The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-01-18
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
Copyright BY Bobbs. merrill Company
By ROGER POcoCK

1 the battles of Blenheim and Fontenoy
she was squadron leader of the
Scots Grays. The Second dragon
guards have many curious traditions
of Mother Ross" When after twelve
years military service, she ultimately
found her husband, he was busy fiirt-
! ing with a waitress in Dutch inn.
and she passed by, saying nothing.
In her capacity as soldier she was
a fiirt herself, making love TO every
! girl she met, gallant, a duelist, and
notably brave. At last, after severe
wound. her sex was discovered and
she forgave her husband. She died
in Chelsea hospital at the age of one
hundred eight and her monument. may
be seen in the graveyard.
Hannah Smell left her home because
her husband had bolted with another
woman, and she wanted to find and
kill him. In course of her search, she
enlisted, served as a soldier against
the Scots rebellion Of 1745, and once
| received punishment of five hundred
| lashes. A series of wonderful adven-
on board the British warship Swallow.
After a narrow escape from founder
| ing, this vessel joined Admiral Bosca-
wen's fleet in the East Indies. She
| showed such extreme gallantry in the
attack on Mauritius and In the siege
of Areacopong, that she was chosen
| for special work in a forlorn hope.
In this fight she avenged the death
of comrade by killing the author of
1t with her own hands, At the siege
of Pondicherry she received eleven
| wounds in the legs, and ball in the
| body which she extracted herself for
fear of revealing the secret of her
sex. On her return voyage to Eng
land she heard that she need not both
er about killing her husband, because
he had been decently hanged for MUIR
der. So on landing at Portsmouth
| she revealed herself to her messmates
as woman, and one of them prompt
ly proposed to her. She declined and
went ON the stage, but ultimately re-
ceived pension of thirty pounds a
year, and set up as a publican at the
sign of the Women in Masquerade
Anna Mills, able seaman on board
the Maidstone frigate in 1740, made
herself famous for desperate valor
Mary Ann, youngest of Lord Talbot's
sixteen natural children, was the vic
tim of wicked guardian who took
her TO the wars as his fOot-boy. AS
drummer boy she served through
the campaigns in Flanders, dressing
two severe wounds herself. Her SUBJ
seQuent masquerade as sailor led to
countless adventures. She was sea-
man on French lugger, powder mon
key on a British ship of the line,
fought in Lord Howes victory and
was crippled for life. Later she was
a merchant seaman, after that jewell
er in London, pensioned for military
service, and was last heard Of as a
booksellers housemaid in 1907.
Mary Dixon did sixteen years serv-
Ice, and fought at Waterloo. She was
still living fifty years afterward, "a
strong, powerful, old woman"
Phoebe Hessel fought in the Fifth
| British regiment of foot, and was
wounded in the arm at FOntenoy After
many years of soldering she retired
from service and was pensioned by the
prince regent, George ". A tomb,
stone is inscribed to her memory in
the old churchyard at Brighton.
In this bald record there is no room
for the adventures of such military
and naval her0ines as prisoners of war,
as leaders in battle, as victims of ship
wreck, or as partakers in some of the
most extraordinary love affairs ever
heard of.
Hundreds of stories might be told
of women conspicuous for yaler, meet
ing hazards as great as ever have
fallen to the lot of men. In one case,
the casting away of the French frigate
Medusa, the men, almost without ex-
ception, performed prodigies of cow
ardice, while two or three of the wom-
en- made a wonderful journey across
| the Sahara desert to Senegambia,
which is the one bright episode in the
most disgraceful disaster on record.
In the defenses of Leyden and Haar-
lem, besieged by Spanish armies, the
Dutch women manned the rampartS
with the men, inspired them through
out the hopeless months, and shared
the general fate when all the survivors
were butchered And the valor of
Englishwomen during the sieges of
strongholds in India, China and South
est pages of British history.