The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-02-11
, THE GREAT PIRATE.
All About Captain Kidd. and what $50
Wickctlly he Did,

Few names i'm the annals of our
country have been more familiar to
every class i'm the community than that
of William Kidd. Childhood has lis
tened with terror to the tales of his un-
numbered crimes, and credulOus love of
gold has sought, with the confidence of
assured success, the ill-gOtten treasures
which he buried i'm the lonely recesses
of the sea-shore. The ballads of the
nursery, too, have immortalized this
renowned freebooter of the ocean, and,
although it was. not that, "his name
was Robert Kidd, as he sailed" yet
"most wickedly he did, as he sailed,"
and, among other things, he murder
ed William Moore, and left him in his
gore not many leagues from Shore"
and when at last justice overlook him,
he made a solemn appeal to to "young
and old to see him;n most disinterest>
edly telling them they were welcome
to his gold, for by it he'd lost his soul,
and must die"
Romance also has borrowed from the
same store house, and has told us how
carefully the treasures which the pirate
and his crew concealed have been
watched over, from time immemOrial,
by certain grim-visaged parsonage,
who for valuable consideration made
known its hiding place to that curious
gentleman "ThOmas Walker" Al
though these romantic incidents have
made their abiding impression upon
the youthful imagination of thousands,
few have stopped to draw from the per-
sOnal history of Kidd the illustration
which it affords of the manner in which
Justice was administered i'm the English
courts a century and half ago.
Although from simple perusal OF
the indictments against Captain Kidd,
and the evidence adduced to sustain
them, no one would be led to imagine
that his trial had any connection what
ever with the political affairs of the
country, vet such, was the case, and
it tecomes necessary, therefore, to offer
a brief explanation of his previous his
tory, i'm order to understand the full
degree of importance which was at
tached to his arrest, trial, and cOnvic-
ton as murderer and u pirate.
The first we learn of his history was
in 1886. Before that time he had been
anenterprising shipmaster, sailing from
New York, where his family resided.
At this time there was an universal
alarm felt in consequence of the numer-
Gus acts of piracy which had then been
committed on the high seas, especial
ly in the Atlantic and Indian oceans,
and the attention of the government of
England was particularly directed to
the means of earresting the evil. The
war, which had been terminated by the
peace of Ryswick in 1907, had given
rise to an extensive system of legaliZed
piracy called 'privateering,' and many
of the vessels so employed haN ing re
ceived commissions from James the
Second, then an exile, to cruise against
the commerce of England. Many of
these privateers had laid aside the film
sy veil that covered their true character
and waged war ndiscriminately upon
whatever vessel came in their way
Under the administration of Govern
or Fletcher of New York many of these
piratical vessels sailed from ports with
i'm his government, and Smollett, i'm
his history of England, gravely affirms
that "during the war, the colonies had
grown rich by piracy" Upon the re-
moval of Fletcher from his government
the king resolved to appoint some one
who would be certain to adopt efficient
measures to break up the system of III
racy which had become so alarming;
and for this purpose commissioned
Lord BellamOnt, nObleman of hich
rank, as governor OF New York, and
soon after added the provinces of Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire to his
jurisdiction. 1t was proposed to fit out
a naval expedition to take command
of the enterprise. By a singular and
most unfortunate fatality Kidd was the
person so selected. He was then i'm
London, and was highly recommended
for the place by Mr.. Livingston, OF
New York, who had known him there,
and happened then to be i'm London
where he was consulted OH the subject
by Lord Bellamont. 1t was proposed
to fit out a government ship of thirty
guns, to be manned with a hundred
and fifty men. But there was SO MANY
difficulties interposed by the admiralty
that tile expedition, as a public o:,e.
failed, and a private adventure was
planned as substitute. 1t had two
objects in view, one to cruise against
the French with a commission as a
privateer the other to seize and send
home for trial all who had beer engag-
ed in piratical enterprises, and high ex.
pectatiOns were raised of making the
adventure profitable one. Mr.. Iiv-
ingston offered to be concerned with
Captain Kidd i'm one fifth of the vessel,
and to be bound for the faithful execu-
| ton of his mission. The king not only
cOuntenance,t the enterprise, but was
to share One-tenth i'm the profits 50
confidently anticipated to result from
it. Several of the nobility took shares
i'm the adventure, amona whom was
the Duke of Shrewsbury, Earls of Rom
ney and Oxford, and Chancellor Som
ers.
The chief management of the affair
was entrusted to Lord Bellamont,
through whom, the commission Of Kidd