The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1851-08-14
HISTORY OF LaFITTE, TIE PIRATE!

*0tstVmA Va ~ seAN
MANY thrilling romances have been writ
and much bad poetry perpe,rated, upon
life and adventures-the piratical and
ply deeds--,he h,ir-bread,h escapes and
fveIous exploits of Lafilte, the famed ~.
of the Gulf, who succeeded our llluslrl.
friend Sancho Panzs, Us Governor OF
ka,aria. Ingraham, Lippard, and some
dozen other spawners OF startling
fra,ives, have tried their hands at Lafi,te,
in due course Of time we may expect
the eternal james will catch him in bis
% spread net, cast for heroes and bloody
dents
IS very repulsive to our feelings to be
bpeled by a sense of duty rs stern his.
bsns, to dissipate much Of this romance.
lllicts Us TO the soul 10 give up delu
b, a romance, which has nourshed our
pthlul fancy, and solucei many an hour
1lcness. It's like waking from Influence
fhlorolorm. II imposes upon US a duty
repaIsive as that Of the great historian
Rome, Niebuhr, who SO ru,hessly y attack
all ths pleasing traditions about Romu-
aud Remus, the sucking wolf, hnd rope
The Sahdes, and proved that they were
ag gtries no, Ike the stories Of Sinhad
Sailor. Of Baron Munchnusen, or Cap.
a Riley and Counsellor l., posi-.
10 subtan'al facts
B the truth Of the history must be vim
ea'el, as Col Benton once remarked, in
nmenclng speech which bis opponents
d was an elaborate compound of no such
ngs. And so we must. though it snap
hear, strings Of our fancy, aid throw
10 pi our earliest traditions. avcnge the
|lih of history, of many foul wrongs il has
ceived at the hands Of the novelists and
lse writer's, by testing some sober and
scouragng truths of Latitle the Pirate of
10 Gulf.
y y
Sir, repeat that again. we eagerly re-
arked 10 venerable Frenchmsn, in whose
easant little skif, we we're quietly tack
across pascagoula Bay, not many years
Did understand you to say, that yon
Ere Intimate with Lalitte, the pirate, the
febrated buccaneer, that bloody pirate OF
Gulf, the terror Of whose name is spread
pm sea to sea, until, with his long, low,
eck schooner, that out sailed the wind he
came such an obiec, of dread that mothers
encod their children by whispering his
Ffal namer
We were out OF breath with excitement
Pu curiosity, as we finished this compre.
nsve intcrrogatory. and turned to the
hl'ng sood-natured face Of the elderly
renchman.
Yes, ne commenced with torturing slow
ess and delberaiion, sl knew the man that
na'uobers have written such wild stories
oout. should never recognize him in
Onr description. lie was nothing of that
was no not n pira,er we exclaimed
|iln biting scepticism and defiance.
Nothing Of that Sort
Nor freebooter, buccanecr. a skim
PER OF the seus, with flag of cross bones
y long, low, black, rakish vessel!'
Nothing of that Sort
wen sir, you astound me. Perhaps you
~ next deny that he ever sailed ship or
nt throat
bo,h.'
mat he was not a sailor any moro than
pirate.'
lie was neither
ht this, we broke out in a laugh and
'"p,'mented our venerable old friend up
ms skill in running circular upon
nd'lubbers. The elderly gentleman
'her dlgniiedly remarked that he didn''
&c upon serious matters; and as Lafitte
an old friend and acquaintance of his
should take no such liberties with his
Story.
rod friend of Lrf,te's! we said to our.
~. Here's pretty must to have got in
Out in little shell of a vessel, ten or
telvc miles from shore, with a particular
end Of one, who, we are assured, by the
gracious lngraham, mud dozen others. was
g bloodiest villain that skins the seas.
e involuntarily raised our umbrella the
o'y convenient weopon at hand, TO repc
hy effort Lalitte's friend might make I,
nn'sh the imper'inent inquiries into the
'Ss'erious life of the pirate.
al last, the mild countcnanco ofour com,