Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-03-10

Capt. Kidd
Douglas Campbell of New York, takes
I the gronnd that Capt. Kidd instead Of be
/ ing the freebooter and murderer he is
painted, was in reality Il loyal subject Of
the king, and fell victim to the political
/ persecution of his friend and whig patron.
Lord Chancellor SOmers, by the tory lords
who came into power in the last days Of
William Ill Kidd was by birth an Irish
man or Scotchman (fOr both countries
( claimed HIM, who distinguished himself as
a privateer commander in the war against
/ the French, and with the wealth acquired
from privateering settled in New York.
/ His house was in Liberty street near Mas
sau. During the Leisler anarchy, which
preceded the arrival of the earl Of Bella
monte, Kidd rendered the city valuable
services, for which the governor and assem-
| bly, presented him fl50. So great was his
reputation as a successful naval officer that
| the colony of Massachusetts,, in 1861, tried
/ 10 hire him to take charge of an expedition
against privateer which was then ravaging
their coasts. Piracy and freebOoting had
/ then grown 10 most alarming extent, eS-
/ pecially in the Indian ocean. Many of
them were sOi-disaGt privateers from New
| York and other American colonies, who,
beginning with the pursuit of French and
I Spanish ships, in the end extended their
/ operations to those of all nations. II was
to put dOwu these 'Rel sea men, as they
were called, that Kidd was sent out in the
Adventure galley with his crew of Scape-
graces and desperadOes. Among his patrons
and partners in the expedition were Somers,
Halifax, and other powerful whig lords,
and even the king himself offered TO invest
e3, 600 in the undertaking. Arrived in the
Indian ocean, Kidd found his insubordinate
crew more ready TO take sides with the
pirates than TO fight them. He captured
some vessels which he claimed were sailing
under French papers IL was his misfor-
tune that this mutinOus crew prevented his
taking them before 4 prize court. After
his capture Of the Quedagh merchant,
owned by MOOrs, and which was made
the basis Of the principal charge against
HIM. 80 of the crew deserted and joined the
pirates. The others endeavOred 20 per-
suade him by threats to turn pirate and
take the Loyal Captain, an armed English
ship, which was sailing in his company.
Kidd steadily refused. and in an alteration
growing out Of the affair he struck William
Moore, one OF his petty officers, over the
head with a bucket, infiicting fatal injuries.
He was recalled TO Boston. where Lord
Bel!amont took his papers containing the
French papers Of the ships he had captured,
and which he was never after able to OBJ
tain, although his life depended upon their
f.rp NJ milo ha tho NJ
had suffered defeat in the parliamentary
elections, and tory ministry had come in,
eager to revenge themselves on the whiS
chancellor, SOmerS. by proving Kidd a
pirate and then impleading Somers for hav-
ing affixed the great seal of England TO
kidd's commission. Kidd, who had now
assumed the dignity Of Il state prisoner,
WAS taken to England in the nlau-of-war
Active. which had been dispatched to bring
him. The lords OF the admiralty. the sworn
enemies of the lord chancellor, subjected
him to long and tOTtuOus examination, in
which they StrOve to induce him TO impli-
cate the lord chancellor in his transactions,
bu; without effect. kidd's fidelity was
not to lie shaken. On the S0;h Of March
l1Ol, he was ordered for trial at the Old
DLilEN. dAli4 lsiiNl
the tory leader in the House of Commons.
introduced the resolutions impcaching
SOmers. The formal articles, which were
not submitted till two months later, after
Kidd's trial and conviction, charged the
lord chancellor with being implicated with
/ ''William Kidd. person of evil fame and
reputation. and since that time convicted
Of piracy Kidd was really hanged in
order 40 belp out the Impeachment of
| Somers. His trial. in which he was denied
access to his papers, and confronted by
host Of law lords and kings counsel all
anxious for his conviction, wasa mOnstrous
farce Even his two sailCrs, who turned
mformers were forced to admit, on cross
examination. tha; Moore was killed in an
angry alteration and in a manner that
showed 10 prcmeditation or intention TO
cause death. One Of them testified that on
the capture Of the foreign merchantmen,
/ Kidd showed him papers which he (the
wItnesSl could not read, but which Kidd
I informed him were French. The Lord
/ Chief Baron Wood put insulting questions
I 10 kidd's witnesses, and the court unlni-
mouslv refused to allow him time to get his
papers from Lord Bellamont IN America.
/ Military and naval officers testified to the
prisoners splendid courage in the French
war, and Col. HewsOn told how Kidd. with
/ two English ships, whipped six Frenchmen
! in a desperate sea fight. The witnesses re-
| pudiated with scOrn the charge that they
had ever known him TO be guilty of piracy
or anything approaching it. Kidd was
denied counsel, was hampered by legal
tricks. and brow-beaten and Oyer-pOwered
by the six partial judges ON the bench and
the five cunning lawyers opposed to HIM.
/ His trial was ''railroaded.' IL began May
/ S, two verdicts, one Of murder and the
other piracy, were brought in on the 9th
and on the 18th, three days following, Kidd
was hanged in execution dock. The i'm
parchment of SOmers, which the tories had
thought to carry by the aid Of Kidd's death,
failed, the House of Lords throwing out
tine articles. History has done full justice
: TO the character of the great whig chancel-
lor. while that of his friend, William Kidd,
/ the New York sailor, has for six genera
tions rested under undeserved Ignominy.