Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1895-02-14

plan of Col. Zarvona, but all were
ready to follow him anywhere.
A short time before this, orders
had come from Washington to
search all the passengers on the
river steamers going to Southern
Maryland so as to prevent any eff
fort to carry arms South, and un-
less Col. Zarvotia could escape this
search, the expedition would be a
failure. On the 2sth Of june, 1861,
a very stylishly dressed young lady,
speaking broken English, called
with her brother at the Office of the
st. Nicholas and wished to secure a
passage to Washington. She was
3 French miIliner, Madame Ia
Forte by name, she said, and had
several large trunks, as she wanted
to set up her business in Washing
ton. The purser, a gallant young
Il
man, gave her a large state-room
and wished her a pleasant voyage.
A short time before the departure
of the beat she again appeared with
several large trunks. which, at her
special request. accompanied as it
was by a charming smile, were
placed in her stateroom, where they
were soon forgotten, though the
young lady herself became a very
prominent figure on board, flirting
outrageously with several of the
officers and gentlemen. Meanwhile,
number of other passengers, dress
ed as laborers, came on board bound
for the grain fields of Southern
Maryland, the harvest having just
begun. They were duly searched,
but finding nothing they were per-
mitted to 60 on.
About one o'clock that night thoy
touched at Point Lookout, and
Commodore Hollins, Capt. Alexan-
der, and several others came on
board as passengers for Washington.
The time for action had arrived.
Zarvona was the only one of his
party known to Commodore Hol-
Inns, who was very much surprised
on entering the cabin not to see
him; but the commodore was quick
from the French milliner. That
lady soon retired to her stateroom
and soon afterwards, when the har-
vest hands happened to be going by
the door of her room, they found a
young gentleman in brilliant Zouave
uniform dealing out rifles, revoivers
and knives from the depths Of the
milllner's big trunks. Commodore
Hollins and Zarvona, revolvers in
hand, now waited upon Capt. Kir-
win, who was completely taken by
surprise, and seeing the uselessness
of resistance, surrendered with very
good grace, and the vessel was in
the hands of the Confederates.
John Frazier, a Baltimore pilot,
and the only one of Zarvona's party
who knew of his plans, was placed
at the wheel and the vessel headed
for Cone River, where they took on
board thirty soldiers of General
Holmes command. But Commo-
dore Hollins had been the bearer of
news that made the capture of the
Pawnee impossible. The Pawnee
had been extremely active during
the previous day, shelling Matthias
Point, an artillery duel having lasted
for several hours, until a shot from
a Confederate sharpshooter killed
the captain of the Pawnee. The
Pawnee then proceeded to Washing
ton, followed by all the other gun
boats on the river, to participate in
the funeral of the captain.
Knowing that the capture would
soon be known, the Confederates
determined to make the best of their
opportunity. So, heading for the
Chesapeake, they were soon on the
bay, and almost the first thing they
saw was large brig, the Monticello,
laden with coffee from Rio. She
was Immediately captured, placed
under the command of Lieut.. Min.
or, and sent to Fredericksburg
where the cargo was extremely wei
coined, because even at that tim,
coffee was very hard to obtain in tn,
Confederacy. In less than an houl
they had captured another vesse
laden with ice, which was imne
diately sent to the hospitals in Rich
mond. The next capture was
brig laden with coal, which cam
just in time, as the coal supply o
the st. Nicholas was exhausted