The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13
Captain Had a Midshipnan
 Hung from the Yard Arm,

subject-this joke may cost you your | life"
 The commander turned to Lieuten- ant Ganzevoort and said, Arrest MT Spencer and put him in double irons"
 The lad was ironed hand and foot and left under guard on the quarter deck, with the warning that he would | be shot dead if he spoke to anyone This severity was presumably mitigat- ed by the fact that Lieutenant Ganse-
 voort ''ministered In every way to his comfort with the tederness of a wom- an." That night Spencer's quarters were searched and the Greek list of alleged conspirators found. The boy himself translated the Greek charac- ters for the commander, under the irn- pression that his was helping his case. The following day was Sunday. At in- spection the commander noted the sus- picious circumstance that. Seaman Small and Boatswain's mate Cromwell were very neat in their persons. but the former betrayed guilt by nervous ness and the latter by coolness. Small was on the secret list; Cromwell had received S15 from Spencer for an un- known purpose. After church services nothing happened till afternoon when the top gallant mast carried away mysteriously. causing wreckage and 
 thought that this was a part of the mutineers' plot. especially as the pris- oner Spencer watched the masthead with strange and stealthy chances" The next day were discovered two crimes of considerable magnitude"- vile offences" as Mackenzie terms them, one being the theft of brandy and the other theft of bit of hat trimming. Small and Cromwell were put In irons.
 The prisoners had every comfort" while lying on the quarterback. Com mander Mackenzie says, being covered with oilskins at night and during squalls. They were deprived of to- bacoo, not as a third degree measure, but because tobacco was a stimulant, and I wished them to tranquiliZe their minds and reman free from excite ment. The day after MT. Spencer's to- .bacco was stopped his spirits gave way entirely. He remained the whole day with his face buried in the grego. and when it was raised for a moment it was bathed in tears.'' By Wednes- day there were seven prisoners under irons The new ones had been arrest ed for making moves that seemed sus- picious to the panicstricken officers. One was sharpening his battleaxe and another reached for a holystone in suspicious manner. The officers went about with loaded pistols and inter preted evehy trifie as a symptom of mutiny. A pistol was accidentally discharged; Lieutenant Gansevoort. came near shooting innocent men.
 On Wednesday. November 30, pseudo trial was held without the prisoners being called to defend them selves or question the witnesses who testified to 'domoniacal loolIs,' pro- fanity. the sketehing or a pirate ship and similar evidences of crime. The next day. December 1, the improvised court composed of lieutenant, surg con, purser. a young acting master and some midshipmen, recommended that Spencer, Small and Cromwell be hang ed. The commander, in fact. was re- sponsible for sentence and execution. He did not believe he could bring the Somers into an American port with the mutineers alive, and it did not oc- cur to him that he might put in at the British port an Antigua or Barbados, which were about two days sail dis tant He thought 1t better. anyhow. that Spencer should be hanged and not cause his father trouble in the future. He told the lad as much in spirit of ferocious piety that would have hon cred Torquemada.
 ''I have orders to make immediate preparations for hanging the three principal criminals at the mainyard arms" says Commander Mackenzie. "AIl hands were now called to witness punishment. The afterguards and idlers of both watches were mustered on the quarterback at the whip (noosed rope) intended for MT. Spencer. The officers were stationed about the deck with orders to cut down whoever should let go the whip with even one hand or fail to haul on it when order ed. now put on my full uniform and proceeded to execute the most painful duty that has ever devloped on an American commander-that of an- nouncing to the criminals their fate"
 Death Sentence Passed.
 Mackenzie delivered a moral homily to Spencer, saying that he had obtain ed command of a ship by years of faithful service. but the midshipman had presumed to become captain with sinful haste, and he concluded by say ing. that Spencer had ten minutes to live.
 This intimation overcame the pris- oner entirely" Commander Mackenzie continued. His eyes filled with tears and he sank upon his knees and said