The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1905-08-11
Miss Elsie Morgan, Who Alone of
Twelve Escaped Death,
TELL AWFUL STORY
OF Her Own Experience on the Trading
Schooner Olympia. Her Narrative
of Horrors Discount the Bloody
Deeds of the Seventeenth
Century Buccaneers.
Century Buccaneers.

Miss elsie Morgan, sole survivor
among the twelve passengers and
crew Of the British Honduras trading
schooner Olympia, who saw every
other soul on board butchered by one
gigantic negro buccaneer, has so far
recovered from the shock produced by
those scenes as TO be ablo to give q de-
tailed statement Of this outrage,
which t%ranscends In horror the cruel
est deeds Of the Old West Indian pi,
rates.
Miss Morgan still lies physically
suffering at lei Pfoverno, in British
Honduras, whittier she was taken by
rescuers, who found her, half dement,
ed, wandering on the beach to which
she had sHun after The black bucca-
neer had left her for dead in the wa,
tor half q mile from shore. Her story
the first and only one she has told
which is sent herewith, invests the
facts already published throughout
the world with tragic p;cturesqueness
possible only In the statement OF an
eye witneSS-and, In this case, Of q
girl who, through all that awful
night Of july l, knew that she herself
was designed for q fate worse than
death.
The facts leading up to the begin
ming Of Miss Morgan'a narrative are
these: The little trading schooner
Olympia, plying between the Island
Of Utilla and TTuxillc, twenty. five
miles away on the Honduras main.
land, had bacn lyii 6 ut It's islaud pier
for several ~dayslOading with merchan-
disc for coast points. 1T was quite
generally known that the captain had
on board 8 considerable sum Of money
In gold, with which he WIS to buy
cattle on tho maitland. This amount
was only tho equivalent Of about 800
In United States currency, bnt in the
minds Of negro lahorers about the
pier 1t assunnCd fabulous proportions.
One OF these was q gigantic Speci
men named Robert McField, well
known TO all the island inhabitants.
He was moro than usually we'll cdu
Gated fer one OF his race aud tore a
fair reputation. At dusk on June 30,
after the captain, accompanied by
the mate, bad thoroughly inspected
the schooner and crew TO TO sure that
no Suspicious character wss aboard.
the little vessel, With twelve souls
aboard, threw of ,tSlines and dropped
quietly out Of tie uarhor, for Truxille.
In his cCnrcSSI0n, made as he WaS
about to be hanged, McElold tells
how. before the schooner vas out OF
the harhor, he rowed cut to her in the
darkness, climbed aboard unnoticed
and concealed himself in the hold,
armed with q winChcStes Iille aud a
revolver. Willie the bury negro
skulktd below waiting for a propitious
momeut to put his murderous plot in
to execution, these passengers and
members OF the crew we're on deck
under tie brilliant tropical sky, I'M
conscious OF danger:
Miss Elsie Morgan, Utilla.
Waiter Rose, aged 30 years, Util'a.
lndt&na Rose, his wife, aged 30
years, Utiila.
Six-weeks old baby Of Mrs. Rose,
Utilla.
Adela Boddcn, twelve years old,
Utilia.
Captain White 5ush, aged forty
mastef OF tht Olympia, Lynn, Mass.
V& Wick Rydcs, aged thirty. eight
Yeas, mate Of Olympia, Bay Island.
&olsou Bod6cn, sailor, U5illa.
QDeton NickcrSon, sailor, aged thir.
Wy two years, COnNecttcut.
# William & dtrey, sailor, aged twen,
ty.fvc years, Bay Island.
Amos , negro cook.
At 10 O'Clock in tile evening, when
about four miles out from the island,
all went below ,Xcep5 Ilydcs, the
mate, and Bodden, $40 was at the
wheel. Miss McTgGn'B narrative fol-
lows:
MISS MoRGAN's ACCOUNT.
The following article was prepared
for the New York American by Miss
Elsie Morgan:
That awful night cores back In all
my dreams l shall never forget IT,.
That back beasts E,urdaruus fury,
the groars Of lis victims, the lcering
smile on his lips "a ne threw my sis
ter's baby into the sea, thu fate he
promised nee, viii be With me always.
1t was Il most beautiful right, with
a soft breeze hloWinp aud the heavens
abiaze with stars We were on deck
Till after 10 o'clCck, my sister and /,
her husband and tic other passen.
gers, and IL seemed . pity togo below
with such loVelinC all about. / am
sure thai no one suspected the slight
est danger.
l went to my cabin with Mrs. Rose,
my sistor, and the baby, and Soon we
were asleep. It. cd not seem that |
had slept more than q minule when q
sound Of &c III rg on d8ck awakened
me. Then several Shots we're fired.
We were SO alarmed as this that my
sister and l rel to the hatclway.
Captain Bush WIS ascending the lad
der. We hailed him and he TUNED.
Go back to your CABIN" said the
captain. And then he bounded on
deck.
We remained at The foot OF the lad
der wondering. Suddenly there was
another succession Of sGots in quick
succession, mingled with sounds Of
falling bodies ana the screams OF men
1t was horrible. We could not re.
main where we were IN uncertainty.
We mounted the LADDER and pecred
out or deck. The sight was awful.
The sailor, Boadcn, whom we had
seen at tho wheel, lay face down on
the deck quite Btill. Between the
mainmaSt and the wheel, looking big.
ger than eyer In the flood Of starlight,
almost bare to his waist, with a rife
In his hand, stood the big negro,
Robert McFleld. / had seen him
many times and knew him Instantly.
CIR, q ,y ~, r, ~