The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-10-29
HIS SHIP AGAINST SEVEN.
Capt. Ingraham Demanded Justice for An
American and Got It-His Batteries
Twice Trained on the Arch
dukes Sh!p-A Story Of
the Early Days
ofOur Navy.
From the New York Sun.

with pride unalloyed with regret th'
good old days of yore when all th'
world knew and respected the proves
of American war vessels. And th'
death of Duncan Nathaniel Ingr..han
in Charleston, S. G., on Friday, gives
proper opportunity to recall those days
For, as was suggested in the obituary
notice published in the Sun of Saturday
morning, this Duncan Nathaniel In
graham was the hero of one Of those
remarkable episodes which made othel
nations understand that the tail of the
American bird could not be pulled
plucked, twisted, trod upon, or other
wise disrespectfully used under the guns
of an American war vessel.
There had been Capt. Paul Jones and
Commodore Perry and old Admiral
Porter, who had fought English and
French and Portuguese and the Bar.
barry States, and all manner of craft
flying flags legitimate or illegitimate,
and all of them Lad come off conquer
ers. Those were the days of wooden
ships and sailing craft, when the ele-
ment of romance was enhanced by the
big sails and the swarming over the
sides with cutlasses and halberds and
all that sort of thing. A good part OF
the officers then were of Southern fam
ilies-scions of houses that upheld
themselves in something like feudal
state. These young men came ofexcel-
lent ancestry, Of which they were ex-
ceeding proud. Of these Duncan Ma
thaniel Iugraham was one of the best
examples.
His father had been naval officer, a
friend of Paul Jones and one of his
companions in that famous fight be-
tween the Scraps and the Bon Homme
Richard. 1t was quite natural that the
son should enter the navy. He was
born in 1902, and when 10 years old was
already a midshipmite. Promotion in
those days was as slo- as now, perhaps
a little slower. So although this young
man fought through the war of 1872,
he was still a midshipman. In 1918 or
thereabouts, when the original David
Porter went down to the Southern
waters of the United States to attend
to the pirates who infested the small
islands and the mysterious inlets of the
Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, young
Ingrabam was aboard his vessels and
saw pirates hanged at the yard arm,
and learned to be vigilant, quick, reso-
lutte, and unfinching in the beet school
ever naval officer had.
Ingraham,. risen to commander,
served in the Mexican war, and few
years after its close was sent to join the
squadron of the Mediterranean. He
was in command of the st. Louis,
which is said to have been the pride OF
the American navy, and which was
certainly a formidable ship for those
days. 1t was sloop of war armed
with two 50-pounders. On June %.
1858, he sailed into ne harbor of Smyr-
ma, in Asiatic Turkey. He found that
he was just in the nick o. time to take
of one Of those chances for
fame which come to every man, so it is
said.
In the revolution of Hungary against
Austria in 1744s-'49, which Louis Kos
suth led, Martin Koszta was a conspic-
uous figure. When the revolution was
put down, Kossuth, Koszta, and sever
al others fled to Turkey and stopped in
Smyrna. After long negotiation the
Turkish Government refused to give
them up. Then Kossuth and Koszta
went to the United States, where
Koszta decided to settle. He engaged
in business IN New York, and in July,
1852, declared under oath his intention
of becoming a citizen of the United
States. The next year, having business
in Smyrna, Koszta went there and
remained for some time undisturbed,
as indeed be might have expected, since
Smyrna was not on Austrian soil. But
Koszta had so int1amed the Austrian
Government against him that plot
hatched to capture him. On June q,
1853, band of Greek mercenaries in
Smyrna, hired by the Austrian Consul,
Koszta, hustled him into
a boat, and took him aboard an AUS
trian ship of war, the Huzzar, which
was in command of no less a person
than the Archduke John, brother of
the Emperor and Admiral Of the Aus
trian navy.
At any rate, Martin Koszta was put
in irons and otherwise treated as a
criminal and dangerous person. The
next day, when ali Smyrna was talk
ing about this, a sloop of war, the st.
Louis, Commander Ingraham, sailed
into the harbor. Capt. Ingraham,
who had been in a war in which the
United States had taught Great Britain
3 few lessons of respect for American
citizens, was up in arms at once. He
went aboard the Huzzar and very
asked permission to see
Koszta. The Austrian commander,
after some hesitation, granted the re
quest. Commander Ingraham assured
that Koszta was entitled to the
protection of the American flag. He
demanded mis- release of the Austrian
commander, and, when it was refused,
sent note to the nearest United States
official, Consul Brown, at Constantine
pie. While be was awaiting an answer
six Austrian war ships sailed into the
harbor and took up positions near the