The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-24

custom house made famous by Nathaniel
Hawthorne, and shaping course for the
open ocean She carried, besides a mis-
ceilaneouS cargo. some twenty thousand
Spanish milled dollars, sent by her own
er, Joseph Peabody, to supply the def
ciencies of her cargo of lumber and cod
FISH, The master was Capt. Butman. of
Beverly and there were thirteen in the
crew. all told: no mention being made in
the vessels log of what they thought as
TO the superstition attaching TO the I'M
lucky number. They had uneventful SAIL
ing for three weeks, at the end of which
time they found themselves well over
toward the coast OF Africa, to which they
had been driven by battling and contrary
winds.
They did the best they could to recover
their course, and were getting along very
well when they sighted tn long, low.
rakish craft that the traditional pirate
always cruises in. As these Yankee
sailors were not looking for any suspicious
character, however, they paid little at
tention to the stranger until finally thev
could but notice that she was lodging
their tracks. We sailed along, ship and
in a recent narrative OF his experience,
until about nine o'clock in the morning
and then the old man couldn't stand il
any longer and altered the course. That
settled il, for the clipper altered her
course TO correspond and came down on
US like q sea hawk on a fat duck She
few the flag OF one OF the South Amer
lean republics and We could see guns
on her deck and a crew Of murderous
looking Spaniards all armed with knives
and pistols" The piratical vessel proved
to be the Spanish brig Panda, which had
stolen out from her customary haunts
along the African coast on the watch for
unwary Yankees like our friends from
Salem.
They ordered the master OF the Mexican
to send a boat aboard. and then sent a
crew Of murderous cutthroats TO board
the schooner. These miscreats took Capt
Butman down below and by fearful
threats made him disclose the hiding place
OF his treasure-s2s. 900 in siIver-stewed
away beneath a scuttIe in the captains
cabin. The old man did not want to let
IL go; but as there were no firea rms
aboard his craft he had to comply with
the pirates demands. There were ten
money boxes with 5000 in each box
and the Spaniards were not at all slow in
getting them up and transferring them
aboard the brig. This done, it might have
been thought they would allow the
Flucked Yankees TO go their way; but
not so. The pirate captain gave orders
for the Americans to be confined below
and the matches battened down. then set
the schooner afre and left her, burning in
q dozen places.
The Panda sailed away. but slowly and
ever with a watchful eye upon the
schooner. her master evidently intending
TO leave no men alive. Ii was afterward
learned that so long as the two vessels
were within sight Of each other the cap
tain of the Panda had a man at the
masthead to report any sign of life
aboard the Mexican. Had there BEEN
doubtless, there would today be no sur
vivor to tell of their exploits in the very
lcng ago. But the Americans were wary.
for. thought Capt. Butman found means
to escape from the hold and liberate the
others, he kept himself concealed and also
kept up the pretense of a destructive fire
raging aboard. even after ne and his
men had il wei under control by burning
cotton waste and oakum. After the pirate
was hull down on the horizon the i'm
patient mariners collected on deck and
soon repaired the sails. and the running
rigging. which also had been severed. AS
the compass had been thrown overheard
and the money for the purchase CT
cluded best to return to the home port
instead Of continuing on to Rio. There
we're no cables in those days; but justice,
though slow, finally reached the pirates
who had committed the ourage. for an
account having appeared in a Salem pa
Per, one of the towns omnipresent ship
masters took it with him TO the coast Of
Africa. where it came to the notice Of the
commander of a British sloop-of-war. who
was looking for slavers. He at once sus-
pected the real perpetrators of the crime,
took them away from the very eyes of an
African king. who made show of protect
ing them, and finally landed them, by a
roundabout course in Boston Jail. from
which they only submerged to their trial
and execution. All save one. and that
one ile INST mate OF TIE pirate craft, NHO
having been the means OF rescuing an
American crew from shipwreck- few
years before. was recommended to mercy
ard pardoned by Andrew Jackson, whom
the Spaniard afterward regarded as his
patron saint
This in brief is the story OF one OF the
latest attacks of the old-time pirates upon
American seamen. 1t may be obtained
more in detail from the survivors them
selves. IL so be one would Journey TO
Salem or Beverly. II was related TO the
writer a few months ago by one who
was a cabin boy aboard the Mexican
seventy years ago-venerable Benjamin
Larconi. now Lightweight years OF age,
and almost helpless from old age. but
still in possession OF all his faculties and
cheerful in the faith that has sustained
him throughout n long and. except for
the adventure of his youth, an uneventful
nfe-F A ODER. in the New York Eve
ring Post.
JUGGLED THE CONSTITUTION