In the wake of the buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

From one captive captain Morgan learned by means of torture that the entire force in the city was less than three thousand, and, also discovering how the forts and guns were disposed, he planned to change his route to the city. But the pirates had not won the day without loss, though their three hundred men killed or wounded were far less than the six hundred dead and several hundred wounded among the Dons.

With their captives in the van, the pirates rushed on the town, fighting doggedly at every turn, cut down by volleys of musketry and cannon shot, mutilated by scrap-iron with which the Spaniards had charged their howitzers, and after three hours of desperate fighting and heavy loss won the low-arched bridge and poured, shouting and yelling, into the town.

Then hell broke loose in earnest. The buccaneers, mad with fighting, frenzied at the losses inflicted upon them, drunk with lust of blood, ran [[366]]hither and thither, shooting, cutting, stabbing all they met; looting right and left, yelling like fiends, and ripping and tearing tapestries, hangings, and paintings from the houses.

With difficulty, and only after shooting down several of his men, Morgan succeeded in gathering them together and commanded them under threat of the most severe punishment to refrain from touching wines or liquor,—not that he had any scruples against drinking, but because he feared poison. Also, no doubt he wished to prevent his men from becoming so befuddled with drink that the Spaniards could retake the city.

This matter being settled, Morgan turned his men loose once more, and from building to building, from house to house they ran, slashing priceless furnishings, battering down doors, trampling silks and velvets underfoot, destroying, murdering, looting. From their hiding-places they dragged cowering, trembling women, and in a stream the captives and the loot were carried to Morgan.

But, as we have seen, the most valuable treasures, the gold and silver and jewels of the churches, the bulk of plate and bullion from the treasury, the greatest private fortunes, had been carried to sea, and Morgan, in a towering rage, sent vessels in chase and in his fury burned the town. In addition, [[367]]he sent searching parties into the woods and these returning brought prisoners from far and near about the country-side, who were “presently put to the most exquisite tortures imaginable to make them confess both other people’s goods and their own.”

One man happened to be garbed in “taffety breeches” belonging to his master, and the pirates assumed from his raiment that he was a person of position. Moreover, he had a small silver key hanging at his belt. Questioned as to where the cabinet to which the key belonged was secreted, the poor trembling fellow declared he was a servant and knew not where his master had taken the cabinet. Instantly, Morgan had the terrified, babbling serving-man placed upon the rack and disjointed. This failed to wring from his tortured lips the secret he was supposed to know, and the pirates twisted a cord about his forehead until, as Esquemelling assures us, “his eyes appeared as big as eggs and were ready to fall from his skull.” Finding that even this had not the desired result, Morgan had him hung up, beat him almost to death, cut off his ears and nose, singed his face with burning straw, and finally had a negro run him through with a lance and put an end to his agonies.

“After this execrable manner did many others [[368]]of those miserable prisoners finish their days,” says Esquemelling, and adds: “The common sport and recreation of these Pyrates being these and other tragedies not inferior.”

Sex or age made no difference. Children and women were tortured, ravished, and murdered, although when those of evident high standing and wealth were taken, they were usually put aside and kept in safety for ransom.

For three long weeks the pirates wrought their will in Panama; and then, having scraped it bare, having desolated the country about, and having secured every man and woman within reach, Morgan prepared to leave. On February 24, 1671, he evacuated the ruined town and with one hundred and seventy-five mules laden with gold, silver, and precious stones, silks and velvets, satins and brocades, and accompanied by over six hundred prisoners began his return march toward San Lorenzo and the Atlantic.