Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-12-28

tain naa peen cioseiy waIcning tnem
and waiting for this move, and Of .
sudden the drum beat 10 quarters and
our decks were alive with men.
was captain Of No. s gun crew and
had the honor Of firing the first ahot.
Il was . solid ball, and il struck the
craft ON her port bow and went clean
through her and dropped into the sea
beyond. This opened the fight. The na
tives instantly realized that they had
caught q tartar, and they saw, too. that
their only means Of escape lay in cap
turing the ship. Therefore, instead OF
running away. M we had looked for,
each craft bore down on rs to board
They were handled ~ easily as an In
dian maneuyers o canoe. and il wasn't
FIVE minutes after the first gun was fired
ere they were on our quarters like
wolves seeking TO hamstring deer.
fired another solid shot and then loaded
with grape, and this last charge was
fired right into mass Of natives wait
ing to Chamber up the side The gun
next 10 me fired solid shot, which
tore through her bottom, and two min
utes later she foundered right alongside
Of us The second craft got near enough
to grapple. but the irons were thrown
of and two guns played solid shot into
her hull until she went down stern fore.
most, leaving 80 men struggling in the
waves
The third craft had forged ahead,
sailing five feet to our one, and would
have boarded us at the bows but for tho
sudden destruction Of the others Their
fate frightened her off. but she had
scarcely laid her head for the island
than it was brought around, rs If her
crew had made some desperate resolve.
Now occurred curious thing. She had
about 30 men on beard, and she came
down on Us with every one OF them
shouting and screaming and tried 10 lay
us aboard. We could have sunk her
with one gun even, or we could have
picked of the whole crew with our
muskets before they had crossed the
rail. Word was passed to give her
full broadside mt command, and when
the smoke cleared away she was not
to be seen There were over 20 Of tho
pirates hanging TO the wreckage around
us, however, and boat was lowered to
pick them up You can judge Of their
desperation when I tell you that every
one Of them fought like tiger against
being rescued and that we got only five
out Of the lot The others We had toI
kill as they iloated about, with the
sharks swapping at them. Two Of the
five leaped out Of the boat after being
pulled in and were seen no more, and
the others gave us 80 much trouble that
the captain swung them up 10 tho yard
arm.
Thus not one single man Of the 100
or more who came out to attack us es-
caped with his life | was in one Of tho
boats aft, rward sent ashore u see what
sort Of lair the pirates had made for
themselves The only human beings
ashore were an old native woman, u one
armed Japanese and white boy about
IL years Of age The boy was or an
English trader captured year before
and had been held prisoner ever since
He said there were l07 men in the gang.
and we found enough plunder on the
island 10 load our ship
They had captured about q dozen
different vessels, large and small, and
in every case had plundered and sunk
them. They did not always kill all the
crew. Soon after the boy was captured
they brought in an American sailor of
y spice trader. The lad knew him only
by the name Of William, but remem
bered that his home was Ill Boston. II
turned out that they bad spared his life
to make use Of him as blacksmith, but
when they found he had no knowledge
Of that work he was put TO death with
great cruelty. BY order Of the chief he
was hung in chains on tree about
quarter Of mile from the village aud
was five or six days in dying. The boy
went with Us aud showed Us his bones,
still hanging.
The one armed man and the old wo-
man. assisted by the boy. were the cooks
for the gang. They at first seemed very
much alarmed and protested their inno-
cence Of any completely in the crimes OF
the pirates, but when they came to un'
derstand that all the villains had met
their fate and that We had come ashore
TO clear the island Of its last bale Of
plumber they suddenly ran into rude
storehouse, blocked up the doorway
with boxes and opened fire on US with
pistols We had two men wounded be-
fore we could dislodge them, aud they
were then hanged to the same limb and
their bodies left to the birds What
plumber we could not bring of we
burned ON the island, aud before leaving
We set the forest on fire in dozen
places, and the flames did not die out
until the whole length and breadth had
been swept clean Of vegetation