The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-09-17

"Tt was over them that the great
quarrel arose. There were many OIL
us who were glad enough to win pack
our freedom, and yet who had no wish
| to have murder On our souls. IL was
one thing to knock the soldiers over
with their muskets in their hands, and
| il was another to stand by while men
we're being killed in cold blood Eight |
of us, five convicts and three sailors,
said that we would not see 1t done |
But there was no moving Prendersast
and those who were with him. our
only chance of safety lay in making
clean job of it, said he, and he would
not leave a tongue with power to Wag
| in a witness-box. 1t nearly came TO
our sharing the fate of the prisoners,
but at last he said that if we wished
we might take a boat and go. We
| jumped at the offer, for we were al
ready sick of these bloodthirsty doings,
and we saw that here would be worse
before it was done. We were given a
| suit of sailor togs each, barrel of
water, two casks, one of junk and one
of biscuits, and compass Prendergast
| threw us over chart, told us that we
were shipwrecked mariners whose ship
I and Longitude 25 degrees west, and
then cut the painter and let us 60.
"'And now | come to the most sur
prising part of my story, my dear son.
The seaman had hauled the fore-yard
aback during the rising, but now as
we left them they brought it square
, again, and as there was light wind
from the north and east the bark
!; began to draw slowly away from US.
: Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon
the long, smooth rollers, and Evans
and |, who were the most educated of
the party, were sitting in the sheets
| working out our position and planning
what cast we should make for It was
nice question for the Cape de Verbs
, were about five hundred miles to the
, north of US, and the African coast
about seven hundred to the east On
, the whole. as the wind was coming
, round to the north, We thought that
Sierra Leone might be best, and
turned our head in that direction, the
, bark being at that time nearly hull
Gown on our starboard quarter. Sud
denly as we looked at her we saw a
, dense black cloud of smoke shoot up
! from her, which hung like monstrous
! tree upon the sky line. A few seconds
: later a roar like thunder burst upon
our ears, and as the smoke thinned
away, there was no sign left of the
Gloria Scott. In an instant we swept
the boats head round again and
pulled with all our strength for the
place where the haze still trailing over
the water marked the scene of this
catastrophe.
It cit was a long hour before we
g reached 1t, and at first we feared thai
Il we had come too late to save any one
r A splintered boat and a number Of
crates and fragments of Spars risins
d and falling on the waves showed III
d where the vessel had foundered: bu
r there was no sign of life, and we haC
n turned away in despair when we hearC
y cry for help and saw at some dis
e lance piece of wreckage with a mar
II lying stretched across it. When W,
lie pulled him aboard the boat he proved
to be a young seaman of the name o
Hudson, who was so burned and ey
e, hausted that he could give us no &C
TT count of what had happened until tn,
Is following morning.
lie "It seemed that after we had lef
st Prendergast and his gang had pre-
): ceeded to put to death the FIVE remain
D. been shot and thrown overheard, ant
le so also had the third mate. Premier
er CAST then descended into the tween
n decks and with his own hands cut tn
throat of the unfortunate surgeon
in There only remained the first mate
who was bold and active man. Whel
in he saw the convict approaching hin
III with the bloody knife IN his hand h
I'd kicked off his bonds, which he ha
ut somehow contrived 10 loosen. an
gs rushing down the deck he plunged int
in the afterhold. dozen convicts, VIII
as descended with their pistols in scare
in OF him, found him with MATCHBOX i
ell his hand seated beside an open pow
der-barrel, which was one of a hundre
a. carried on board. and swearing that h
ty would blow all hands up if he were i
OF any way molested An instant late
z, the explosion occurred. though Hudso
10 thought it was caused by the misd
up rected bullet of one of the convict
III rather than the mates match Be til
cause what it may, it was the end {
the Gloria Scott and of the rabble VIII
le held command of her.
en- "'Such in a few words, my dea
oI I boy, is the history of this terrible bus
~ ness in which | was involved. Ne1
~ day we We're picked up by the brig Ho
~ spur, bound for Australia, whose ca
Re tain found no difficulty in believin
en- that we were the survivors of a pa
er onsoi snip "hien I, liau louiiuereu. II
70. down by the Admiralty as being lost
ed SEA anu no worn mas ever leahed OF
as d 70 her True tate AFTER an excellei
lat soyase tne Holspur landed@ US
as oSune9' where Evans anu changf
id. our names ana maze our way 10 u
an diggings, where among the crowds wi
he were gathered from all nations, v
ed had no difficulty in losing our form
W. identities The rest | need not relat
SO We proSpered. we travelled we can