The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-11
DEEDS OF DARING.
Thrilling Story of We'll Known Con-
 federates-Frank O'Brien Hero.

 To the Editor of The Age-Herald
 In your issue of yesterday you reproduce an article from the New York Times tell ing the story about President Roosevelt capturing two horse thieves while run ming ranch on the Little Missouri
 You have as a citizen of your own town man who, to my mind. performed a more daring feat than the one described in the Times article, and that man Is Frank O'Brien. In the early part of July, 1864 while on scouting expedi- tion near the mouth of the Roapoke river where 1t empties into Albermale sound, he discovered boat load of the enemy planting torpedoes After watch Ing the men work for about four or five hours and making a mental location of the points where the death-dealing en- zines were placed, he returned to Ply mouth and immediately reported the fact to Captain Maffit, at that time in com mand of the Confederate ram Albermarle. Captain Maffit instructed him to select as many men as he thought prudent to ac- company him to the scene of operations
 
 being done and to return to Plymouth later and report the result of the recon noissance, after which he, Captain Mai fit, would send Midshipman James Long
 with a boat crew to destroy the plant and If possible capture the planters.
 O'Brien selected Motimore Williams, a member of his own company, also a citi- zen of Birmingham at present, and Cap
 tain James R. Hopkins, at that time chief pilot of the Albermarle, to accom- pany him on his second trip. The party reached the point where the yankees
 were planting the torpedoes about two hours before daybreak and discovered
 that the party consisted of six instead of four, as on the first occasion. After com pleting the placing of the nest upon which
 they were at work when the scouts first | arrived, they rowed close to shore and
 were evidently about to select a location to place the explosion battery. The planting party had two small canoes,
 each containing three men heavily armed. | When they reached the point where 1 o Brien was concealed he jumped up | presented his Henry rife and yelled out 1 like Comanche Indian, surrender" at
 the same time ordering the other two to | look after the other boat, and before the
 occupants of the boats could recover from
 their surprise he ordered them to throw
 their arms overheard or he and his com
 panions would fire upon them. They
 very promptly complied with the order 1 O Brien then ordered two of the men in | the boat nearest to him to get into the
 other boat and the remaining man to row l ashore for himself and his companions.
 This order was quickly obeyed. as the
 intrepid lrishman impressed upon the
 ''yanks' the idea that if they attempted
 any monkey business he and his com | panions would shoot to kill After the | capturing party were comfortably seated
 in the canoes, O'Brien gave orders to
 proceed in haste to Plymouth. One of
 the prisoners remarked, Where are your
 other men?" O'Brien replied, q have
 no other men, and I now notify you one
 and all if you attempt in any way to trick | us we will kill you as cheerfully as we | would six rats. We are armed and you
 are not, and l would regret to be forced
 to kill an unarmed man, but we will do
 it rather than be captured.
 | O'Brien and his party, up to the time | they had gotten into the canoes, were not aware of the fact that the planting party
 were detail from the guard boat White
 head. stationcI just at the mouth of
 the river and not exceeding one-half mile | from the point where the planting was being done. O'Brien had been in many l tight places during his career as a scout
 and he was too quick-witted to be thrown
 off his pins Just then, so he ordered the five prisoners in one boat to proceed as 1 fast as possible toward Plymouth, and to keep at least twenty yards from the boat in which the other prisoner and the capturing party were, with the assurance that if his orders were not strictly obeyed he would give orders to fire. O'Brien feared that if not kept at a safe distance the five men would run his boat down and swamp it, thereby putting himself and companions at disadvantage.
 When the people on the Whitehead dis covered that their detail had been cap
 tured they lowered large yawl and started in pursuit of the capturing party. For a time the "Confeds' thought they were good for Yankee" prison but for tunately for them the Albemare had been in the habit of coming down the river frequently and driving the boats comprising the sound fleet away from the mouth of the Roanoke About an eighth | of a mile from the point of capture there was a sharp bend in the Roanoke at the point where Coibee Creek empties into it. and the boat crew from the White head that had started after the captur- ing party feared that the latter were A detail from the Albermarle and that that vessel was just around the point or bend in the river. and If they continued in pursuit they would also be captured and their impression or suspicious were confirmed by the actions of the captors of their men. Just as O'Brien and the party rounded the bend they gave one of the often mentioned rebel yells which indicated to the pursuing party that the rebs felt they were safe. The point at which inc capture was made was eight n,i,es from Plymouth and within rife shot of the strongest and best equipped gunboat in the sound fleet. Captain Mai fit and nther officers at flymoutn ngnly