The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-10
DARK TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

self. After q while Plummer ordered
the fire put out; then the mate was
missed and a search instituted for him.
He could not be found, however, and
the mutineers began the work of clean
ing the decks. Captain Mellens body
was weighted with heavy chain and
Plummer himself cast it into the sea,
yelling loud enough for all hands to
hear, Go down to hell and tell the
devil 1 sent your
! When all the bodies were consigned to
the deep the fiends began to think of the
ship In his capacity as leader Plummer
| undertook to navigate her. His plan was
TO make the nearest land. but neither
he nor any of his lieutenantS knew
| the first thing about navigation. After
five days of knocking about, during
which time the ship was at the mercy
! OF any Squall or storm that should
have crossed her path, another search
was made for Mate Provost He was
| finally found in an almost exhausted
condition in the hold near one of the
water casks. The desperation of thirst
! had enabled him to crawl there, but
| he had no strength to leave. 1t was
! fortunate for him that he had never
] III treated Plummer. Cartha and the
! others, at sight of him, were for COM
pleting the butchery at once, but Plum
mer was in command, and he knew the
/
! On ProVost's promise to navigate the
| ship under orders of Plummer his
! wounds were dressed and his life
| spared. But he was kept in irons all
the time, and had no freedom what
! ever. In this condition ne directed the
sailing of the vessel to the nearest land
and on Jan. 4, 1853 that land was
sighted.
Then began another chapter in the
brief history of this unparalleled crime.
Plummer, Cartha, Burns, Hall, Walliam
Sampson Of Buffalo, n. Y; Jacob
Ricke of New York, Charles H Stanley
of Penfeld, n. Y; Adam Camel of Buff
falo and Joseph Brooks of Utica, n.
Y, and William Herbert of Newark, n.
1.-THE men who made the attack on
the ships Officers-threw overheard
everything on the ship that was in any
way connected with or suggestive of the
whaling industry. And when 20 miles
off the Australian shore these men left
the ship in two boats, taking with them
everything serviceable that they could
carry away. They made a landing at
'Ninety-mile Point
At once Mate Provost was liberated
by the remainder of the crew, who
had stood neutral or secretly loyal
from the first, and the Junior was ia
ken to Sydney, n. S. w. Here the
tragedy was reported to the United
States consul, and Immediately the En-
glish authorities took action. The Aus
tralian patrol was mustered out in full
force, and in less than two months had
run to earth all the mutineers except
Burns and Hall, who have never since
been heard from.
Eight strong cells, made of Austral-
ion ironWOOd, were built in the steer
age of the Junior, four on each side, for
the reception of Plummer and his men
a soon 2 tbav x-pra turned ox-ar. fO tho
United States government. The cells
were made of heavy joiSts, cut in the
form of an equilateral triangle, with
the apex pointing inward. The joists
were then heavily studded with large
headed nails, driven clear in, to pre-
vent cutting away the timbers.
Captain Alfred Gardner of Nan
tucket, who was then in Australia, was
engaged to bring the vessel home. AS
there were now but six free sailors on
board, English sailors were shipped
for the return voyage. A guard of six
men was placed over the mutineers,
and watch was kept night and day.
Of course, Plummer made an attempt
10 escape and recapture the ship, but
it failed, and only resulted in closer
vigilance. He tried to bride one of
the guards.
News of the awful crime had long
ago reached New Bedford, and when /
the Junior dropped anchor inside of
Palmer's island, near the Fairhaven |.
shore, on the evening of Aug. 20, 1858, I
and the next day make a berth at Fish I
island, she was the center of attrac-
ton for hundreds of curious ones. Her !
prisoners We're tried in the United I
States circuit court at Boston, Judges /
Sprague and Clifford presiding 1t was
the most celebrated trial of the period. /
Only Stanley. Cartha, Herbert and 1
Plummer were tried. the others being
held on charges of mutinouS conduct
1t was said that Plummer was re- /
lated in some way to the late Charles I
Sumner, and that money and influence +
would be e2.erted in his behalf suf-
fciently to save him and his three /
companions from the gaIlows The /
latter part of this prophecy proved /
true enough. Although but poor sea-
man, Plummer came to trial with a /
brilliant array of legal talent to defend /
him. His counsel were Benjamin f.
Butler Richard H. Dana, Sydney Web
ster and j. l. Adams. The services of |
Rufus Choate were expected, but for
some reason were not secured. The
testimony addUced at the trial was
a confederation of the
narrative already given, there having
been eye-witnesSeS to every detail of
the great crime. Plummer was found
guilty of murder and the other three
year he was sentenced to
death, but a few months after the
death sentence was committed to life
Imprisonment, and he went into the
state prison on July s.
1859.
That Plummer had friends in high
places there could be no doubt, for on
July %, 1874, Acting Governor Talbot
signed pardon for him, and his prison
doors were opened. Nothing authentic
has ever been heard of the man since,
but there are many of the older genera
ton who knew Cyrus w. PIummer
Wanderer, prospector, hermit, that be-
lieve that the old man who recently
died in the lonely cabin at the all but
deserted placer diggings was no other
than the Cyrus w. Plummer who so
narrowly escaped the gallows for the
preparation of one of the most cruel
ever committed in the south
ern seas. LUKE. NORTH