Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-12-11

q fair breeze blowing and a wrecking
schooner standing in for the wharf. 1t
was arranged that Coombs and / should
take the barricade and the daughter fire
from the windows in case Of an attack,
and / do not think three people ever
showed more GOODNESS under like cirCum-
stances know / should have been far
more nervous with two men from the ten
der as companions. Both father and
daughter We're as cool as If pleasure party
was about to land Coombs said he did
not want to be the first to fire, but the
battle once opened we must all shoot to
kill If the wreckers got the better Of us
after any of them had been killed, they
would show us no mercy.
As the schooner came to the wharf we
saw that she had at least 80 men aboard,
and they made a great show of firearms
as Hobbins climbed over the rail and adj
vanced upon our barricade. He was halted
ten yards away and asked what he want
ed. He replied that he had come after the
money and was bound to have it. If
Coombs dared to fire on the crowd, they
would burn him alive, and he made such
threats as to what should be done with the
daughter that twice l was about to pull
the trigger on him. Coombs quietly but
sturdily answered that the gold had been
taken away on the tender, and that he was
there to defend government property. If
attacked, he should do this best to beat
them off.
Hobbins laughed wicked laugh and
returned to the schooner, which you will
understand was within pistol shot of us
Above her rail we could see the men max
ing preparations, and all of a sudden nine
or ten of them, led by Hobbins in person,
made dash for us. They had arms in
their hands and murder in their hearts,
and we did not hesitate to fire. The girl
Kate killed a man from one of the win
dows, Coombs killed another and the
man l aimed at went down with bullet
in the hip. Our yolley stopped the charge,
and as the gang halted the keeper seized
an extra musket and wounded another
man. Those who could use their legs has
tened aboard of the schooner, and two or
three minutes later a sharp fire was opened
ON us all along her port rail. We retired
into the lighthouse and let them waste
their lead, though we could easily have
picked off some of them as their heads
showed above the rail.
The fusillade against us was kept up for
quarter of an hour and then Hobbins
waved handkerchief and demanded to
know II we had surrendered. Coombs re-
piled that we had not and did not propose
to, and gave them liberty to remove their
wounded to the schooner This offer they
took advantage of, and also gathered up
the weapons of the dead, and for al hour
after they returned aboard everything was
quiet. During this interval the daughter
came down stairs to ask what the next
move would be-. She had killed man,
firing only one shot, and she had heard
the awful threats uttered by Hobbins, but
she was not even nervous over the situa
ton. had been biting my lips and feel
ing weak in the knees, and her GOODNESS
put me to the blush. Coombs said the
wreckers would come again, and that,
having entered upon the fight, they would
hang by us for days if necessary. The
light was one which had long interfered
with their piratical operations, and now
they would seek to destroy it and secure
revenge at the same time. The second at
tack was made without warning, and was
participated in by all the men aboard the
schooner.
1t was well for us that we were on our
guard. About 30 men came dashing at
us, cheering and yelling. had two mus
kets and pistol, Coombs rifle and pistol
and the girl double barreled shotgun
Some of the men reached and sought to
tear away the barrioade, but they could
not stand our fire. Three were killed in
their tracks and two badly wounded, and
again they sought shelter aboard the
schooner While they were retiring Coombs
leaped the barracks and secured shotgun,
two rifles and a lot Of ammunition, and,
though fired at before he got back, he was
untouched. Ten minutes later Hobbins
asked for permission to remove his wound
ed, and this being granted, he no sooner
had them aboard than he sailed away.
When out of gunshot, we went out to
examine the dead. They were a tough
looking lot, and conscience did not trouble
us any over the shooting, In the sand
under one of them we found a loaded pistol
and on another long knife. We dug
trench in the sand and gave them rough
burial, and then we had only to wait to sec
what would turn up. Coombs was sure
Hobbins had gone off to the reefs to secure
help and would return by night, and he
was right about it,
just at sunset two schooners came sail
ing in, and we judged the number of men
aboard Of them to be at least so. They
began firing on us before they were fast to
the wharf, and the girl was called down
from above to help defend the barricade
Coombs was as cool as if going about his
everyday duties, and, except that her lips
were bloodless and her eyes shining, the
girl showed no signs of nervousness. Aft
hrt i'm firm n inf, rf mn, the.
wreckers suddenly swarmed over the bull
warks and charged us.
We began dropping them at once, but
the weight of numbers sent them forward
and presently dozen of them were pull
ing and tearing at the barricade and firing
at us through the crevices. Coombs was
wounded in the side the girl in the Shout
der, and l got "a bullet in the mouth, which
passed out through the right cheek. None
of us knew that we were hurt, however,
until the wreckers had been driven back
They left five dead and seven wounded
men on the sands. but were permitted to
gather up the latter and take them aboard
This had only been accomplished when
both craft set sail and made off, and that
was the last we saw of them.
We wondered at their going until we
climbed over the barricade and found Hob
bins among the dead. He was the ruling
spirit among the lawless fraternity, and
when we went down they were panic
stricken and could not get away fast
enough We had killed 10 men and wound
ed II that we knew of. AS afterward as
certained, the number Of wounded amount
ed to ", three Of whom died later on. We
were left in peace when the schooners
sailed away, and when the government
heard of our defense each of us received
medal and an official letter of thanks.
was picked up by the tender on her next
trip and never saw Coombs or his daugh-
ter again. They were there on the island
when the great gale came on, and after
~.