The following account was transcribed by Jill from a document found in the Mission House archives.
ELSIE MORGAN'S HEROISM
by Rev. F. J. Bomford
It falls to the writers lot to tell a story which for its mingled terror and heroism is probably unique in the annals of Methodism. It happened in the circuit in which he was the superintendent, and the memory of it is as vivid to-day as ever.
The heroine is Miss Elsie Morgan, a native of Utila, one of the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras. Although living under the Honduran flag, Miss Elsie Morgan, as she is known among her friends, is English, her great grandparents hailing from the old country. From girl hood she has been associated with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and at the time of which we are writing, was not only a member, but also organist and Sunday School Secretary.
On the night of June the 30th, 1905, the schooner Olympia, left Utila, having on board a crew of six, and the same number of passengers among the later was Miss Elsie Morgan, her married sister with her husband and infant daughter and two young girls.
As they sailed out of the Eastern harbor, little did they think that a thirteenth person (13TH) was hiding on board, with murder in his heart. He was a colored man, Robert McField, big and strong, belonging to the Island. A few years before he was respected and trusted, but giving way to evil, he lost his good name and trew off restrain.
Only three days before his terrible crime, one of our local Preachers besought him to forsake his evil ways, but in vain. Primed with rum, as it is supposed, and arming himself with the Captain guns, this man with murderous intent came on deck when the vessel was about five miles from the Island, and when all save the helmsman and look-out man were asleep, what immediately followed cannot be told here.
The confession of the murderer and the detailed account of the only survivor compeled us to believe what would otherwise have seemed incredible. When eight persons had been done to death, a hole was made in the side of the vessel large enough to ensure its sinking before daylight. compelling the four survivors to accompany him, this man with the brand of Cain now on his forehead, stepped in the dorey and made for the Island.
When they were about two miles off Utila, and just as day was breaking the ghastly work re-commenced, three out of four were either killed or drowned. Only Miss Elsie Morgan was left.
A touching incident took place on the deck of the Olympia, while the chief tragedy was being enacted, as the mate lay dying, he caught sight of Miss Morgan and asked her to pray for him, kneeling amidst that awful carnage, in which but a few minutes before her sister had been shot dead. Miss Elsie prayed by the sufferers side, we will say nothing of the utterances broken by sobs, we can only wonder at the grace which enabled a gentle lady to administer spiritual comfort to a dying man under such circumstances.
The motive of the murder is difficult to fathom, the desire for money only partly explains the crime, the amount taken was small. It is thought that revenge for fancied injuries promted the misdeed. This again is insufficient to account for the wholesale murder, as far as is known all aboard were his friends, while some had at times rendered him assistance.
Indeed the mate was his close friend, and but a few hours before, was besought by the murderer to stay at home. Only a hardening of the heart as the result of persistence indulgence in sin, and the absolute domination of the devil following upon the repeated refusals of the offers of God's grace can account for what is otherwise unaccountable.
The picture presented to us at this point in our story is appalling in the extreme. A lady of twenty three, unuse to hardships, alone in small dorey with a man whose hands are stained with the blood of eleven people, summoning all her courage and strength Miss Morgan trew herself into the sea. Several shots were fired at her, one hitting her on the elbow.
Being a good swimmer, neither the wounded arm, nor her wet clothing prevented her from making head way, and probably she would at once have gotten safely away had not a shout from the murderer chilled her as the cold salt water could not, it was the announcement that a shark was in pursuit. "I immediately swam toward the dorey", says Miss Morgan, "for I felt that I would rather be shot than eaten by a shark."
When a foot or two from the dorey, the murderer struck, either with his gun or with a paddle and so severely wounded her that she sank. Fortunately, only for a second or two was consciousness lost, with great presence of mind, Miss Elsie swam underwater as long as she was able, and when compelled to rise to the surface, she so lay on the water that only a part of her face was exposed. She distinctly saw the murderer standing on the seat of the dorey looking in every direction to make sure his 12th victim had not escaped, and paddling away, heard him say, "A dead man tells no tales," satisfied that no one was left to expose his crime.
Miss Morgan now made for the land, a distance of more than two miles, keeping as far as possible from her assailant. When almost exhausted her feet touched bottom, and a hope of reaching the land sprang up within her breast. Slowly she dragged herself over that cruel iron shore, where sometimes an angry sea dashed its victims upon the jagged edges of the rocks. It is no wonder her bare [feet] were terribly cut, and possibly a landing might never have been effected but for the sea weed that here and there made her progress less painful.
At first she thought she [could] reach home by walking along the sandy beach and by following this course she would have escaped much suffering. But the horror of the situation overpowered her, the thought of possibly meeting the man with Cain's mark upon his brow, sent her running into the bush for safety. With an open wind in her head, hair disheveled, clothes wet and torn, right arm bleeding and almost useless, her feet lacerated, without stockings and shoes and with the knowledge that eleven people had been killed, some of them her near and dear relations, Elsie Morgan who had never known a hardship began her six day lonely tramp through the swampy tropical bush.
The first morning was spent in crossing a savannah where the long thick grass cut like a knife. Then following a swamp into which she sank to the knees at every step. Worn out and utterly exhausted, she laid down and slept, waking and finding the sun still high in the heavens, she resumed her weary journey hungry and thirsty, for even water was denied her. Miss Morgan prepared to spend her first night in the bush, but everything seemed to conspire against her. The attacts of ants did not make her lot easier to bear, too weak to brush them away, she breathed a prayer of deliverance from these pests and slept until sunrise.
The second day's suffering were relieved by finding water in crab holes, some fruit of the bobwood tree left by crabs was strewn on the ground, and this served to lessen the hunger, all this day, says Miss Morgan, I was wandering in a circle without the least idea how to get out. One purpose possessed me, I must get back to Eastern Harbour to inform the people what happened.
That night she made her bed on the leaves of fresh water Palmetos, these serving their purpose well, and that was the best night sleep of all the six. When the third morning dawned, the journey was continued under a weariness almost insupportable. "Once I found myself," she said, "in a mangrove swamp so dense I could hardly see. Then it was for the first time that I wondered whether I should ever reach home. My feet cut and bruised caused me great suffering. Sometimes I was compelled to walk on the end of my skirt. Occasionally, my feet pained me so much that I was forced to my knees, and had to continue the journey in that crawling fashion."
The fourth day found Miss Morgan suffering from a terrible thirst, but happily found water at the roots of a tree. There was more than sufficient to quench her thirst, but wisely she refrained from drinking too much.
This precaution probably prevented sickness, it however, had its inconveniences. Later the same day the thirst revived with peculiar freshness. Prayer was offerd for water, and says our friend, "Shortly after I came to the same pool where I had quenched my thirst a few hours before, I was glad to drink the water, but sorry to know I had been walking in a circle all the time." The sun also caused much suffering. She says, "I had a fear of the sun, its rays seemed to strike my head with firey heat. In places where there was no shade, I was compelled to lie down and thrust my head under low shrub in this position I would remain until able to journey." In addition to the thirst and exposure to the tropical sun, there was pest, the mosquitos. Anyone acquainted with a tropical swamp knows only too well how the unfortunate traveler, unless fully protected is stung to fury by these flies. Miss Morgan was no exception.
Throughout the six days these insects pursued her unceasingly, and added considerable to her sufferings. The fifth day, like the proceeding four, brought with it insufferable thirst. Sometimes when no water was obtainable, Miss Morgan would press the ground with her bare feet, causing the brackish moisture to ooze forth, with this she would dampen her face and so obtain some relief.
On the evening of this day she prayed for rain, and shortly before sunset a shower fell. This incident is typical of all that happened during the six days, Miss Morgan says, "I never walked many steps without praying for guidance, at times I felt so weak that I prayed to be allowed to live just long enough to warne the people."
During these days of privation, pain and danger, Miss Morgan felt no alarm. "Each morning," she says, "I felt happy believing I would soon be on the beach, and then home. When after wandering I failed to find the beach, I was not disappointed, a strong belief that I was in God's hands sustained me. I was also convinced God was keeping me in the woods for a wise purpose."
During the evening of the fifth day, a shelter of sticks and leaves was built and she says, "I lay underneath this all night. The rain soaked through and I was wet to the skin, and unable to sleep, but I was happy. I quenched my thirst by sucking the leaves on which the rain had fallen."
The six day proved to be the last of Miss Morgans wanderings, she had not gone far when she came to a cocoanut garden, and in the distance beheld a man working. Then her old fear returned, and she hid herself lest this man should prove to be the murderer. Reconizing a friend, however, she approached him, it was now the man's turn to be afraid, and the explanation is simple. Believing her to be perished with all on board the Olympia, he thought he beheld her spirit. Her appearance also gave support to such an idea. Instead of the usual dressed lady, Byron Cooper beheld one on whose shoulders hung masses of clotted hair, whose dress was soiled and torn, whose hands were scarred and bronze with long exposure, her joy at the prospect of being restore to home and friends can easily be imagined. She assured her friend that she was no ghost. Fortunately at that moment Mr. J.D. Cooper, one of our oldest and most respected local preachers, appeared on the scene, with a look of utter astonishment, he asked, "whatever are you doing here?" The reply came, "I am here Uncle Jimmy, because I am a christian."
Then followed a brief account of what had taken place. Mr. Cooper would have carried her off to his dorey had she not protested, he insisted however, that she should not go barefeet, ordering the younger man to take off his shoes and to place them on Miss Elsie's feet. Mr. Cooper took her to his home. It was then on the threshold of his house and just as his wife, Aunt Kate, as she is called, was receiving her that Miss Elsie broke down, and for the first time since the dread occurance burst into a flood of tears.
When the news reached Eastern Harbour, the usually quiet community of six hundred people was convulsed with horror, it seems that the body of the infant (Miss Morgan's niece) was found the morning after the crime. Convinced that something was wrong, every available man was requisitioned to search the neighboring seas, but nothing was discovered. Various conjectures were made concerning the fate of the Olympia, such as, "waterspout has sunken her, a steamer had run her down in the darkness of the night," and so forth. Little did anyone dream what had really taken place or that the perpetrator of the crime [was] calmly discussing with the sorrowing relatives the schooners disappearance.
The truth of Miss Morgan's conviction, that she was bing detained in the bush for a wise purpose became subsequently apparent. On wednesday night the murderer left Utila for the mainland of Honduras, confident that no one lived to expose his crime. The next morning Miss Elise was found, and the truth known. Within twenty four hours the murderer was taken by surprise, arrested and placed in irons. Had he known while yet free that Miss Elsie lived, he would probably have added to his crimes, and never be taken alive. As it was, retribution quickly followed. Miss Morgan's is now quite recovered save for a stiffness in the right arm.
"CONFESSION OF ROBERT McFIELD"
On friday, the 30th of June, between seven and eight o'clock p.m. I took a dorey from Mr. Amos Howell's wharf and went onboard the schooner Olympia with the intent to murder and rob, when about two miles from East End, I came on deck with a Winchester rifle, that I bought from Mr. Albert Warren and a pistol that I bought on the Coast. Vanvick was steering the vessel when I shot him. He fell saying "O God Bob, why would you shoot me?" He was my best friend and I coaxed him not to go on the Olympia that trip. Captain White Bush heard the report of the gun, and felt the vessel lurch. Then he rushed from the cabin, and when he reached the door, I rushed towards him and shot him. He rolled down the steps and fell across Mrs. Indiana Rose, then I shot her, next I went into the hole and shot Nelson Bodden. I made Walter Rose hand me his revolver, and ordered him to go into the hole and scuttle the vessel. I called the other men aft. William Godfrey came. I told him to call Denton. He went, but stayed so long that I took a lantern and went in search of them, but they were both gone. Walter Rose and Elsie told me that they had jump overboard.
Previous to that William had helped Nelson to come on deck, but he moaned and I shot him dead, then I got the dorey over the side. Vanvick asked me to let him see his wife and children, but he groaned and I shot him dead. There was a little girl beside me (Annie Connor) I picked her up and trew her overboard. We then got into the dorey, Walter, Elsie with the baby, Della Rose and myself. I sat in the stern, and Walter was forward, the girls sitting in the bottom. The day was breaking. We were abreast of Pumkin Hill, I intended to land them and go to Westward side. Walter asked me if I was going to harm them, I told him that I would not, but later on when we were in about ten feet of water, I shot him in the back of his head. I also shot Della as her back was turned to me, she fell against Elsie's arms and I trew the bodies overboard, then I took the baby from Elsie's arms and swung it several times over my head, then let it go overboard. I showed Elsie that the revolver and rifle were both empty, but as I drew another revolver from my pocket she jumped overboard and I shot at her twice, wounding her as she swam on her back. I told her that a shark was coming after her and as she swam to the dorey I gave her two blows on the head with the butt of the rifle, she sank. I never saw her again.
Before leaving the vessel I took all the money I could find and put it in Vanvicks patakee. I landed in a little cove, just below Jacks Bight and walked to the rock Harbour, I left the patakee on the beach, took out the bag of money and hid it. I took only the gold and started for home. In record to the blood on my clothes, some was from Della Bodden as I trew her overboard.
On my way home I met Mr. Charles Cooper on this side of Bamboo, and I heard someone chopping and whistling, so I hid myself, for had either one seen me I would have killed them. I reached home about seven a.m. and found Isamina Karr in my kitchen, she asked me where I had been as I was wet and covered in blood. I said I was coming up from the Cays and had shot an alligator on the way.
All the people I murdered were my friends. I had heard White Bush and Vanvick speak of the money they were taken with them, and I resolved to get it.
FINISH
The above statement was taken on Saturday, July 8th, 1905, before the Judge and people of Utila.
After leaving the courthouse, he was taken up the Middle Path and hanged from a limb of a mango tree, thus ends the career of Robert McField.