Middletown transcript., 1891-10-08

de MOiu0uso VI JUL Hgnt,J u6 ndu
once asked the navigator how to
navigate by dead reckoning, some
thing any midshipman in any navy
should know, and he knew enough
Greek to write few names. What
deplorable criminal he was, lost to
selfrespect, ignorant and regardless of
the nations welfare. "Justice must
be done," said the captain. The
prisoners were informed at Z in the
morning that they would be hung at
the yard arm at 8. To cheer them on
the captain read verse from the
Bible and ten from the articles of war
to them. Spencer was asked if he
had any word to send to his mother.
The message was restricted to few
words, and everything in the shape of
denial of guilt was taken from il be-
fore. It was sent, At eight bells
the ships company were paraded, the
officers in full dress. and the men in
i" mastering blue !" the marines were
stationed with loaded arms and order
ed to be ready to fire.
The captain then ordered the other
midshipman to man yard arm
| whip and run Spencer up to the yard
| arm, and ifany one, shirked pulling
the marines would be ordered to
| shoot him down " AS the unfortu-
nate Spencer was thus basely hung
for a crime he never committed or
even thought of the crew were order
ed to cheer. The Somers' log books
SAYS they cheered with lusty will" !"
Well, a file of marines with loaded
rifles ready to shoot him who failed
to cheer was enough to give a man
lusty will"
After Spencer, four others consid.
cred as the ringleaders, were hung in
succession. Thus ended the mutiny
on board the Somers, and thus was
hastily hung the only midshipman
ever accused of mutiny; and he was
not guilty.
All this occurred in the West
Indies within hundred miles of the
United States coast. The most con-
seryative commentators on the case
say that the captain should have de-
layed taking such decisive action
until the United States was reached
and condemn him severely for not al.
lowing Spencer a hearing before the
court that tried him. The first thing
done by the captain when he reached
a home port at Savannah was to
march solemnly to a church and
thank God for SO miraculously saw
ing a nations vessel from peril by
pirates "-pirates that never existed
except in the fancy of a joking mid
shipman and the crazed imagination
of martinez who commanded the
SOmers.
The United States Senate appoint
ed a committee to investigate the
matter and Missouri's great sates-
man, Thomas Benton, who graced the
Senate chamber for thirty successive
years, brought the eloquence Of his
pen and voice out in defense Of young
Spencer and roundly denounced the
course that the officers on the COURT
martial had taken. Through his
efforts, more than anything else, it
became law that no officer of the
government service should ever be
executed at sea or in foreign coun.
try. Had this been the case when
Spencer met his deplorable fate he
would have been brought into port
and tried by general court-martiaI.
The fever heat of excitement and the
first fright of danger by pirates would
have been calmed, men would have
seen things in different light and
the terrible mistake that can never be
repeated would have been averted.
Nothing could be done to change the
decision of the court that tried Spen-
Ger as the unfortunate victim was
dead.
Officially the matter dropped here,
but in the heart Of the gallant young
officers family grief for this terrible
disgrace carried a beautiful mother to
her grave and wrecked a fathers
bright life. The late George w.
Bancroft was Secretary of the Navy
shortly after this event. and it is said
that this caused him to devise some
other scheme for educating the mid
shipmen for their future duties as
| officers in the navy. The result was
the founding of a naval school, which
has since developed into the present
Naval Academy at Annapolis.
To the sequel there is food for the
superstitious, for not one of the off.
GERS who sat on the court-martial
died natural death, and the old brig
Somers went to pieces on the sands Of
Vera Cruz in 1846, and nearly every
one on her was drowned. There are
many things in the story of the !" Old
Navy to remember with pride-the
victories of 1872, the brave deeds Of
Perry, MacDonough, the Porters
Gather and SOM and Farragut-but
this one "great mistake stands like
blot on white page. May it ever
be lesson against rash haste in de-
Gliding a man guilty of crime fol
which the penalty is death.
4
A young lady Of Chestertown went