The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-04-12

Ter Ine purpose.
Alta note from the silver whistle
tie boy glided through the door. His
father handed him one of the officers
pistols and said: "Guard this door
till / return, and if the other officer
comes in kill him instantly" He
took the weapon and calmly stationed
himself near the door. The intrepid
Wilson hurried off to find the steward.
He rut revolver at his head, stated
his plans.to the frightened negro and
forced him to swear implicit obedience
to him. The negro readily entered
into Capt. Wilson's plans for recaptu-
ring the ship, and took the offered
revolver to prevent the access of the
marines to the second officers cabin.
In few minutes more by a. a.cleyer and
reckless ruse Wilson had this officer
| alss gagged and bound flat on his
back in his own berth.
This much accomplished, Wilson
went below with his jauntiest air and
told the marines that the command
ing officer had ordered him to go with
them into certain part of the ship
to make some needed repairs at once.
Not doubling the statement, one by
one the eight men went down the mar
| row stairway. AS quick as the last
one had disappeared Wilson quickly
closed and secured the hatchway. He
called to them to wait until he should
return He went to the Captains 5
cabin, relieved his fearless son of in
tense anxiety, told the officer he
| thanked him for the kindness with
which he had been treated, and re-
| GREETED that he would be forced to
| keep both him and his com1ade secure
| ly bound until the Emily St. Pierre
should reach Trenholm and rasers
wharf in Liverpool. He told how the
eight mariners had been made prison
ers, assured the commanding officer
that he should be made as comfortable
as possible, and took the gag out of
his mouth. Then with his son and
the steward, both heavily armed, he
opened the hatchway, and called to
| the men and told them what he had
done.
Only one man could ascend the
narrow stairway at time, 80 they
were. entirely at his mercy. He spoke
plausibly to them, promised them i'm
mediate liberty and $25 apiece when
he reached Liverpool, and a plenty
of rations during the voyage, which
he assured them would be as brief as
the utmost speed of the Emily St.
Pierre could make it. Under the
shadow of the Stars and Stripes and at
the cost of almost superhuman mental
and physical exertion for three days,
on the part of Wilson and the steward
the Emily St. Pierre sped ON to Liv-
erpool. At the end of the third day
Wilson became so exhaustad that he
was compelled to bribe one of the ma
rines to help him manage the ship
He succeeded and the man walked up
the stairway while his comrades held
back before the three cooked revolvers
above them. This bribed recruit was
constantly watched by Wilson or the
steward or the courageous boy, who
never showed the least sign of fright
throughout the terrible journey.
The ship anchored off Liverpool
Harbor at night. A member of
Trenholm & Fraser's firm came
aboard and carried detailed account
of the unprecedented exploit back to
the city, and the Liverpool Mercurs
devoted its first page to a detailed
statement of it. The next morning
the city was wild with excitement.
The Emily st. Pierre touched Tren-
holm & Fraser's wharf flying both
the Confederate nag and the Union
Jack. She was welcomed by a mob
of people singing "Rule Britannia
and the Southern Marseillaise." Will
son was the hero of the hour and for
six months remained in England the
guest of numbers of her proudest no.
bility, at whose dinner tables he re-
counted again and again the story of
the recapture of the Emily st. Pierre.
He kept his pledges to the Federal
oshcers and marines and attended to
all their necessities before his cargo
was unloaded. The cotton was sold
at fabulous price. Twenty-Five thou
sand dollars was deposited in the Bank
of England to the credit of the brave
boy by his father, and friends in En-
gland forced him to accept an Oxford
scholarship. The cotton merchants
of Liverpool ordered snug, swift boat
to be built for Capt. Wilson, which
they presented to him, and in which
he made one other successful trip.
Calhoun returned to Charleston in
this boat and expressed himself so for
cibly on the perils of blockade-run
ming that he was excused from all flu.
ture service of the kind. When the
Stars and Stripes again foated from
| the citadel in Charleston, Calhoun
said the reason he was glad to see il
was because she and Capt. Wilson
had whipped ten men on the broad
ocean jes ON account of de ole flag
ffoatin' above de ship" He bragg
| yet about the incidents of that memo.
rable voyage, and prides himself espe.
ciallY on the enthusiastic reception
accorded HIM "de las time he crossed
de water" When the price of cottor
| is discussed he becomes oracular, and
says it will never reach the figures a
which he sold the last cargo he carried
to Liverpool.
Some years after the surrender at Ap
pomattox Capt. Wilson became a raw
| ing maniac, and after long conine
ment died in an asylum in Paris. Hi
physicians said he never recovered
from the intense excitement and meE
tai strain incident to his last cruise OF
i the Emily St. Pierre. His SON wa
| graduated with high honorr at Oxford