the I-s.g of German
brig trading to the Spice Islands. Three
days previous, to the northward of
: Bouro Island, the brig had been at
lacked by three native boats, each car
rylng about forty men. Her crew con-
sisted OF twelve men, and, as they had
i no weapons but muskets, the captain de-
clded that defence would be useless.
He hoped that an easy capture might
, induce the pirates to spare the lives of
the men.
1t was about dark when the pirates
seized the brig. and their first movement
was to drive the crew below and place
a sentry over them. Then. while q por-
| thnOO tho H., al
along the north coast of the island, the
others gathered such plumber as the
ship afforded. Her cargo was of no
good to them, but they wanted sails,
cordage, chains, ropes, and whatever
could be made use of in fitting out
| their own craft. Before midnight. they
had her anchored in a cove on the coast,
and the crew were ordered on deck to
get the plumber overheard. She was
first stripped of her sails, and the crew
were engaged in this work when they
witnessed the death of the captain and
mate on the deck. The pirates believed,
, or pretended to believe, that the brig
had large sum of money aboard. She
may have had few hundred dollars,
but it was not likely that she had above
a thousand at outside figures. What
ever sum she did have was handed over
without dispute, but the pirates were
not satisfied with it and made threats.
! The mate was killed first, getting blow
on the neck from a huge knife which
almost severed his head from his body.
At this the captain went down en- his
knees and prayed and begged for his
life. They ordered him to produce
more money, and when he could not
they made his death a painful one
They cut off his ears and nose and
fingers, and as he danced about the
deck in his agonies the wretches uttered
loud cheers of delight.
The men aloft were in state of ter
ror, b t Hans, the man we picked up,
was probably the coolest of the lot. A
quantity of planks and spars had been
thrown overheard before the mate was
killed. When the tragedy began all
the natives crowded aft to he spectators,
and for a time the bow of the brig was
deserted. Hans was on the foremast,
and whom they began torturing the Cap
tain he made up his Amind 70 escape.
He asked coHzraese- ta-gas gith. him,
but the man Jsas too terrified to move.
Hans descended the sfrou,ls and drop
ped overheard without being discovered.
He trst swan to the shore, which was
chly few hundred. feet away, but find
ing people on the beach, he rested for a
few minutes and returned within fifty
feet of the brig, where he found
plank. His idea was to make use of
this float to land himself further down
the coast, but current set him out
after little, and he-lashed himself fast,
hoping that wind and sea might event
ually drive him to the shore. Instead
of that he was driven off the island and
to sea, and hunger thirst, and the hot
sun had about done for him when the
Pandora picked him up. We were
within five hours run of the cove where
the German brig had been anchored,
and the cruiser was at once headed in
that direction.
Hans had given information that the
pirates at1oat and ashore numbered at
least 300 men, and that each of their
boats carried at least one six FOUNDER.
1t might therefore be expected that a
lively scrimmage would take place when
we ran in upon them. The Pandora
made ready for 1t, and her crew, all of
whom had learned the story of the Ger
man, were enthusiastic to get to work.
Our approach was sheltered by the
heavy forest along the coast, and the
pirates had no intimation of QUE pres
ence until we. rounded a point and
brought the blight or cove into full view.
1t was a body of water about a mile
wide by four long, and at the lower end
was the dismantled brig and three ma
tive craft. There was a good depth of
water in the bay, and we drove right
down at the fellows without slackening
speed until only about mile away.
They were at first thrown into wild con
fusion, but they presently recovered and
rushed aboard of their dhows to give
lis a fight. The wind was off the land,
thus feing fair for them to come out,
and asour Captain saw that they meant
fight he turned the Pandora about and
steamed off, as if afraid of them. They
set sail and followed after, and we drew
them at least tWo'mIles from the beach
| before the cruiser turned on her heel
again. The dhows had six-poundcrs,
| as Hans had stated, and they popped
awaS.at us and kept wasting their pow
der fora full half an hour.
When we turned, every gun was load
ed and every man at his station, and we
were not a quarter of an hour sending
the three craft to the bottom of the bay.
OEe of them was settled by one shot
! crashing into her at the water line. AS
! the last dhow went down we saw num-
bers of pirates floating on the surface
by means of wreck stuff, and our ma
rines were called upon to fire at every
head in sight OF the hundred or more
who came out to meet us not one escap-
| ed death. 1t was evident that the ISL
and was a rendezvous, for most of the
| stuff from the brig had been landed
there, and there were quarters on shore
| for at least three hundred men. The
Pandora turned her guns loose on the
place, driving the few people ashore TO
the woods, and detachment of men
| landed and set fire to whatever would
burn The brig had been completely
| dismantled, and, as she had been run
high and dry ashore we put the flames
to her. Not one of her crew could be
found, alive or dead. Here and there
the decks were splashed with blood,
! and it was evident that they had been
butchered one after another and tossed
/ overheard.
WILLIAM ADAMS, boy of II, who was
sent to the Detroit House of Correction
from Idaho in 1888, having been SEN
| fenced to prison for life for mail rob
berry, has just had his sentence COM
muted to imprisonment to seven years
| from the date of his first commitment.