Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-05-11

the position Of all the government yes
sells and he knew that there was at
last accounts fast cruiser in Mobile
bay He, therefore, calculated as close
" as he could the chances of the Cor
inthian being intercepted; for, dis
abled as she was, ii would be her cap
tain's plan to put her in the route of a
westward-bound steamship.
He betrayed his anxiety to the cap
tain, but that parsonage filed himself
with Medford rum and insisted that the
worst part of the job was done.
The first thing that Hendricks did
was to throw his guns overheard to-
gether with all his superfluous shot
and ammunition. He then got up steam
and stood off in southeasterly diree-
ton until the Corinthian was hull
down, when he shifted his course and
went directly west.
There was another source of anxiety
in his crew, but here his matchless
cunning and self-reliance stood him
well In hand. He knew what he could
do with them If he got within American
waters, and they were equally anxious
with himself to get off the high seas
1t blew stiff gale all the first night
and his vessel labored badly. Finally
he took his captains advice, which was
to save his coal till he wanted to show
his heels to something and take II easy
under sail. The consequence was that
1t was nearly six days before he struck
the Gulf stream and he had not seen a
puff of black smoke on the horizon.
He had provided himself with four
boats, and managed to land thirty o.
his men with a thousand dollars of
American gold eagles in each mans
pocket, at San Augustine in the night
They were as anxious as he to part
company, and with thousand dollars
every man of them felt as rich as his
leader. The moment he had reduced
his crew, he clapped on steam, went
down the coast and rounded Cape Fear
well to the south. He is known to have
landed a few more men somewhere on
the coast of southern Georgia, similarly
paid off in gold. He then sailed south
and laid off and on for six hours, and
finally met two stoutly built fishing
pirogues into which with his crew he
transferred his plunder and then sank
the San Pedro, taking pains to arrange
it that much of her recognizable ma
terial would float.
The specie being carefully concealed
in the holds of these fishing vessels and
covered with sea grass, they set out
north in pleasant weather, and arrived
off the coast of Alabama on or about
,@raana1Al iaiy,,y-alt-
in the ordinary manner of fishing
vessels at that season, the crew catch
ing large quantity of fish which they
packed in over the cargo. At Bayou
Lafouche Hendricks got rid of twenty
more men who had directions to sep
arate and rendezvous a month later at
a point on the Georgia coast where he
had taken on his ammunition, it being
understood that he was going to make
for Panama with his pirogues and
cargo.
Instead of doing this, he went
straight to New Orleans and hauled
both vessels up at Algiers where his
remaining crew were kept aboard, and
for two days disposed of their fish.
These men were evidently picked and
retained for their reliability and were
thoroughly cognizant of the whole
! scheme.
Hendricks managed to arrive in New
Orleans as if by rail, and registered at
the st. Charles as Archibald Hendricks,
of Tennessee. AS he was already
known by that name at the hotel and
was known to be interested in some
land improvement scheme, his subse-
quent operations attracted no suspi-
eion. His captain and all but four of
the men had been sent north in differ
ent directions to meet at the Laran
portal and the two badly smelling
pirogues that had slipped into AL
giers lay among lot of old craft in an
out of the way place, securely guarded
by the four men.
The moment Hendricks got to the ho-
| tel, he was able to learn all the facts
| Of the search. The Corinthian had
been two days and n half at sea under
sail before she spoke a westward bound
steamship, the Anglo-Saxon, and COM
municated the news 1t was three
| days and half before the Anglo
Saxon reached New York and the news
of the robbery preceded her from Eng
land by cable Just six hours. Twelve
hours elapsed after the reception of
the news before the navies of England
and America were looking for the San
| Pedro. Hendricks smiled as he saw
how narrow a margin he had sailed on.
Before the search was well under way,
he had been in the gulf and the
wreckage of the San Pedro, which he
was sure would come to light was, he
thought, fairly good chance of per-
plexity and delay on the one hand to
| the pursuers and safe location of the
| plunder up to the moment Of transfer
on the other. The betrayal of that
transfer depended on the twenty-five
men whom he had still in his service
and upon whom he believed he could
! depend.
Hendricks was too shrewd a man not
to see that his scheme however cum
ming would only hold for time. He
| knew perfectly well that the sailors
whom he had got rid of, would proceed
Immediately to get drunk and in their
recl<lessness expose the plot up to a
certain point. But he believed their
stories under whatever promise OF
pardon or compulsion of punishment
| could get no farther than the state
ment that the San Pedro had sailed for
! Panama or Venezuela. The knowledge
of the transfer to the pirogues was
locked up in his own immediate con-
federates. This fact he reasoned
would not prevent the ultimate discov-
cry OF the real truth, but it would de-
lay it sufficiently for him to get safely
| to his subterranean retreat with his
plunder. Common piracy was not an
idea that anybody would entertain.
| No steam vessel could keep afloat and
coaled up over n week without run
ming across cruiser The special
conspiracy and the abandonment OF
the San Pedro We're therefore newt
able deductions. The purchase Of the
use of the San Pedro, the shipment oi
the men at New Orleans, the landing
of the men on the southern coast must
all sooner or later focus the search al
New Orleans. But by that time he
would be out Of sight.
Two facts were of special import
The officer and boats crew that had
boarded the Corinthian had been pho
tographed by one of the passengers OF
the steamship, but while this fact had
been communicated to New York, the
photographs had been carried to Eng
land. The other fact was that the
passengers all had the impression that
Al 4 GrNurt tfCh M