Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-11-01

gave orders that one should be lowered.
at will be q case of fever" he said,
with all the officers and most Of the
men down" and the surgeon was sent
off with the boat, which was in charge
of the second mate. Eight of our crew
were thus taken. The boat had pulled
hak the distance to the brig when we
had something nearer home to attract
attention. The sleek, slick little jim
my suddenly held a cooked revolver
to the captains ear and marched him
into his stateroom. Fourteen OF the
railroad" men from the steerage. each
armed with Z pistol and knife, sudden
ly appeared among US, and it wasn't
three minutes before the whole crowd
of US were in the cabin and g guard
over us. The engine room was taken
possession of at the same time, and
the Ocean Queen had been taken pos
session Of without a shot being fired.
The brig was lying bro2dside to US.
She had two boats down on the far
side, with Is men in each boat, and
as soon as they had pulled around and
captured cur yawl one boatload Of the
rascals came aboard the Queen, and
the steamer was worked down along
side the brig. The sea was smooth,
and the fellows could lash the craft
together without fear of disaster.
We had been taken completely by
surprise and had no show. They had
the gold out and transferred within an
hour 1t is to the credit OF the rascally
gang to say that they were under good
control and insulted no one. After
the gold was disposed OF they robbed
the ship of lot Of bedding and pro-
visions, and at the last the sleek, slick
man came down into the cabin to say
a few words. He was smiling and
good natured. He patted the children,
bowed to the ladies and waved his
hand to the men.
"My dear friends" he said in that
soft, silky voice of his, 81 hope that
have given you no trouble. Rather let
me hope that you will look upon it as
an incident to break the monotony of
the voyage. l do not wish to search
you one by one like a footpad or n
bushranger, but will trust to your hon
esty to hand over your money and
jewels. l have figured on about the
amount l should get If l get it, no
one will be further disturbed. II I
don't get it, there will be room aboard
the brig for most Of the ladies'"
l gave up half my possessions, and I
presume the other passengers retained
n share as Wen, but the money. watch
es. rings, brooches, etc. laid on the
table before the pirate had n good
rounG valUe and seemed to satisfy him.
He swept everything into a sack, bade
us n fond adieu ana within ten minutes
was sailing away in the brig. The en-
gines were disabled before they left,
and the crew OF the mates beat was
sent back to us, and as no one had been
killed We were faln to think we had
come of fairly well. We lay rolling in
miGoce2u for four days before the en-
gineer had made repairs. and by that
time the brig was several hundred
miles away. Even had we known her
course and position. it would have
availed nothing. We made slow run
for the remainder Of the voyage and it
was three weeks before n man-of-war
started out to look for the pirate craft
1t had been a job put up in Australia,
and it had worked to perfection. 1t
may be that the brig returned to that
coast and landed and divided the swag,
but as she had n dozen different places
to choose from she had no fear OF cap
ture. so far as | have been able to
learn she was never heard from, though
the search was kept up for n year or
more There was enough plunder to
set each one up handsomely. and
have always thought Of Jimmy the
slick one as touring about in the finest
raiment. drinking the rarest wines and
making himself a favorite wherever he
stopped for a week.
copyright. 1900, by C. B. Lewis.l