The Book of Pirates and Highwaymen (9 page)

The Spanish admiral had allowed them only two days for reflection, at the expiration of which he was to attack them. That period had elapsed, and he had not appeared; nor, indeed, had they heard any thing spoken concerning him. In fact, the Spaniards had so calculated on the superiority of their force, that all precipitation on their part seemed unnecessary. They did not consider that these men, who were so formidable in their operations, would find in despair an increase of energy. In short, the Spaniards, blinded by conceit, disdained to observe, that with such men they had not an hour to lose; and thus left Morgan the time that was necessary to complete his preparations for a most desperate attack.

Assassination Of Count Jacucco

In 1818, while the King of Naples and Cardinal Gonsalvi were occupied at Rome in giving sumptuous feasts, the
Campagna
of Rome and the mountains were infested with a great number of Brigands, who devastated the country, and committed the most atrocious crimes.

… The bandit De Cessaris was at that time committing great atrocities in the vicinity of Amigri and Frosinone. Among other barbarities which he committed, the following is enough to make one shudder with horror; Count Jacucco, of Anagri, was going one day with his two daughters, on foot, through his grounds, one mile distant from the town of Anagri, when he was surprised by De Cessaris and ten of his band. The count and his two daughters were seized, they were forbidden to speak, and the robber demanded 10,000 crowns of them as their ransom. The Count replied that he consented to this demand, but that it was necessary to write home, as he did not carry such a sum about him. ‘Very well,’ said Cessaris, ‘come with me to the mountains, and write from thence, and we will allow you to go when we get the money.’ The poor count was very corpulent, and could not walk, as the assassins said, and they were afraid of a surprise, being so close to the town. In fact, the gen-d’armerie of Anagri had received intimation of the approach of the Brigands, and were making preparations to pursue them, without having much hope of rescuing the captured family. The Brigands hearing of this pursuit, and the count not being able to walk, they killed him on the spot before the eyes of his daughters; he fell under seven or eight strokes of the stiletto. The assassins then took the girls on their shoulders, who seeing their father thus sacrificed, and themselves in the arms of the Brigands, became so dreadfully alarmed, that one of them lost her reason. The gendarmes following the traces of the Brigands, found the count still alive, but who died a few moments afterwards.

The pursuit of the gendarmes continued, but was quite fruitless, as they never overtook the assassins. At the end of two days, letters came from the two girls to their uncle, requiring that 10,000 crowns should immediately be sent, when from thirty to forty persons were to be liberated, who were detained like themselves. The uncle sent the desired sum, and at the end of five days, during which time they were detained for the amusement of the robbers, the two girls were released. They could give no account of where they had been, as they were conducted blindfold to the bottom of the mountains, where they found provisions, which the robbers took on their mules, and then conducted them, almost dead, to their home.

Since then, De Cessaris has continued his crimes.

Piracy, Murder And Rape: Part Two

The morning was not far advanced, when the sun dipped at once into a dark and tempestuous ocean of clouds; the wind began to whistle loudly through the rigging; and the prisoner could now clearly perceive that the weather was threatening, when he felt a flurried motion of the ship, and heard a voice, which he knew to be La Force’s, in the broken and feeble accents of intoxication, call ‘Put her before the wind, and let her go where she pleases.’ It now became evident, from the rushing of the water, that the velocity of the ship’s progress was tremendously increased; and it was equally evident, that there was a general incapacity of the crew to manage her. The wind now blew very fresh, and the ship went through the water at a rate of ten miles an hour. The night looked dreary and turbulent: the sky was covered with large fleeces of broken clouds, and the stars flashed angrily through them, as they were wildly hurried along by the blast. The sea began to run high, and the masts showed, by their incessant creaking, that they carried more sail than they could well contain.

… De Tracy lay in speechless agony and utter despair; the noise and confusion on deck every moment increased; and, while musing on the probability of being dispatched by these villains, infuriated by drunkenness as they now were, to his astonishment he heard himself accosted by name, and in friendly language, by his faithful Dugald. ‘My loved and injured master, put your trust in Him whose power can still the tempest,
THE HOUR IS COME
!’ In a moment the lock was turned, and the door opened; the same faithful voice said, ‘Take this sword, and follow me in silence; if you have the courage to avenge the unutterable miseries and death of your beautiful and wretched wife and daughters, come, for the hour is at hand, and by the help of the Almighty, who protects you, and will avenge your wrongs, I will support you.’ The unhappy husband followed with a resolved step and in silence, as he was bid.

They came on deck, where, by the gleam of a torch nailed against the mast, and the quick succession of lightning, which now flashed fiercely and rapidly, Dugald silently pointed to a scene which the hope of sure and immediate revenge rendered inexpressibly sweet. The infamous La Force and ten sailors, though nearly overcome with wine, were seated on deck: the remainder of the crew had been conveyed below in a state of complete intoxication and insensibility. The scene might be conceived to resemble the revelry of evil spirits in their infernal regions; some shouted, some sang, and they blasphemed the Being whose all-seeing eye even now rested on them in its anger; one loud din of cursing and carousal echoed far and wide: the mingled clamours which ascended from this scene of wickedness and debauchery partook of all the evil qualities of debased minds, and the most infamous pursuits, and cannot be described. Discord and confusion had their full share in the tumultuous conference between La Force and his diabolical confederates, who were vociferously debating on the share they were respectively to enjoy of the plunder and destruction of the miserable De Tracy and his family. Louder and louder grew the horrid clamour of blood; recriminations followed, with boasting declarations of the part each had taken in the horrible transaction of the previous night; the nature and extent of his injury was thus fully developed to the agonised De Tracy. The drunken ruffians soon came to blows amongst themselves; they drew their weapons generally; and ill-directed blows and ineffectual stabs were given and received in the flashing and unsteady light.

De Tracy, gliding like a spectre amongst them, thrust one of them through and through; a second, a third, and a fourth dropped from his sword, ere they saw who was amongst them; in the mean time Dugald’s arm had been faithful, and three of the wretched miscreants had fallen beneath his trusty weapon. La Force, on the first recognition of De Tracy, and Dugald fighting at his side, leaped upon an arm chest, and discharged his pistols. De Tracy and Dugald, with one impulse, but still in deadly silence, sprang upon him, and in a few moments he was also stretched among the slain. Three yet remained unhurt; but dispirited by their loss, and terrified at the unexpected visitation, they were quickly lying with their infamous companions.

De Tracy and Dugald now barricaded the gangway, and secured the cabin and the hatches; and after returning thanks to God for his merciful interposition, De Tracy, with a fainting and a heavy heart, inquired of his faithful servant for his wife and children! The honest and affectionate heart of Dugald melted as he gave the narrative. The convulsive sobs and groans of the wretched husband audibly told his agony and distress, and seemed to threaten the termination of his own existence. Of the brutal dishonour of his wife and daughters, he was already too well informed; but he had yet to be told their ultimate fate. His tortured brain had yet to learn, that his youngest daughter had not survived the horrible treatment she had received; that his eldest son had, in youthful indignation, lifted a weapon against La Force in his mother’s defence, and had been literally hewn to pieces by the barbarian before her eyes! That his wife, with his youngest son and the infant, had been forced into a small canoe with his mulatto servant, and set adrift during the height of the gale; and that at the moment of their departure, his eldest daughter, in a state of exhaustion and insensibility, had been thrown into the sea to her raving mother, in mockery of her cries for her remaining child, and had there perished, in her sight! The possibility of a slight and crazy boat out-living the hurricane of the preceding night was all the hope that remained to the unhappy De Tracy of the wretched remnant of his family.

As dawn approached, the storm increased in violence; the gale roared through the rigging; and the sea, upturned by sudden and heavy gusts of wind, showed, as far as the eye could see, the dark and tremendous furrows so fatal to the mariner. Heavy billows now rolled around the ship, nearly as high as her mast-head, and now flashed and swept over the deck; the vessel hurried onwards with a terrific rapidity; her seams admitted water, and on every side symptoms manifested themselves of her speedy destruction; the only chance of safety lay in standing out to sea, by keeping the ship before the wind; and Dugald, with that view, determined to lash himself to the helm. In this attempt, a sudden lurch of the vessel shifted the rudder violently, and he was laid prostrate and senseless on the deck, by a blow from the tiller, and De Tracy hastened to his assistance.

At this moment a figure, that crouched amongst the slain, and seemed one of their number, started on its feet before the astonished De Tracy, vigorous and unhurt; it was La Force, who had escaped his fate from the swords of De Tracy and Dugald, by a breast-plate of mail, which he wore beneath his clothes, as a measure of precaution against the treachery of his own crew; and who, to avoid a personal encounter with two determined men, had sunk, unhurt, among his companions at their first attack. Before De Tracy had recovered himself from the surprise at his appearance, the miscreant had fired a pistol-shot, which, unhappily, took effect in his right shoulder, and before he could either grapple with his murderous opponent, or take any measures for farther defence, La Force had completed his monstrous career of evil, and the broken-hearted De Tracy was released from his earthly suffering which oppressed him. The unhappy man received the dagger of La Force in his chest, and he was mercifully spared pangs of recollection: his death was instantaneous.

Dugald, from the effects of his blow, was still insensible to all that passed; and La Force experienced no opposition to all his measures. He instantly attached one or two cannon shot to the corpse of the unhappy man, and unrelentingly consigned it to the devouring deep. He proceeded to secure Dugald, before his recovery from his accident should render it difficult or impossible. He dragged him to the mast, to which, ere his senses had returned, he found himself bound hand-and-foot. The exulting fiend now seemed to have overcome all obstacle to the full completion of his crime, and wanted but the assistance of his fellows, who were still fastened below, totally incapable of any exertion.