Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-28
4 FEMALE CRUSOE.

On the 18th day of October A. d 1871,
the trading schooner Little King sailed out
of the port of Singapore, bound for the
klnGeroon Islands, to tne NORTH. and only
one of her crew was ever again met with
For five Years before the schooner had be-
longed to and been CONT tel by Capt
Ezra Williams, an Amcrlcan from San
Francisco. He traded between Singapore
and Sumatra, Java. Borueo and the small
er islands of the Java sea and in MAY.
1871, died at Singapore of fever He had
then been married for taree wears to an
English woman, whose maiden name was
Danforth, who had been a domestic in an
English family in Singapore. she had ac-
companied him in all his voyages, and had
secured much experience ana Information.
AS she could not readily dispose of the
schooner, she determined to continue in
the business, acting as her own super
cargo.
Mrs. Williams secured an Englishman
named Parker as captain, another named
Hope as mate, and with three Malays be-
fore the mast and a Chinese cook, and
with about 5000 in specie in che cabin,
she sailed away on her first voyage and it
was four years later before she was again
ASShiu Oi- luC puI pOSc vi bnlS narrative Is
to chronicle her adventures in the interim.
as had it from her own lips.
While it was a bit queer to start on n
voyage with a woman virtually in COM
mand of the craft, Mrs. Williams had
nothing to fear from her crew The Off
GERS were good navigators and the men
willing, and all were anxious for a profita-
bic voyage. She had no complaints to
make until the islands had been reached.
The group lies between the Malay PENN
sula and the island of Borneo, about 100
miles off the coast of the former, and from
$50 to 800 miles from Borneo There are
nineteen islands in the group, covering a
length of 100 miles by about 20 broad.
There are only seven or eight which are in
habited, and at the time of which | write
the people were lawless set and a share
of them out and out pirates.
The products were dried fish sea shells
cocoanuts, dye stuffs, various herbs and
roots for medicinal purposes ard several
sorts of spices. The schooner had been
there once before and made profitable
trip of it. She had clothing, powder.
shoes, axes and great variety OF notions
and where none of these YVES wanted she
paid cash.
On this trip the schooner work ed to the
northward and made her stop at The island
of QuewaBg, being the third one from the
northerumost island of the group She
met with cordial reception, and at once
began bartering for and receiving cargo
She was anchored in a sheltered Ray, with
in 500 feet of the beach, and had bee, there
five days before anything occurred to
arouse Mrs Williams suspicious that all
was not right. She then observed that the
entire crew were drinking deeply of a ma
tive liquor which the natives were supply
ing in liberal manner, and that some of
the fellows were becoming impudently ia
miliar.
When the captain was spoken to he
laughed at her idea of trouble and promised
better things; bat the drinking continued
On the afternoon of the seventh day several
women came off in the canoes. One of
them, who could speak English pretty fair
", was presented with some ornaments by
Mrs. Williams, and in return she limited
to her that it was the intention of the
natives to capture and loot the schooner
that night. They had discovered that
there was a large sum of money on board,
and they had found the crew an easy one
to handle. The native woman hadn't time
nor opportunity to say much. but no
sooner had the crowd of natives left the
schooner at dusk, as was their custom,
than Mrs. Williams set ont to sound the
alarm. Imagine her feelings when she dis
covered that every single man on board,
from captain to cook, was So much under
the influence of liquor as to be unable to
comprehend her words. She doused them
with sea water and pounded them with be
laying pins, but all to no purpose. The en-
tire lot were stupidity drunk, just as the
natives had planned for.
1t was a perilous situation for he wom-
an to be placed in. If the natives captured
che schooner they would murder every one
OF the crew as a natural sequence and the
first step toward capturing her had al
ready been taken. The step she took
showed sound judgment. The schooner's
yawl was down, having been il almost
hourly use The native village was about
forty rods back from the beach, and as the
schooner swung to the ebb tide she pre-
scented her broadside to the village. When
the yawl was pulled around to the port
side she was out of sight. Mrs. Williams
first act was to step the mast, her next to
supply the craft with provisions and water.
There were an unusual number Of lights
burning in the village, showing that some
thing was on foot but she had n fear Of
an attack until later hour. The natives
would wait until certain that all the peo-
pie were helpless.
Mrs. Williams had determined to slip
away from the doomed craft in ne yawl
although she had no experience in the
management of a small boat. After water
and provisions she brought up all heI
money, which was in boxes sic could
handle Not penny of it was left behind
There were rife, revolver and double
barreled shotgun belonging to her hus-
band. These she took, together with
powder. shot and fixed ammunition. Then
she gathered up all her bedding and cloth
ing, took three or four spare blank cts, two
suits of clothes belonging to the officers
and when these were in the boat she tool
pots, pans, dishes and cutlery, bundled uI
a lot of carpenters tools, secured two axes
lot of small rope, several pieces OF canvas
and, in brief, loaded the yawl with what
ever was portable and handy, including
the clock, compass, quadrant, sextant an6