Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-09


fore he had n frebell installed and
trained his men to rush to their sta
tions when it rang. 1t was this fire
bell that made the plans of these free
hooters go awry just at the time when
their adventure hung in the balance.
The hemsman had been silenccd and
had steered the ship due east for an
hour with n pistol at his back. He
at last awakened the captain, who was
sleeping in his cabin a few feet away
|, from the wheelhOuse. The captain
stirred. His death was inevitable ac-
One of the robbers fired thrice and
killed him. The shots brought for
ward the crew and the officers who
were on watch. One of the robbers
herded these aft at his pistols point,
just as it had been planned. The
rest Of the crew and passengers were
sleeping. All would have gone well
with the robbers if the second officer
had not slipped over to the fire bell
and sounded the alarm. Then the
crew tumbled out and the situation
got beyond the control OF the freeboOt
ers One jumped overheard When he
was cOrnered after a desperate fight,
the other calmly went to his cabin and
slept the rest of the night out. Only
the next morning when he failed to
appear at breakfast was he suspected
and seized.
Whatever else this attempt at piracy
may have been it was above every
thing unique. Nothing of the kind has
ever happened before. and 1t is not
likely that it will happen again. If
they had not shot down the captain the
daring of the pirates would have COM
PEELED the respect that is always ac-
corded to those who take tremendous
risks, no matter how evil. The only
thing they did succeed in was in show
ing what might be accomplished by
such daring and determined men on
big steamer on the high seas.
About the only thing in the ancient
annals of piracy that comes anywhere
near the audacious achievement Of last
week Is that of Richard Worley, who
flourished in the eighteenth century.
He set out from New York with eight
men in an open boat, captured two
armed sloops and a square-rigged ship,
lodged a man-of-war and alarmed the
whole coast as far as Charleston be-
fore he was captured. But he had
eight men with him, and the total ton
mage Of all the ships that he captured
would not anywhere near equal that OF
the Alaska Pacific liner that these two
men almost had at their mercy. The
exploit of West and Wise is unique In
the criminal history of the civilized
seas. Had they lived two centuries ago
they might have staggered with the
richest at Port Royal, the old pirate
stronghold, or have grown to be ter
rors of the seas, in the same class with
Morgan and Lafitte. But steam naVi-
CATION, with it's bigger ships, would
have put the pirates out OF business IL
the nations had not declared war with
out quarter on them.
Until this attempt to ROB an ocean
steamer the other adventures in the
field of stealing treasure at sea nave
used means of flight rather than fight.
Four years ago. for instance, Manuel
Silveira, the Cuban agent of j. Nj.
Ceballos e. CO., New York bankers,
fled to Venezuela, it is alleged, with
large sum of mOney-some said as
much as $3,OOO,OOO in gold coin-that
he had collected from the funds be-
longing to Ceballos & Co. Silveira
was a bosom friend Of Castro-"the
Cattle Thief of the Andes"-who was
then president of Venezuela, and en-
ployed several steamers constantly in
shipping cattle from Cuba to that
country. Silveira had telegraphed Ce-
ballos & Co., that he was coming 10
New York to straighten out his ac-
counts. Instead of that he put his
money and his family on one OF MS
steamers and later landed in VeneZue-
la. AS quickly as Silveira's flight was
known CeballOs & Co. made an assign
ment. The Spanish banking house
that had been established for nearly a
century went to the wall. Silvelra
never was apprehended, and what be-
came of him is not known. Doubtless
he is still living in Venezuela.
Francis G.. Bailey, another twentieth
century pirate, who got away with
steamship laden with rich stores and
defied two great powers, is now in
Sing Sing for q long term Of years.
His story needs no fancy trimmings to
make it interesting. 1t tells itself.
and here it is:
Francis G. Bailey and his brother
Albert came to New York from Pitts
burg in 1906. They secured financial
hacking from some wealthy men with
whom they became intimate, and or
ganized the Export Shipping company.
Then they began a worldwide cam
paign To make connections with hum
dreds of houses that sold their goods
i'm foreign countries. A large number
of export merchants began to use Bal
leys company as a channel through
which to send their goods abroad. The
warehouses of the Export Shipping
company were jammed with costly
merchandise.
Bailey chartered the steamer Colds
boro-an old Clyde liner-and loaded
her with n cargo valued at $iOO,OOO.
He armed the ship with rifles and
small cannon. In his cabin safe was
$5O, 900 in currency.
This done Bailey informed the de-
partment of commerce and labor that
he was inaugurating floating expo
sition of American manufacturers" to
arouse interest in American industry
i'm foreign lands. A license was taken
out under the British flag and the
Goldsboro steamed away from New
York May ., 1908.
Six days later receivers were ap-