Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1894-03-02
HER HUMBLE SERVANT,
W. KAIRD CLOVES.

How Captain Bellamy's life was
saved at Isl Chau has never yet been
told.
Every officer and man who belonged
to the Chrysolite on that disastrous
night recollects, of course, that, while
endeavoring in the darkness to storm
the fort, the captain fell, and that
when our people we're driven back
headlong to the boats he, with many
others, was missing. Every one re-
members also that, when, on the fol-
lowing morning the Cinnamon were
shelled out of the place and the blue
jackets and marines again landed,
Captain Bellamy was found lying, not
where he had fallen, but couple of
hundred yards to the right, sheltered
ON the side of the enemy by thick
stone wall. His left leg was smashed
at the knee by a jingal ball, but around
his thigh was a blueiacket's silk hand
kerchief, neatly applied in such way
that nickel tobacco-box placed be-
meath it effectively compressed the
femoral artery and stopped the
bleeding. 1t was well known
that both boy and handkercllief
had belongedl : to james Larch,
the Captains coxwain, whose dead
body, with half dozen bullets through
it, was found on the enemy's side of
the same wall. Capt. Bellamy himself
acknowledged from the first that he
owed his life solely to Larch's devo-
tion and skill. Yet the whole story
has never yet been told Capt. Bella
my's recent death puts me in posses
sion of his private journal, and so en-
ables me to tell the tale.
When the Chrysolite was commits
stoned ut Portsmouth for the China
Station Capt. Bellamy took house at
Hong Kong, and in due course Mrs.
Bellamy and her only daughter, Violet,
followed him thither. In the second
year of the commission the Chrysolite
was at Hong Kong for several success
slve months, and during that period
the ladies came on board nearly every
day. There were picnics on shore and
water parties afoat, and, if not in the
Chrysolite, then in the house, or in the
boats or on the various expedi-
tions, James Larch, the Captains
coxswain was in continual attendance
upon Miss Violet and her mother.
Violet Bellamy was then barely IS. In
England she had led a somewhat dull
life, and at Hong Kong she lost no
time in redressing the balance of her
existence, which was by no means dull
there. 1t was not, perhaps, her fault
that every officer of the garrison and
of the squadron was either in love
with her or was prepared to be, for
she gave no special encouragement to
any one. On the other hand, she dis
couraged no one. The larger number
of her admirers the greater was the
enjoyment which she derived from the
situation. Among them she was like
a child in room full of toys. Some
she damaged, some she smashed ire
trieyably, but without the slightest
malice or wickedness. She simply
had never realized the powers and re-
sponsibilities of a pretty face and fig
ure, supplemented by high spirits, I'M
tlrlng activity and abundant health,
and although she spread ruin around
her, she never for an instant intended
to do harm to anybody There were
many who suffered. Commander Cor
coran, of the flagship; Major Brown
leigh, of the Royal Bucks; Staff-S Sur
geon Bennett, of the Bridport; Lieut.
Maplin, in command of the Borer
and at least half dozen sub-lieuten-
ants and midshipmen, besides army
subalterns and civilians, were turned
upside down by Violet Bellamy. And
if these, who only encountered her at
social functions, we're So seriously up-
set, it is little to be wondered at
when we recollect that human nature
is not confined to the classes
James Lareh was also overbalanced.
His associations with her were, though
in one sense more distant and more
purely conventional than those of any
gentleman in the colony, of priv
ileged character. He helped her to
mount when she went for ride; he
wrapped her cloak around her when
she left the ballroom, he carried her e
hundred times from the ships toat to
the shore, or vice versa, lest she might