The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-14
WHERE A NOTED PIRATE SLEEPS
A Picturesque Spot in the Old Dominion
philadelphia Times.)

Quiet Hampton, just across the bay, is
noted i'll history as the burial place of the
pirate ckbeard,n whose real name
was Trechr. In the early part of the last
century he ravaged the coast, with head
quarters on Roanoke Island in Alber-
marie sound. On this island he stored
his booty, and people are not yet tired of
hunting for the supposed buried treasure
He landed his ''low, rakish craft mt
Hampton, burned several houses and was
sacking the village, but was finally driven
to his boat. lie stood with lighted paper
ill his hand and threatened to fire the
magazine and blow all up together, when
one of the attacking party shot and killed
him. He was hanged in chains, to-
gether with thirteen others of his crew,
which was the mode of hanging malefac-
tors in those days. His head was then
cut of, and his skull used for IL drinking
cup. 1t is said that the relic is still pre-
served in quaint old Hampton The exact
spot OF the burial is not known, further
than it is somewhere on the banks of
Hampton creek.
Blackboard was the toughest looking
old pirate known to the readers of pratt
cal lore. His black beard, more like
bristles, began ut his eyes and completely
covered his face and hung over his chest
turesqut he put lighted .apers in his
whskers, then seating himself near the
powder magazine, he would fill himself
with rum, swearing terrible caths that
he would blow up himself and everybody
else If his advertisement was Interrupted
y few miles up the James river, where
the Warwick creek empties into it, are
the walls of an old stone house, with loop
holes facing the river. 1t is on Il knoll i'm
thick woods, and is approached by deep
gloomy ravinc from inland 1t was un-
doubleday built originally as II fort of de-
Tense, but whetherrrby colonists or Black
beard is not certain. One conjecture is
that it WAS. built by the first .rebels in
Observation-Disclosures Bacon and his fol-
lowers, who rebelled against Great Bri-
tain in 1877, ON exactly the same lines
that caused the revolution one hundred
years later. This may be true, and while
Blackboard may not have had time to
build Il stone house, it is Il we'll founded
tradition that he used the old abandoned
fort in his excursions into the interior,
Using it rs II warehouse for the silver
plate and other valuables taken from the
colonial planters. The old stone house is
an object of interest to all visitors to this
section. y historical theory is that the
old stone house was built by the James
town settlers to defend themselves against
the Indians. IL this conjecture is correct
it's the oldest house in America, rs all
Jamestownrls gone, excepting the walls
of the church
Historical Roanoke island is also noted
rs the site of the mysterious disappear
ance of an entire colony, a wreck and the
scene of drama which is still produced
on the stage. a few years before the set
Element of Jamestown, the first English
colony, under Henry Greenville, sent out
by Lord Raleigh, landed on this island
Instead of planting grain they dug for
gold, and eirJproviSions running short,
1T became necessary to dispatch the vessel
back to England for supplies Greenville
instructed the leader of the 1875. .men.left
behind to mark on certain tree the
name of the place they had gone
to Should they find it necessary to
migrate before his return. And if they
We've driven away by Indians or pirates
to cut away over the name of the place
designated II cross. When the vessel re-
turned only the deserted huts were found,
and the entire place was so covered with
weeds and shrubs that all traces of blood
shed were obliterated, if there had been
any. Not remnant of clothing or house
hold furniture Everything was
swept as clean as if the island was sub
merged On the tree was found carved
the word Croatan, the name of an Indian
village nearby. But the sign of the cross
was not cut above the name 1t is hardly
likely that the colonists would have
pcaceably abandoned their homes for one
among hostile Indians; yet had they been
massacred there would have been some
traces. Some may have escaped and a
hitter years told of the tragedy to friendly
Indians. But not Il word was ever heard
from them--thc first colonists of America
And their mysterious disappearance re-
mains mystery still.
The next colonists came out in Il fleet of
three vessels. The largest, the Sea Ven
turc, was wrecked on Roanoke Island
which was then known as Raleigh, after
Sir Walter. The other two vessels with
the colonsts proceeded up the James river
and settled on half submerged island
not so good location rs the other, which
they called jamestown. When the captain
of the Sea Venture returned to England
he gave vivid description Of the wreck
of his vessel amid Il tempest on Raleigh
island, which he believed to be inhabited
by spirits, demons and other supernatural
ghosts and COLLINS damned. His descrip-
ton of the wreck and the tempest which
ragged with such dcmoniacal fury, was so
vivid that it furnished material for
Shakespeare's drama of the ''Tcmpest.'
Blackboard, with his picturesque make
up, should have been in the cast only he
came on the scene too late.
NEW POCKET TELEPHONE.