Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1895-06-28


"'Thatwe put him ashore on the near
est island with water and provisions
enough to last him until passing ship
takes him off.
"'But will that help us in the end?
If he gets back to port won't he tell
the whole story?'
"'We need not go back to Boston,
said the mate, with sly wink at some
of the lads.
"'You mean we can keep the ship?'
"'We might pick up living with
her.
ITO make the story shorter, it was
then and there agreed that we were to
put the captain ashore at the nearest
island, take possession of the Lucy
Maroon, and, after delivering her car
go, run up the black flag and turn pi-
rate. There were some of us ON board
who were opposed to any such plan,
and would have been glad enough to
be out of it, but we knew that if we
said anything then we would be put on
the island with the captain. We APP.
parently agreed to the plan, Intending
to take our chances of escaping from
the vessel when she was in port dis
charging her cargo
1.-THE reason it was decided to deliver
the cargo on board was that the Off
GER in command was to collect the
money in gold for part of it, and
that the vessel would need provisions,
water and guns before turning pirate.
All those could be obtained, it was be-
lieved, and the vessel got out to sea
again without arousing suspicion.
Early the following morning we
came in sight of bit of land. 1t
proved to be little more than coral
reef. There was neither water nor
vegetation on the island, which was
only few acres in extent. But there
they landed Capt Jim Reed, in spite of
all his threats and pleadings
THE pirates, for the crew of the
Lucy Maroon had voted to turn
pirates, gave Reed enough water and
food to last him not more than three
days. They did not give him a change
of clothing, or anything with which he
could signal to a passing vessel. To
me it did not seem that he had one
chance in thousand of being found
and taken off by a passing vessel
while | was not taken into all the
secrets of the crew, | soon learned
that what had supposed to be small
island was in reality only quantity
of shifting coral reef, and that it was
far out of the track of all trading YES
sels In fact our young pirates had
put Capt Reed there to die of thirst
for they knew that in that tropical
heat, with the fever caused by hi,
wound, he could not live day after
his supply of fresh water gave out.
Brutal and cruel as he had been tc
all of us, | felt pang Of regret for hi.
fate, but | was powerless to do any
thing to save him.
The Lucy Maroon was put back OF
her course, and in due time reached
Colon. The cargo was discharged, the
money collected, and then the vesse
was ready for cruise under the blacl
flag. A large stock of provisions ant
plenty of water was taken on board by
daylight. Guns and ammunition wer,
loaded under cover of darkness.
Three nights after she had dis
charged her cargo the Lucy Maroon
slipped out of port without clearanc,
papers, and stood out to sea in tn
track of trading vessels, with the blacl
flag flying from her mizzen.
For month we cruised around tn
West Indies and the Bahamas, wit
about the poorest success any pirate
ever had. We stopped and boarde
several vessels without finding any
thing of value that we could safely dis
pose Of The crew were getting di.
gusted with the venture, but Burrows
who was in command, kept trying S
cheer them up with promises of bette
success next time.
Zone moonlight night we were gc
: ing under light sail right across tn
. track of American vessels in the Ger
trail American and Mexican trad,
= About nine o'clock the outlook saw
: large bark two miles off our starbear
bow under full sail. We immediatel
:, changed our course, ran up ever
!. stitch of canvas and were off in pul
suit. The bark seemed to be poe
sailet, and we gained rapidly, If sh
had sighted us, it was evident that sh
had no thought of danger. She ker
: straight on her course and made no a
tempt to increase speed.
: "Burrews decided to run the LuC
Maroon right alongside the bark befol
n we made known our real characte
. The plan seemed easy enough. "
= were close enough to make out in Il
! bright moonlight the British flag fl
. ing over the bark fore and aft.
. "But when we were within quart,
4 of a mile black clouds began fyir
( across the horizon, and shut out Il
e moonlight occasionally. AT sue
q times we would lose sight of the bal
d for few minutes and would have
ease up the Lucy trifie so as not
!, get off the course.
It But we continued ogain, and whs
n another cloud passed we were in ea'
h hailing distance. | was standing {
d the deck, well forward, right at Il
It side of Burrows. He had just ORDER
/. our course changed trihe, so we won
k come up on the port bow of tho stra
d ger, when another cloud shut out u
q moonlight for ten minutes