Huntsville gazette., 1889-09-21
CAPTAIN LEES ESCAPE.

ward Everett Hale.
Those of you who had grandfathers
or great grandfathers who were taken
prisoners of war when they were
cruising in American privateers have
heard, / do not doubt, of the prison OF
Forton in England. 1t was in this
prison that the American prisoners
taken at sea were kept. And very
hard time they had of it until Frank
lin was at last able to arrange that
they should be exchanged for prison
ers taken by Jones and others from
English ships.
One of the prisoners in Forton, who
remained there eighteen months or
more, was Captain Lee, of Marble
head. The privateers of Salem, Mar
blehead and Beverly were the terror
of all Englishmen who sailed upon the
seas; but in some adventure, which l
need not tell here, Captain Lee. OF Mar
blehead, was overmatched. and so had
been carried into England with his
crew and was imprisoned at Forton.
Exchanges were not then easy, for the
English Government had not at first
decided on its course about exchange.
One day, after poor Captain Lee had
fingered there more than year and
a half, he was called to the door and
told that gentleman wished to see
him. This gentleman proved to be
man OF military air, who took Captain
Lee into corner and pressed into his
hand, privately. purse, which proved
to contain seventy-five guineas. With
equal privacy he said to him that with
part of the money he must buy, be-
fore night, from some of the attend
ants, the dress of one of the prison
workmen, and that, when the relief
came around, he must be in an
Out-of-the-way place, where he
could fall in with the relief in
the twilight and pass outside the
prison proper unobserved. "But to
70 out of the whole enclosure" said
his friend, .you will need to know the
rountersign.n And so he whispered
to him the countersign of the day.
Captain Lee asked who it was to whom
he was indebted, but the stranger
would not tell him.
All fell out just as this good fairy
had said. Some loafer among the
workmen was not proof to the tempta-
ton of a few bright guineas, and as
night came on Captain Lee clothed
himself in the suit of clothes which he
had bought. He fell in with the relief
and no one observed him. He came to
one and another sentinel who chal-
lenged him, and he approached and
gave the countersign!" He passed out
into the dark town, and there he was
puzzled about the street, when he met
again his friend of the morning. This
gentleman congratulated him on his
liberty, put him into carriage which
was in waiting and sent him to sea-
port, whence he could take passage
for France.
The whole experience was as great
a wonder to Captain Lee as if the
stranger had been an angel sent from
Heaven, as in certain sense he was.
Heaven is very apt to send as it's mes
sengers the persons who have been
moved by kindness done to them.
1t proved afterwards that the myste-
rious stranger was no less a person
than General Burgoyne. He also had
been prisoner of war. While he was
at Cambridge, in Massachusetts, h.
had been under the immediate charge
of Colonel Lee, who was Captain Lees
brother. When Burgoyne was ex-
changed he had promised Colonel Lee,
for whose kindness to him he was
grateful, that he would render any
service in his power to the prisoner at
Forton. Colonel Lee had intrusted
to him seventy-five guineas which he
had delivered to Captain Lee, and it
was he who had whispered the valu-
able countersign to him. Sunny Hour.
M The Uses of Electricity.