Omaha daily bee., 1888-02-27
Death of n Pirate King.

New York Times: A vessel from
Honolulu brings the news of the death
of a man whose history is as thrilling
as that of any pirate king OF yellow
covered literature. Twenty-Five years
ago he was pirate king as brave and
as wicked as pirate kings are. Since
then he has been n hermit. In the days
of his wickedness and power he COM
manded vessel called the Red Cloud.
staunch. unusually fast. and furnished
with powerful guns. Periodically this
craft disappeared from the seas, and in
her place would come another, all in
sombre black. and named the Black
Cloud. This piece Of theatrical effect,
which cost nothing more than q little
paint, had its expected influence upon
the superstitious minds of the sailors
who were sometimes sent in pursuit of
the vessel. Most of them fully believed
that there was something uncanny
about the craft, and that her captain
had supernatural help. In those days
he was the terror of the South Pacific
seas, and the British government set a
big price upon his head. Hundreds of
attempts were made to capture him by
fair fight and by traps and by every
means that could be devised, But he
elluded all the traps, came out cictor-
ious in all the fights and in every case
sailed away with the traditional scorn-
full laugh of the pirate king. He had a
Spanish name which nobody remembers
now, and he was supposed to belong to
that nationality, although he spoke
Spanish, English, French and German
all with equal iluency.
AT last young English nObleman,
loving adventure and desirous of the re-
ward, undertook to capture him After
cruising around in the Pacific for some
time he came late one afternoon di
rectly upon the Red Cloud. The buc-
cancer spoke to the Englishman. asking
where she was bound and what she had
on board. The reply was that they were
looking for the pirate, that they were
talking to him, and that he had better
give himself up at once. In an instant
bright lights appeared all over the Red
Cloud, and her captain answered in
good English, Il will see you in HI
first" Then cannon ball whizzed
| through the air, but it was aimed too
high and passed above the vessel. II
| will see you there" shouted back
| the Englishman, and a broadside from
his guns aimed low sent the Red Cloud
| to the bottom of the sea. But the buc-
cancer escaped, and not long afterward
he and two of his crew appeared in a
| row boat on the barren island of Molo-
| kini. which is near the East Man islands
| of the Hawaiian group. 1t is a small,
barren, rocky place, uninhabited.
| There his two companions even left
him, and there he lived alone for
twenty-five years. Since his land
ing there he was called only Morrotin-
nee, the native name for the island.
| A sailor who has been going to and
fro from the Sandwich Island for ten OF
twelve years learned all he could about
Morrotinnee, and says that he was much
liked and feared by the natives. They
carried to him all the delicacies to be
found in the kingdom, and enabled him
to live life of ease and luxury. They
said he was a tall man, big and com
manding, with voice like thunder
SO powerful that they firmly believed
he could cause the wind to rise or the
waters to subside. They would not al
low white men to go near the island i
they could help it, probably because
they had been so commanded by him
and when he died they buried him nea
the place where he had lived, will
much mourning over his departure.