A bold Enterprise.
--The
Pensacola correspondent of the New Orleans Bee gives the following account of an attempt to spike the guns of
Pickens:
Were it not that I have all the particulars in this case from such responsible military authority as leaves no room for doubt, I could not have been induced to give it to your readers as a fact.
About two weeks ago a daring spirit formed the rash determination to spike the guns of
Fort Pickens.
He was a resident of
Pensacola, and knew every inch of
Santa Rosa Island, while he was perfectly familiar, from numerous visits, with the interior of the fort.
Fired with patriotism and ambition, a stranger to such a feeling as that of fear, hope became father to the wish with him, and he resolved to carry out his desperate plan without consulting a soul or letting any one into his confidence.
Provided with a bag containing his hammer and nails, he took a sail-boat, and was soon landed in the
Live-Oak Woods.
This was previous to the reinforcement of
Pickens, and when
Santa Rosa was entirely deserted and unwatched.
During a dark and stormy night, therefore, he found no trouble or difficulty in approaching the fort.
Awaiting his opportunity, he got into a barbette battery, and thrust one of his nails into the vent of a thirty-two pounder.
Just as he raised his hammer to drive in the spike, he felt a hand laid upon his shoulder, and heard the words, ‘"You are my prisoner."’
It was a young officer that had seen him get into the battery, and, creeping up behind, caught him in the very act of spiking the gun. But our hero had not failed to take into consideration such a contingency as this, and in the next second the point of his long knife was at the breast of the officer, and he said, in a tone not to be misunderstood, ‘"You are my prisoner, and if you utter one word you are a dead man!"’ That the officer was rather amazed at finding he had caught a Tartar can be easily understood; nor is it to be wondered at that he readily agreed to let the intruder depart in safety, with a warning not to repeat his rash attempt.
Any one would suppose that such an experience as this would satisfy the bravest man, but it was not so with our hero.
A few nights after he again tried to get into the fort, with his hammer and spikes, and was made a prisoner.
Carried before
Slemmer, he boldly avowed the purpose of his visit, and asserted his readiness to accept the penalty.
Now, however, the officer who had before detected him generously interfered in his behalf, and told the story.
Lieut. Slemmer gave him a severe lecture, and sent him back to
Pensacola with information that if caught again it would not be thought necessary to go through the formality of a court-martial.
