MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 13, 13 June 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Extkaosdhtaby Story.—A seaman, John Power, makes a statement to the following effect: —He sailed from Castelbianco, in the Havana, in the month of April, 1855, in the Spanish barque Serinna, bound to Cadiz, with bullion and stores for the Spanish

government. The barque was about three weeks on passage, and nearing the island of Albaco, when a mutiny broke out. The carpenter and boatswain were the ringleaders, and they, with three of the crew who were in the conspiracy, succeeded in killing the captain, chief mate, and five other of the hands. The longboat was then got over the side, in which operation Power had to assist, and the mutineers handed up about nine boxes of gold doubloons, about 45 inches square, and seven boxes of Spanish dollars, all of which they placed in the boat. After getting water, bread, and some wine, with a compass, into the boat, the carpenter went down into the lazaretto, aud bored four holes in the bottom with a large auger. During the course of these operations Power contrived to secure a pair of loaded revolvers. As soon as the preparations for scuttling the barque had been n ade the mutineers put off, Power with them. When they had got about two miles distant from the vessel they observed her go down. After six hours' sailing in the boat, they reached the south east side of the Island of Albaco, about two miles from the lighthouse, and there landed all the boxes of doubloons and dollars, burying them fifty paces from high water to a depth of about three and a half feet beneath the soil. They then returned to the longboat, which they broke up During the course of these proceedings a dispute was going forward, which afterwards grew hotter and hotter. Power states that he; was attacked, drew one of his revolvers, ! and shot two of his assailants. He then ran and was pursued, but making a good use of h : s weapons, in which he possessed a superiority, contrived to despatch the other three. Having disposed of his companions thus, he opened the ground, and took from one of the boxes about 80 doubloons, and put the box in the place with the rest. He then proceeded to the west end of the island, where he got off in a small wrecker bound to Nassau, from which place he went to Kingston, Jamaica, whence he eventually went to Queenstown. At that port he shipped on board the Arcadian, of Cork, bound for Savannah, and when he arrived at Savannah, he deserted, pot in a steamer for Key West. From' Key West he got by means of wreckers once more to Albaco, and recollecting well the spot where the money lay buried, raised up one of the doubloon boxes, and took from it 130 doubloons. He was taken off the island by a small vessel bound to Providence, and thence made his way to Queenstown, to j which place he brought 96 of the doubloons. I We are told that his wile after his arrival ran | away with a negro, and carried the doubloons with her. It is certain that the runaway couple was seen in Liverpool possessed of a very large 6um in coin of that description. Power's desertion of the Arcadian at Savannah

is true, and he was subsequently punished for it on his arrival at Queenstown. and it was while he was in gaol for the offence his wife eloped. But beyond this, and the fact that he certainly did bring home a large number of such valuable coins as Spanish doubloons, there is little or no confirmation of his story. His object in detailing it was to get some parties to fit out a vessel for the purpose of getting hold of the buried money, and he has sailed from Liverpool in a vessel designed to run the blockade, and that he has received a sum of £'7 and a cabin passage, as an earnest of his reward, should he be able to point out the splendid prize of which he talks

The King of Dahomey and the Grand Custom.—The advices by the West African mail steamer state that the commodore had returned from Abomy, where he had been received with all the honors customary in the bloodthirsty capital. Eight men were sacrificed on the occasion, but as a special favor to so distinguished a guest, one of the intended victims was thrown to the commodore from the platform. His life was, therefore saved, and he is now serving on bourd H.M.S. Rattlesnake. The King has offered to place Whydah in the hands of the commodore, and to rebuild the English fort, provided a governor was sent by the English Govetnment. He also informed the Commodore that if he at once complied with the wishes of Her Majesty's Government respecting the xlave trade and customs of the country he would in a.l probability be poisoned the next day, but promised that if the commodore would return in six months everything should l»e settled to his satisfaction. No treaty was signed, and from our experience of African kings, and the usual policy displayed by them on receipt of disagreeable requisitions, we are led to believe that no immediate good will result from the commodore's visit. An Irish Squire's Sports Fifty Years Ago.—The 4< Hall" was in the county of Waterford, and its proprietor was one of a wild race now happily extinct, whose life was passed between the saddle and dining room, and whose ambition was to see all his guests under the table, and to prolong his own unholy revels uutil the sun had risen upon another day. The particular specimen whose acquaintance Mr. Grattan made had one inconvenient peculiarity —he was born without legs. But still he managed to keep his seat on horseback with the boldest, to hunt his own hounds, and to tiy over everything that a horse could be brought to face.

But in addition to an ordinary pack for foxhunting, the " Squire of Knockderrig" maintained a troop of bloodhounds, and on special occasions treated his friends to a man-hunt, in which one of his own servants, smeared with blood, got twenty minutes'start of the dogs. Mr. Grattan was one of the favored few who took part in an exciting chase of this description, the last in which 44 the squire" indulged. Godroon, the human drag, armed with a light pole, with which he boutded across streams and hedgerows, rushed forward, and was in due time followed by the bloodhounds and "th* l field." Godroon's object was to reach a certain hill, and having climbed a tree, to sit secure amongst its branches until the dogs were called off and muzzled. He did reach the hill and climb the tree, but just as the pack were mounting the slope, the branch on which he was seated broke, and then began a run for life. It was a wild un wooded country. The human quarry, the dogs, the rideis, all swept forward at a fearful pace. The squire, daring as he was, saw the imminent ri 2 k, and scarcely hoped to beat off the park in time to save the life of his unhappy servani. Still Go lroon rushed on, and just as the foremost dog was upon him, sprung into a lake, followed by the pack, who were in turn followed by the riders, slashing right and left to save Godroon from their fangs. Half a minute later and the wretch's life would have been sacrificed to his master's brutal folly ; and even as it was, he was not rescued until some indelible marks of the ferocity of his pursuers had been inflicted. The Squire subsequently had the grace to killj'the bloodhounds, lest in some future excesses he might again be tempted to the verge of a great crime. The Championship of the Prize Ring.— Arrangements have been made by which Heenan, "the Benicia Boy," whose fight with Tom Sayers created so much excitement some time ago, is once more to appear in the prize ring. He is to fight with King, who won the last battle for the championship in his contest with Mace. The dny fixed is the Bth of December next, the distance to be within 100 miles of London, and the stakes £IOOO a side. Both men are over six feet in height. Heenan's backers are said to be connected with the Stock-Exchange, and one or two well known speculator 011 the turf.