Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 167, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1912 — A PRISONER BY PROXY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PRISONER BY PROXY

REAL STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF A MASTER ADVFNTORER

By CAPTAIN GEORGE B. BOYNTON CPYRIGHT BY RIDGWAY COMPANY

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(Editor’s Note—Capt.' George B. Boynton died a few months ago In Brooklyn. He served, all told, under eighteen Sags and his life has furnished much mafSHal for fiction. This is a story of some of his adventures told by himself for the first time.)

N the old days, when I was cavorting with contraband throughout the West Indies and South America I ran into one unpleasant Incident which left me with a large moral —or immoral, according to the point of view—obligation on my hands. During a quiet spell I had bought, at a bargain, a little schooner at St Thomas, loaded her with mahogany at Santo Domingo j and start-

ed for Liverpool to see what was going on in that part of the world. We were caught In a heavy gale and were forced to run into Yarmouth, Nova where we arrived in a sinking conditon. On the false charge that my papers were forged, the agent for .Lloyds’, with whom the ship was Insured, seised the vessel as I was having her repaired and had me arrested for barratry. I was taken to Halifax, where I was put to considerable inconvenience in securing bail. I pleaded my own case and, as soon as I could get a hearing, was released, but in the meantime the agent for the underwriters had libeled my ship and sold her at auction, and her new owners had sent her away to South America. My last real adventure had ended with the burial of the Leckwith, which in the Red Sea, and I was'fiungry for some new excitement —the very essence and Bole enjoyment of my life. While casting about for something to satisfy my appetite, the recollection of the Yarmouth outrage came over me and I decided to steal a ship and let the underwriters pay for her, as partial compensation for the one they had stolen from me. After a survey of the available supply, I hit on the Ferret, a handsome and fairly fast lit-' tie passenger steamer belonging to the Highland Railway Company, which was < lying at Gourock Bay on the Clyde. They would not let her out on a general charter, which was what I wanted, so I concluded to charter her for a -.year for a cruise in the Mediterranean, with the option of purchase for fourteen thousand pounds at the end of that time. All of the negotiations were conducted and the deal closed by Joe Wilson, my trusted aide, and I was careful to impress him with the necessity for the insertion of the option-of-pur- y chase clause. I had so much confidence in him that I did not closely examine the charter papers and not until it was too late did I discover that he had neglected the one vital point. My plan was to gd-baeh owEBBt and dig up the guas Fraflli Norton and I had buried "‘lff * little island when we left the China Sea, and perhaps resume the unholy occupation of preying on the pirates between Singapore and Hong Kong< I wanted the option-of-purchase clause‘inserted in the charter partly as a sop to my conscience and partly with the idea that if we were, by any remote chance, appre- > hended before we reached the China Sea I could announce that I had exercised my option and was prepared to pay for the ship. With the delivery of the charter, in proper form, as I supposed, I made a great show of 1 fitting the ship out for a yachting cruise, at the same time smuggling on board two small cannon and a lot of rifles and ammunition. Lorensen, my old captain, was seriously ill, so I took on as sailing-master a. man named Watkins. He was well recommended, but it later developed that he had a strain of negro blood and a well-defined streak of yellow. Tom Leigh, one of my old men, was first officer, and next to him was George Ross, another new one. <- ■ We coaled at Cardiff and cleared for Malaga. We passed Gibraltar late in the afternoon, as was intended, and signaled “All well’’ to the observer .for Lloyds’. As soon ts it was dark v we headed over toward the other shore for . twelve or fifteen miles and then stood straight out to sea again. As we the second__ change in our course we stove in a couple of our boats and threw them overboard, along with a lot of Hfe-preservers. I wanted to make it appear that the Ferret had foundered, and we rah into a heavy blow which dovetailed beautifully into my scheme. At daylight we were well clear of Gibraltar but within sight of the Moroccan coast. I called the crew aft and addressed them to this effect: "Taking advantage of the option-of-purchase clause in the charter I now declare myself the owner of this ship and will pay for her, as stipulated, at the end of the period for which she is chartered. We are going on a very different trip from that for which you signed. It will be attended by some danger but, probably, by profits which will more than compensate you for the risk you run. ‘ Those of you who wish to go with me will receive double pay. a bonus of fifty dollars for signing new papers, and a share of the profits from the trip. Those who do not care'to go may take a boat and go ashore.” Every man agreed to stay with me. I thereupon rechristened the ship the India —a name legitimately held by a vessel on the other side of the world, as was indicated by Lloyds’ register—fired a gun and dipped the flag and declared her in commission. At the same time I rechristened myself, a oeremony to which I was equally accpstomed, and took the name .Of James Stuart Henderson. I presented the ship with a new log and dbrtificato of registry and other necessary papers from the counter-

felt blanks I always carried, and all, of the men signed the new ar- _ ticks!. We then headed for Santos, Brazil, with the Idea of keeping clear of British waters until the loss pf the -Ferret had become an established fact. On the way the brass plate on the main beam, showing that the engines were built for the Ferret, was removed and the new name took the place of the old one everywhere about the ship. The chart - room and wheelhouse were taken off the

bridge and rebuljt over the wheel amidships. Some of the upper works were stripped, away and the whole appearance of the vessel was changed to such an extent that even her builders would, hardly have recognized her. At Santos I bought outright a cargo of coffee and headed for Cape Town, South Africa, where I consigned it to Wm. G. Anderson & Son, with instructions to sell it for cash, and quickly. I made Leigh sailing-master, and we cleared light for Australia, with a short stop at the Mauritius for coal. We coaled again at Albany, West Australia. From there we went to Port Adelaide, South Australia, and then on to Melbourne, where we came to grief. Off Fort Philip Head we signaled for a pilot and a canny Scot came aboard. He seemed suspicious of us from the first and I noticed that he was studying the ship closely as we steamed up to anchorage off Williamstown. I landed at once and went to the Civil Service Club Hotel to recuperate from a bad case of malaria which I had contracted at the Mauritius. While not alarmed by.the apparent suspicion of the pilot I was impressed by it and gave strict orders to Leigh to allow no one ■to come gboard. ~~Letgli*r~Tme weakneea wgr* - drink, and to guard against his becoming helplessly intoxicated I instructed Wilson either to remain on board or visit the ship every day. My fever grew worse after I went ashore, and in two or three days the doctor decided that I should have a nurse, as I was all alone. The doctor was with me when the nurse arrived, and as the latter entered the door the doctor made a quick movement as though something had startled him, looking in amazement from one of us to the other. I could not imagine what had happened until he said: "That man looks, enough like you to be your twin brother! I never have seen such a resemblance between two men!” I surveyed the nurse more critically and saw that we did look strangely alike, even to the scarred face. The nurse said his name was William and that he had arrived in Melbourne only two or three days before from Tasmania, where he had worked in the Hobartstown hospital. While I was recovering at the hotel, events were transpiring in connection with the ship. Wilson, it developed, soon relaxed his vigilance and gave himself up to pleasures ashore, but without coming near me, whereupon old Leigh blithely betook himself to his beloved bottle. After a few days the shrewd Scotch pilot paid the ship a friendly visit, found Leigh full ihree sheets in the wind, encouraged him to proceed with his potations until he fell asleep and then went over the ship at his leisure, taking measurements and making observations. / 'Naturally, his measurements corresponded ■ exactly with those of the Ferret, which had been reported as missing. I was greatly surprised when, late one afternoon .about ten days after our arrival at Melbourne, I received word from Joe that the ship had been recognized as the Ferret and seized; that be had taken to the bush and that I had better disappear as quickly and quietly as possible if 1 wished to escape arrest, for the officers were looking for both of us. I. told Nourse that a warrant was out for my arrest on some technical violation of the port regulations, and that, while I had no fear of the result of a trial, I did not feel strong enough to go through with it, and therefore I intended to leave at once, and secretly, and stay away until the trouble blew over. He agreed to go with me, and soon after dark we left the hotel quietly by a rear entrance which opened on an alley. * -We engaged a carriage and drove to a suburb on the railroad running to Sydney. On the long drive to became convinced that my capture was certain, for the country was so thinly settled that we were sure to attract attention and be easily followed, while if I stuck to the railroad I was sure to be apprehended. In seeking some new way out of the dilemma I "conceived the Idea

of having Nourse take my place. “What do you say, Nourse, to changing places with me and letting yourself be arrested, If it comes to that?” “I had been thinking of that very thing,” ' he replied. “I don’t care much what happens to me, but I am not exactly hungry for a long term in Pentridge. If this thing is no worse than you say it is, though, I’ll swap places with you and see it through for two hundred pounds.” I accepted his terms without argument. As soon as we reached Longwood we exchanged clothing, even dofm to our underwear, socks and shoes. We had just finished dinner and were sitting alone in the hotel office, rehearsing the part Nourse was to play, when a sergeant and two officers, who had got track of us at Seymour, rode up on horseback. The orders of the officers called for the arrest of only one .man, so I was, not interfered with. I did not return to Melbourne on the same train with them the next morning, but went down by the one that followed it. The flrst thlhg.l heard was that Joe, who had taken the train ahead of me, had been captured at ' Albury, and was on his way back, in charge of an officer, to Join Leigh and my counterfeit presentment behind the bars. I at once engaged Purvis, the best barrister in Australia, to defend them, and later employed Glllot & Snowden, another high-class firm, to assist him. Nourse was as game as a hornet and played his part well. Thd trial was held before Judge Williams and resulted in a conviction. I had expected no other verdict, for, with the option-of-pur-chase clause missing from the charter, it was a clear case. Nourse and Wilson were sentenced to seven years and Leigh to three and one-half years in Pentridge Prison. With the time deducted for good behavior this meant five years and three months for Nourse and Joe and less than three years for Leigh. When the case assumed a more serious aspect than I had believed it would when I bargained with Nourse to take my place I sent word to him that I would pay him well if he would “play the string out,” and as soon as I left the town I deposited $5,000 which was to be paid to blm when be was released. I spent some time and considerable money in an effort to secure a pardon for my companions, bat when I found that was impossible I returned to England, with a promise to be back in Australia by the time their terms expired. With my return to London ip the early eighties the old lure of the West Indies, with their continuous riot of revolutions, came over me so strongly that I could not hold out against it, nor did I try. v 1 was much interested in reports which reached me, through'contraband channels, that a new revolution was shaping up in Costa Rica and that there was a prospect of trouble in Hayti and even In Venezuela. I took the first ship for Halifax and went from there to St. John, New Brunswick, where ‘ 1 bought the fore-and-aft schooner George ▼. Richards. I took her to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I loaded up with old Sharp’s and Remington rifles and a lot of ammunition and, after burying them under sixty tons of coal, sailed for Venezuela to see what was going on in Guzman’s absenoe. I found that General Alcaatarp was acting as dummy President, while enjoying himself in Europe, and I soon satisfied myself, from remarks dropped by his friends in response to my guarded inquiries, that be xuela in fast as wep as In name. The movement to oveithiow Gusman was, in fact taking definite form, and I sold a part of my arms to Alcantara** Mends. Gusman had heard of srfaat was going on and, as I subsequently learned, he returned to Veneeaets a few months later, before the

revolt that was being hatched had broken its shell. The Government was promptly turned over to him by Alcantara. The Costa Ricans were, I found, in the midst of one of* their periodical hut always quite futile efforts to depose their President, General Tomaso Guardia, and I had no difficulty in disposing of my arms and ammunition, which I exchanged for a cargo of coffee. With the cargo of coffee we headed for New Orleans, where I sold it. While the coffee was coming out stores were swiftly going in, and we were but of the river again and on our way to Hayti in recordbreaking time. Though I had good caube to remember Santo Domingo I never had been in the “Black Republic,” and, as I bad heard these was a probability of some lively times there, I determined to visit it before I returned to New York. But the crankiness of the Richards interfered with my plans. When we were about one hundred miles west of -Key West the old ship committed suicide by burning herself to death. The fire jJtarted in the hold amidships, but we could not even imagine what might have caused It. It was so unexpected that It had a good start before we discovered it. We fought it, of course, but we might as well have tried to quench a volcano in eruption. The strange craft had made up her mind to go under, and there was nothing for us to do bpt take to the whaleboat,' which was large enough for all of us, as I had only a small crew. After we had shoved off we returned at considerable risk to rescue a big black eat which was on the ship when I bought her. We had christened him “John Croix” Our humanity was well rewarded, for John saved our lives, or at least saved us from a lot of suffering. Eventually we drifted among the islands to the westward of Key West and we headed for the largest one in sight. In the heavy sea that was running we made a bad mess of the landing. Our boat was overturned and stove in, the hung came out of the watercask and all of our supplies and most of our instruments were lost. Early In the morning the cat awakened fits by rubbing against my face. At first 1 thought he was only depressed, like the rest of us, and wanted company, but he pestered around until I got up and followed him. Calling to me over his shoulder, he led the way to a clump of mangrove trees, whose roots overhung the bank three feet above high tide. John trotted under the mass of roots and began so purr loudly. I started to follow him and then backed out, but the cat yowled so loudly that 1 got down on all fours again and followed him. I crawled along for ten or twelve feet until I found John standing over a rivulet of fresh water about as big as my linger. .*r I drank my fill frm It and then awakened the others and told Ihem of John’s discovery. They hailed him as our savior, and when he came trotting into camp a couple of hours later with an oyster in his mouth they were ready to beatify him. Strengthened and encouraged, we patched up our boat and, when the storm had Mown itself but, put to sea again, and encountered a little schooner from St. Johns, Fla., which took us to Key West, where we soon got a ship for New York. I returned to Melbourne In 1885, after an absence of about four years, and went to Menzies’ Hotel, which was not the one I had •topped at before —when I was James Stuart Henderson. When Nourse and Wilson were released from prison the former scurried across Bass Strait to his old Tasmanian home with the money I had paid him for so successfully impersonating me. He considered that he-had been well compensated and expected to Invest his capital in some smaH business, to which affluent position, under ordinary conditions, be never could have aspired with any degree of coniMwicfl. -i ■ • v - ■. 4. • TT. 7 ■ *■•‘■s *.l <■ v-'..*• * tv>>