Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-08-19

ard one"
When the wholesale house of Miner d
Strong was opened that morning.
Julius, the black porter. trusted slave
who had been raised by Miner. failed to
appear.
Sam and Sydney. two porters at The
Charleston house, could not be found
a number of other citizens reported
servants missing, and the morning of
the 21st the following startling article
appeared in the Charleston News:
Bold and Successful Bank Robbery
Two hundred thousand dollars in gold,
silver and bank notes taken from the
vaults of the Charleston bank.
Successful Jafl Delivery. = Plunket
and Cobb, the murderers of Planter Os-
borne. who were to have suffered the
penalty of their crimes this day, re-
leased from their cell, and Jailer How
ard found bound and gagged in their
stead.
mo Less Than Eighteen Negro Men
the property CT leading citizens. report
ed missing"
Then followed long statement of the
circumstances as narrated, and the arti-
Gle concluded as follows:
'Many of our citizens probably
noticed the schooner of I; dark green
hue, that lay anchored in the Ashley
river since the night of the 18th.
''Thatshe wasa SLAYER no one doubted,
as 40 negroes were taken from her hold
and sold in this market on the 10th.
''That she was a pirate, now seems
equally certain, as her captain, who was
a man of stalwart frame, with an inl-
| mense black beard, but whose name is
| yet unknown, as it was not ascertalned
| by the firm who sold the negroes (the
| captains of slavers gel erally desiring to
| have their Identity Unknown) was IN
| doubtedly the manager of both the
bank robbery and jail delivery.
| 1T is also believed that either he or
| his agent. in some manner, enticed the
missing negroes aboard the SLAYER and
| sailed with them, in which event the
schooner will probably land at some
port on this coast and offer them for
sale, keeping them tongue-tied by terror
| until their object is effected.
The name of the schooner, as dis
played by bold, white letters on her
stern. was The Ranger
"a couple of merchants from Will
mington, who are yet here, viewed the
Ranger when lying in the river, and
state that the schooner is the exact
| counterpart in all respects but the
color of the paint that covers her
| frame and the name on her stern OF
| the Clara Belle, whose captain, Angus
Bruce, murdered John Lloyd, of VIII
mington, en- the night of the thirty
first of May last.
| "Mr. Murcbison, one of the nrer
chants alluded to, asserts that the Clara
u IL L
dock, loading and unloading acargo-he
further asserts that Bruce is a man of
| stalwart, powerful frame, which would
tally with the description of the captain
of the Ranger, whose beard may be a
| false one.
Most of the crew of the Clara Belle.
| states Mr. Murchison, were left at Will
| mington on the night of the fight from
| that port, they being ashore at that
time.
| But be he who he may, this Black
| Beard seems destined to become a curse
to this coast unless speedily appre-
| hended, or himself and craft sent to the
| bottom of the sea.
| -Many who read this article will re
| cali the SLAYER and freebooter Nancy
| that foundered and went down with all
her crew off this coast two years since.
"The governor, being fully convinced
| that Angus Bruce and Black Beard. as
we call the captain of the Ranger, are
| one and the same man, has offered
| twenty-five thousand dollars for his ap-
| prehension.
1.-The Charleston bank, while badly
| crippled, has had many offers of assist
ance, and will be able to weather the
| Storm
While this article was arousing the
indignation of Charleston citizens, and
two sailing crafts were fitting up to
search the salt seas for her. the Ranger
was scudding along the coast Of
Georgia.; and yet she was no longer the
Ranger-her dark green color had
changed to dirty looking red, and the
name on the stern was-William B.
| Niles.
| No black-bearded man was on her
decks, but d man of much the same size
and appearance, with a smooth face.
| was her commander.
"Billi Bill Gibbs!"
AYE, aye, sir!"
go below and terTify the niggers;
tell them we land and sell them to-
night. and all they have to do, if they
| like their new masters better than the
old ones, Is to keep mum; if they don t
they can talk all they want to, after we
have left them behind, and possibly the
news will get to Charleston, and their
| old masters come and claim them; but
tell them, Bill, that if they croak before
| we have left them miles behind, We'll
have the life of every niger there.
| Tell the mate to send a dozen armed
men with you below; plenty of knives
and pistols, kill chicken or two, and
bloody your hands and faces; pistols.
knives and the sight of blood will sub
/