The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-01-02

iredlacross her bows as q summons 10
heaE to and as warning of what was
in |, IRE for her if she did not. but the
roari of the gun was followed by a chorus
of yalls, and three or four bullets came
whizzAug over our heads. The brig wild
ened theSgap until out Of rife range, and
the captain then said to the crew of Long
Tom: jgG
II want " save the women il they are
aboard. anNthough yonder rascals are a
desperate lot u don't want to sink them.
Aim to strike, her above the water
line. A few shotlpay take the fight out
of them" Y.
The first shot passed between her fore
and mainmast without touching any
thing, but the second smashed her bnI-
warks and killed two man, Athfrd and
fourth were fired, both OF them creating
havoc aboard, and we werN looking for
some token of surrender when the
bark ported her helm and ca : bearing
ND on our quarter. Wehad tf;sS,yeatHeT
gauge, but she had been three Or fdur
points of. the wind. The fellowswere
evidently determined TO get near END ,lgh
70 use their rifles, but with their pCor
seamanship they stood no show.
Wegave the brig more sail, and afte,
a couple Of tacRs We're off her quarter
and sending solid shot aboard again
Their, was great confusion among the
cOnvcts, and we were hoping for sig
nal when the wretches brought the
women on deck. We could see them
very plainly without glass, and their
presence put stop to our firing, as the
convicts had expected. While we con-
tinued to gaze across the waters one of
the women was lifted above the star
board rail and dashed to the shrouds of
the nlizzenmast, and q minute later the
Other was similarly secured in the shrouds
of he mainmast. 1t was scheme to
stop our fire, and every man groaned in
spirit as he wondered how our captain
woIld take it, Ha must have realized
that there was but one course open to
him, and after bit he said to the cap
tain of our big gun:
-Aim at her foremost and try to Grip
pie her. She must either surrender or
III sink herp'
During the next 80 minutes we fired
sir times. Tho foremost was carried
away about 20 feet above the deck, her
forward deck plowed by two shot and
tie yawl on her stern davits smashed to
splinters A shot which crashed through
bar bulwarks between her main and
nizzenmasts was reported from aloft as
striking down seven or eight of the vii
lains, but with their craft lying wreck
in the trough of the seas they continued
ID shout defiance at us. We suspended
firing to give them o chance to surren-
Ger, but they had determined to die first.
The crew Of man-of-war could have
carried the brig by boarding, though it
would have been desperate fight, but
we We're not strong handed enough to
attempt such thing. The unfortunate
women must go down if the conyicts
did, but death would be preferable to
our sailing away and leaving them
In the hands of the monsters. We
changed our shot to shell as we loaded
Long Tom again, and the gun was
pointed to strike the hull. One after an
other fveshell were sent into the bark,
each one tearing great hole and carry
ing wounds and death, and we had re-
loaded for the sixth time when it was
seen that the craft was settling away.
u We had our eyes on her as she was
heaved up broadside to us by wave, her
decks almost awssh. There was wild
cheer from the convicts, half dozen
rifles were discharged, and as thp bark
dropped into the trough the waves ran
right over her, and she settled away
with the heaviness of a block of glanite.
We ran down to the spot, but there was
no one to rescue. Living and desd had
been drawn down together.