Captain William Kidd and Others of the Buccaneers

by John S. C. Abbott

On the main avenue to the city, not far from the gate, they came upon a solitary sentry, pacing his beat. Four men crept cautiously forward in the darkness, seized him, gagged him, and brought him a prisoner to Morgan. The pirate questioned his captive minutely, respecting the troops in the city, and the means for defence. The trembling man was threatened with death by the most horrible tortures, should it be found that he had in the slightest degree deceived them. Having gained this important information, they advanced upon the city.

The march of a mile brought them to the main fort, or Castle, as it was called. The morning had not yet dawned. In the darkness they surrounded it so completely that no one could either go in or out. Morgan then sent the sentinel, whom he had captured, into the fort, with a demand for its immediate surrender.

“If you yield at once,” said the message of the pirate, “your lives shall be spared. But if there be the least resistance, or any delay, I will cut to pieces every individual within the fort. Not one shall escape.”

The commandant of the castle heeded not the threat, but opened fire upon his foes. The report of his guns roused the city. The governor, as speedily as possible, rallied all his forces and made such preparation as he could for defence. The slumbering garrison, attacked so utterly by surprise, were speedily overpowered. The pirates, breaking down the gates, rushed in, and soon gained possession of the works. The castle was but feebly prepared to repel an assault from the land side.

Morgan wished to strike a blow which should appal the whole city. The magazine was abundantly stored with powder. There was a room by its side, into which Morgan drove all his prisoners. Barring them in, he laid a slow match, applied the torch, and with his gang retired. There were a few moments of appalling silence. Then came a roar as of ten thousand thunders. The very earth shook beneath the terrific convulsion. There seemed to be a volcanic eruption of forked flame, rocks, earth, guns, and mangled limbs, and the castle disappeared. Every one of its inmates perished beneath its ruins.

The consternation in the city was terrible. There were runnings to and fro, cries of anguish from mothers and maidens, while some were seeking to conceal their treasures by throwing them into the wells or hastily burying them in the cellars and the fields. In the frenzy of the hour the governor found his attempts to rally the citizens utterly in vain. With a few soldiers he threw himself into the second and only remaining castle. The little band here assembled, knowing that no mercy could be expected from the pirates, resolved to make as many of them bite the dust as possible, before they themselves should fall. They therefore opened an incessant and well-directed fire upon their assailants.

Near by there was a cloister, where there were priests and nuns. The Spaniards regarded these religious orders with superstitious reverence. Morgan seized them all as prisoners. He ordered his carpenters immediately to make a number of scaling-ladders, so broad that four men could ascend them abreast. He then compelled the ecclesiastics and the nuns to carry the ladders and place them upon the walls of the fort. The armed soldiers followed closely behind, shielded by their bodies.

The governor believed that the life of every Spaniard would be sacrificed should they be taken. And he thought it better for both priests and nuns that they should die outright than that they should be left in the hands of the pirates. He therefore opened a vigorous fire upon the approaching assailants, notwithstanding the rampart of living bodies they had so infamously placed before them. The unhappy inhabitants of the cloister cried out piteously to the governor, imploring him to surrender the castle and thus spare their lives.

But the governor steeled his heart against their appeal. He fought with desperation. Many of the priests and nuns were shot down. But the pirates, in overpowering numbers, rushed on. They reached the top of the wall. They threw down fire-balls and hand-grenades upon the despairing defenders. When many had perished they leaped down, sword in hand, amidst smoke and flame, and mercilessly slaughtered all the survivors.

The heroic governor fought to the last. His wife and children, weeping bitterly and upon their knees, entreated him to yield, hoping that thus his life might be spared.