The Dickinson press., 1890-08-02
PURSUING A SLAYER.
A Remarkable Shot Destroys tho Lemo
Earcd Nellie with 70, 900 Souls on Board

Earcd Nellie with Is, 900 Souls on Board.
81 attended Uncle Toms Cabin at
the Park theatre the other day." said
Patrolman Streight to the Ananias club,
land as sat in the gallery and watched
Eliza canter across the ice-made of
canvas-just ahead Of four or five dogs
that might as well be made of canvas, so
far as caninology goes, it brought back
to my mind an incident in my career
that should live to be as old as Magu-
selam"-
"Who:" asked Sergt. Joyce.
"Maguselan, the guy who existed on
certain earth for 10000 years. say,
fellers, if I should live to his age shall
not forget it. I can't remember the
exact date, but it was less than n hun
dred years ago that 1 was in command
of the French man-of-war Sein, and my
mission on the high seas was to look out
for and capture African slave traders.
One moonlight night as we were plow-
ing the swelling Atlantic at the nominal
speed of seventy-fv miles an hour the
lookout at the mast head reported Il sail
on our lee quarter. 1 ordered the helm
thrown down hard and as the huge ship
obeyed the rudder her steel Prov killed
nearly 1900 fish. But we had more at
stake than fish, and we did not stop to
take any of them up. In short time
we were headed for the strange sail, and
it wasn't long until from the quarter
deck could see her plainly.
1.-The smol;.a stacks of the Sein became
red hot, and one of them melted to the
decks, but I called for water, and the
ship was saved from destruction. We
did not lessen our speed for a little thing
like that, but continued to split the
ocean open. Soon along, sinuous black
smoke ascended high above the masts of
the chase. Then 1 knew what we were
after. Hastily beating the men to quar-
tiers 1, in the deliberate voice 1 use on
the Lincoln Lane gang, told them that
there was fun ahead. The vessel 200
miles ahead Of us was slave dhow, and
for the honor of ourselves particularly,
and France as Il matter Of course, we
must capture her. and when we do,
says l, you fellers know your business
For two days and nights we chased the
strange craft, and during that time did
not sleep wink or eat mouthful of
food, was SO excited. At six bells OH
the third day we were in shooting range,
and ordered the ten ton rife cannon to
be fired. The eighty ton shell fell ahead
of the SLAYER nearly two miles.
"The effect on the water was terrific.
You notice said the shell weighed eighty
tons, and as it fell into the ocean it ex-
ploled. The water raised in solid wall
that was, should judge, 900 feet thick
to an altitude Of 1000 yards. 1t made a
hole that you could put the state house,
court house, insane asylum, blind asylum
and Union station into all at one and the
same time-that is, of course, if you had
them there. The slave ship plunged
against, at and into this WALL and then
came a mighty crash-a crash that was
caused, as I afterward learned, by al
island sixty miles distant being washed
from its base by the waves. The shir
penetrating the wall caused it to break
and the upheaved water fell in torrents,
while the SLAYER teetered on the brink of
the huge abyss for moment and then
fell bow first into the hole, and the scat
tered fragments of the broken wall falling
upon her buried her from sight forever.
''In few hours the sea was calm and
for two months we cruised in that vicin-
ity, but not sign Of the lost SLAYER was
found. Two years after we picked up on
the coast of Zanzibar water soaked
book that am satisfied was the log OF
the lost ship. According to the book the
dhow that we destroyed was the Lemon
Eared Nellie, from New Brunswick, and
she had $4,000 slaves aboard, all of whom
were drowned. felt SO bad about this
that I resigned my place in the French
navy and got job on the Indianapolis
police force with more pay and less
work. indianapolis Journal.