The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-05-22
LIFE OF "DYNAMITE
JOHNNY" O'BRIEN
Remarkable Experiences of the Most Famous All
Gun Runners.-Disabled Spanish
Battleship.

Being of Irish parentage, he was ia
yorably disposed toward dynamite on
general principles. When he came to
shipping crew he was forced to do
some lying, which he regretted. He
told the men that the Rambler was a
private yacht going down to Colon
to meet her owner.
"While in the Gulf of Mexico the
Rambler ran into the center of ter
rife electrical storm, while the rain
fell in sheets. There was nothing to
do but take in every stitch of canvas,
to prevent the ship from threshing
! it and herself to pieces. Never had
| O'Brien seen such a brilliant display
of electricity, nor one that lasted so
long. From sundown to sunrise the
sky was literally ablaze with dazzling
streaks of fire. 1t was a marvellous
exhibition of the heavens in a fury.
THE falling rain picked up the
electricity and carried it down until
the air they breathed was full of it,
and when O'Brien ran his hand
| through his hair it snapped and
cracked like hicory fire. Every
time he touched a piece of metal he
! felt a slight shock. There seemed
to be enough of the mysterious cur
rent running through the vessel
to set her On fire, and when,
now and then, as the rain ceas-
ed for moment and one OF
the men struck a match in the futile
effort to light his pipe, he imagined
the expected blaze had started:
IF O'Brien had been born to be
afraid he should certainly have
known the full meaning of fear that
night. Though it is doubtful if the
small boat would have lived long in
the sea that was running, OBrien
might have been tempted to abandon
his ship but for his disinclination to
frighten the crew. 1t was of them
he thought rather than of himself,
as he was not pleased with the pros
pect of causing the annihilation of
men whom he had signed under false
pretenses, even though he met death
with them"
Following this thrilling adventure,
which won for him his sobrlquet,
Johnny O'Brien laid over at Colon
and contracted an almost hopeless
case of the Chagres fever. Return
ing to New York a mere shadow of a
man, he recuperated, and for want
of something better to do took up
his old work with the He'll Gate
pilots.
Constantly on the lookout for ex-
citement, spring of the following
year found O'Brien the master of a
steamer carrying arms to Hayti,
where two black generals were hav-
! ing falling out Thus, alternately
filibustering and plotting, passed
away the eventful years of O'Brien's
life until the year of 1896, when he
became famous.
Early March Of that memorable
year found the steamship Bermuda
at anchor in New York harbor.
! Watched by suspicious eyes, her own
er, master and navigator indicted for
violation of the neutrality laws, her
cargo of arms and munitions of war
having been seized, the vessel was at
I the disposal of General Garcia, who
was anxious to get to Cuba to take a
hand in the revolution. The vessel
was empty. 1t looked black for the
cause of Cuba Libre. Dynamite
Johnny O'Brien was sent for.
1--WE want you to get cargo OF
arms on board" said the head of the
Cuban Junta. "You take command
of the Bermuda, and see that Garcia
and his staff are landed at some safe
spot. He's going to forfeit his bond,
provided you can guarantee him a
safe landing in Cuba
O'Brien said little. He is a man of
few words. But he accepted the offer,
and broached his scheme. An agent
secretly in the employ of the Jun
ta-chartered the Bermuda for a
voyage to Vera Cruz, and within a
few days the steamship was loaded
with miscellaneous assortment of
cases and bales labeled furniture,
machinery" "dried Goldfish" and the
like.
After some two thousand rifles, a
Hotchkiss feldpiece, thousand re-
volvers, ton of dynamite and large
quantity of ammunition had been
smuggled aboard the Bermuda
knowing that the government de-
tectives were watching him close