The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-07-02

The step she took showed sound tud8s.
ment The schooner's yawl was dawn,
having been In almost hourly use. Tho
native village was about forty rods
backs from the beach, and q the
schooner swung to the ebb tide she pre-
scented her brcadside to the village.
When sae yswl was pulled around ID
.ne port siy11 she was out bf sight.
Mr.. Williams frst act was "a step the
mast, her next 70 supply the craft with
provisions and water. There was an
unusual number Of lights burning in
the village, showing that something
was on foot, but she had no fear Of an
attack until q later hosf. The natives
wonld wait Until certain that all the
people were helpless.
Mrs. Williams had determined to slip
away from the doomed craft in the
yawl, although she had no experience
In the management Of q small boat
After water and provisions she brought
mp all her money which was in boxes
she could handle. Not a penny Of 1t
was left behind. There was rife, re-
volvef and double barreled shotgun be-
longing to her husband. These she
took, together with powder, shot and
fixed ammunition. Then she gathered
up all her bedding and clothing, took
thrce or four spare blankets, two suits
Of clothes belonging to the officers, and
when these were in the boat she took
pots, pans, dishes and cutlery, bundled
up lot of carpenters tools, secured
two axes, q lot of small rope, several
pieces of canvas, and in brief loaded
the yawl with whatever was portable
and handy, including the clock, com
pass, quadrant, sextant and lamp and
four gallons Of OIL She worked for
upward of two hours getting these
things into a boat, and the last articles
taken aboard were meat, flour, beans,
tea and provisions from the lazarette.
1t was about ten o'clock when Mrs
Williams took her scat in the yawl and
cast off from the schooner, and the tide
at once drifted her out of the bay and
to the north. The only thing Of conse-
quence she had forgotten was chart
of the Java sea which she could have
put her hand on at minutes notice,
and 1t was the want of this which made
a Crusoe of her for several years. As
the yawl wentsou to sea after its own
fashion, Mrs Williams lost the points
Of the compass at once. Indeed, had
she kept them in mind 1t would have
been no benefit just then, as She had
not studied the chart and could not
have told which way to steer to reach
another group or the land.
She heard nothing whatever from the
natives but several years later it was
ascertained that they did not board the
schooner until midnight The men, all
of whom were still drunk and asleep,
were stripped and tossed overheard to
drown, and then the absence of the
woman and her money was discovered.
Five or six native crafts, were at once
sent in pursuit, while the people who
remained looted the schooner of every
thing of value to them, and then lowed
her out to deep water and seuttled her
to hide the evidence of their crime.
After drifting three or four miles out
to sea the yawl got light breeze, and
after few trials the woman learned
how to manage the sail and lay a
course. She had no idea which way
she was heading, but ran off before the
breeze, and kept going all night and un-
til afternoon next day. She must have
passed the Upmong in the early morn
ing, but so far to the westward she
could not see it. The wind hauling at
midforenoon altered her course by sew
eral points, and the northernmost island
of the group, named Polio, was thus
brought in line The island is seven
miles long by three in width at its wild
est part, well wooded and watered.
The woman landed on the east side at
the mouth of creek which forms a
snug little harbor. She was convinced
that this was one of the islands of the
Kinderoon group, but she did not know
that it was the most northerly one. By
consulting the compass she got the car
dinal points, but not having studied the
chart she could not say in what direc-
ton any other land lay. She had seen
the sails of two traders that morning,
but as they were native craft she had
every wish to avoid them. The boats
which were sent in pursuit of her must
have taken another course, as she saw
nothing of them.
When Mrs. Williams landed on the
island she had no idea Of stopping there
for more than a day or two, or until
she could decide on some plan. She
had scarcely gone ashore when gale
came up which lasted about thirty
hours, during which the yawl was SO
damaged that she must undergo repairs
She unloaded her goods on the shore,
covered them from the weather, and
then set out to explore the island, pref
ty well satisfied that it was inhabited,
and hoping, if it was, that her money
might secure assistance. Before night
she was satisfied that she was all alone,
and she made shelter out of blankets,
and slept the night away as peacefully
as if in her cabin on the schooner. Next
day she changed her apparel for a
mans suit and began the erection of a
hut. In grove about two hundred
feet from the beach she erected shell
ter ten by twenty feet, which withstood
the storms of almost four years While
the sides consisted of canvas and poles,
the roof was matched with long grass,
which she found on the island in album
dance.
1t took the woman about week to
construct her hut and move her stores
into it. and this had scarcely been done
when her boat, owing to carelessness
on her part, was carried off by the sea,
and she now realized that shg was a
prisoner until such time as the crew of
some trading vessel might land and dis
cover her. After her house was com
pleted she made more thorough ex-
ploration of her island home There
were parrots and other birds, snakes OF
harmless variety, Borneo rats and q
drove of about three hundred Java pigs,
which are about tine size of the Ameri-
can peccary, but are wild instead OF
fierce.
The woman had clothing to last her
five or six years, but the provisions she
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