The Portland daily press., 1895-04-19
TWO AMAzONS.

Royal, Jamaica, is verdant promontory
known as Gallows point SO called because
1t was the place on which SO many of the
sea robbers of old met their doom at the
hand of outraged law. There numberless
picaroons and buccaneers have expiateG
their crimes, the picaroons being the ras-
cal on the large and unblushing scale,
while the buccaneer-at first, at any rate
had colorado pretext for existence in
sort of chartered privilege to rob the
Spaniards as much as possible. In fact,
the buccaneer was an ostensible trader be-
fore he degene rated into pirate. The
celebrated Morgan belonged to this per-
suasion-he. the poor Welsh boy, who
after escaping from slavery in Barbados
became one Of the boldest ''privateers" of
the seventeenth century, who attacked
Panama, pillaged the place of enormous
treasure, was knighted for his success
there and was afterward appointed gov
ernor of Jamaica. A very different fate
befell, in later times, other buccaneers,
but it Is to be remem bered of Morgan that
he did not practice the cruelties only too
common in his profession.
J One of the most notorious of the plea
rooms was Blackboard, whose body was
destined to decorate Gallows point. An
other, scarcely less celebrated in his day,
was Captain Rackham, who ended his
career on gibbet on a coral islet near
Jamaica, thereafter known as Rackh-m
cay-cay being a word of Spanish deri-
vation, frequently applied in the West In-
dies to small islands. And it is concerning
this picaroon of Rackham cay that our
STORY has to do.
| Captain Rackham had run short Of
hands, and, in fact, seems to have been in
rather reduced circumstances generally,
when, in 1920, he put into Negril bay in
the hope of pickingup recruits. There he
invited on board some nine of the crew of
a French fishing boat and was regaiing
them with rum punch when a British
pirate chaser hove around the point. Rack
ham slipped his anchor and made sail with
the nine fishermen ON board. He was cap
tured, however, brought Into Port Royal,
tried at an admiralty aasixes and con-
demned to be hung along with eight of
his own crew. The Frenchmen were tried
for constructive piracy''-that is, aiding
and abetting notorious pirate-and they
also were hanged. But there were two
other persons on board the pirate vessel
who also came up for trial with the plea
IOOnS, anu WIZ OAAJ OSSopOA oOAUOuSO Wy
disclosing themselves as women. These
women were Anne Bonney and Mary
Read.
Anne Bonney was the wife of Captain
Rackham, and we'll suited she was to be a
pirates bride. Her father had been an
Irish attorney, who deserted wife and
family in Cork and eloped to South Caro-
lima with servant girl, whom he there
married. He made fortune as planter,
and Anne, the daughter of the servant
girl, was much courted by the young plant
ers of Carolina, both for the money that
would be hers and for her good looks.
But she loved sailor, and having married
him against her fatber's orders was BAN
ished from the parental roof. The young
couple made their way to New Provi
dence, the gathering place at that time of
all discontented beings, and Anne, to ac
custom herself to life of adventure, put
on mans clothes
At first she livy with her child on one
lof the outer islands while Captain Rack
ham roamed the seas, but by and by she
shipped with him as one of the crew and
accompanied him in all his depredations.
She was, in fact, accounted the most
courageous and fearless of the ships COM
pany, and she was the last to yield at the
capture off Negrii bay above related. 1t
! Is said that wher allowed to visit her hus-
/ band to say goodby before he was led to
! the scaffold het parting words were a re-
buke-that had he but fought like man
before he was takoa he would not have
been led away to bo hanged like dog
] The story of Mary Read is still more TO-
mantle Her mother was an English girl
who, when very young, married sailor
1 belonging to good family. He went off
once on a voyage from which he never re-
turned, leaving her with one little boy
child. She was not faithful to his mem
ory, and girl child was born to her, but
to conceal the fact from her husbands S
family she repaired to distant part of
the country for two or three years. There
the legitimate boy died, and she was driv
en- to the expedient of passing off the IL
! legitimate girl in his place. Thus it was
that Mary Read was first dressed in those
male garments that she was destined to
wear during the most of her life.
Mary was presented to her mothers
mother-inlaw and accepted by her as he1
grandson. So long as the grandmother
lived there was an allowance of shillings
a week for the child, but when the old
lady died Mary had to work for a living
She took situation as foot boy OF page
with French lady, and in that capacity
travelled good deal. Tiring of service,
she tried the sea for time, but abandoned
that for soldering during the war in
Flanders.
First she joined an infantry regiment,
but soon changed into the cavalry and
fought splendidly under Marlborough.
The fortune of war sent her comrade in
the shape of a good looking young Flem-
ish soldier, with whom she fell violently
in love. 1t was a delicate matter to make
known her sex and her sentiments, but
her woman's wit rose above her garb and
the two were publicly married by the regi-
mental chaplain. Their romantic story
brought them a shower of money presents,
with which they started an inn. But the
Fleming did not live long, and Mary, find
ing business not congenial occupation,
sold the concern, disguised herself once
more and re-entered the army. She fought
at Families and Oudenarde and Malpa-
quet, and only gave up the pursuit of mill
tary glory when the peace of Utrecht dis
banded the forces. BY that time she was
a very expert swordsman.