The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-14
THE REAL CAPTAIN KIDD.
He Was an Unwilling Pirate, and
More Honest than His Mates.


He Was an Unwilling Pirate, and
More Honest than His Mates.
New York Mail and Express.
1t is possible to say something of a palli-
atory nature about Captain Kidd besides
what his brother-in-law recorded in his last
will and testament, as set down in a recent
Saturday issue of the Mail and Express.
The original Wall-street pirate got what he
dc served-a stretched neck on execution
dock Here was the cause of man whose
complete. But many of his fellows, whose
exploits merited no less vigorous treatment,
died peacefully with their boots off, and
their virtues and public honorS are carven
upon the headstones of ancient New York
Captain Kidd was not a great man, nor a
bold man, nor very bad man. Compared
with the pirates Of fiction, he makes but a
sorry figure in the matter of bloOdshed.
His So. homicide is chronicled in a single
verse f a once famous ballad, which is
made ~ contain, without much difficulty,
the whole of his other desperate deeds:
II murdered William Moore,
And left him in his gore,
Not many leagues from shore,
AS | sailed.
Neither do the circumstances of this crime
combine to suggest a cutthroat captain.
The unlucky Moore was a gunner who grew
impudent in liquor, and his Wrathful com
mander SHE'D a bucket at him with fatal
effect. Elsewise Skipper Kidd appears to
have been as mild man as ever scuttled
a ship.
AS pirate, Kidd was no more than spar
rowhawk. The credit of his widest deeds
goes to those other honest but namelesS
gentlemen of the forecastle who locked
their doughty captain in his cabin when
ever they medtated anything piratcal.
1t has been said that Kidd eXpiated the
faults of other New Workers. The remark
will be better understood when it is re-
called that very large proportion IF the
trade of New York in the generation fol-
lowing the English occupation was either
piracy, out-and-out privateering, which, as
ThaCKpr9V observed ''uncOmmOnlX
piracy" the slave trade with Africa, which
speaks for itself, and the Red Sea Trade
which, as Thomas Janvier says was "a
sort of VicariouS piracy cross between
running a fence and sneak-thieving on the
high seas"
Another characteristic incident of old
New York and then the thin practical rec
ord of Captain Kidd may be narrated. 1t
was a considerable source of revenue to
this port. This trade was carried on chiefly
with avowed pirates and Madagascar was
New York and the freebooters of the Orient
seas. the former would carry to this rem
devious 2,n a cargo OF strong waters, guns and
pirate gentlemen, which they would eX-
change for the rich stuffs of Arabia, the
spices of India and the gold dust and ivory
of Abyssinia captured by the pirates from
the defenselesS galleonS. Being stolen
goods, big profits were insisted on by the
Western merchants, and single successful
voyage meant riches.
It befell then that William Kidd, mari
ner, was fitted out with the galley Adven-
ture at an expense of $25 900 by his noble
hackers, the Earl of Belamont the Duke
of Shrewsbury, Lord Chancellor Somers
and the Earls of Romney and Oxford. The
profits of the expedition were to come from
the effects captured from pirates; one
tenth was to go to the King, the major
part to the above-named gentlemen and
the remainder to Kidd and his crew. Put
ting to sea from London with a partial
complement of men, he dropped into this
harbor in July of 1896 with thirty guns
and $50 sailors began the serious task of
furnishing the red rovers of the sea. In
this capacity he soon overhauled and looted
a French privateer, for which he got the
thanks of the Assembly. That was the
last piece of good luck that came to him
legitimately.
The captains antecedents were those of
an honest sailor, who had struck hard
blows for his king, but he must have had
as rascally a crew as ever sailed the wave
When he got upon the pirate highways to
the east of Africa and had cruised about
in futile quest of water thieves for a
unlucky contract of mo spoils, no pay"
concluded that it were pleasanter and
more profitable to fill their treasure chest
from the bins of merchandise. They gave
him the option of walking the plank or
raising the black flag.
ThencefOrth for about year the reluct-
ant pirate and his holder crew followed the
ancient vocation of sea stealing When the
backslding of the captain was learned in
Europe there was a tremendous buzzing.
of the purpose of the expedition and a pros
pective sharer in its profits. To set. the
rumor at rest he sent a squadron after Kidd
and issued proclamation Offering clemen-
cy to all pirates who would surrender ex-
cepting only Kidd. Meanwhile that worthy,
unwilling of the tempest he had stirred up,
had hoisted sail for New York, hopeful to
make his peace with Governor Bellomont,
as other pirates had with Fletcher. On his
return voyage he captured the Moorish YES
sci Quiddah Merchant, fourth, last and
richest of all his prizes.
The captains defense was twofold. First
he declared that he had been only a re-
luctant and Involuntary pirate; second he
offered to divide with the governor general
spoilS to the amount of $4,000. The best
safe conduct he could get on this defense
was the promise that if he could clear him
self all would he well. Timorously then he
came TO Boston, where the Council decided
that his plea was too fiimsy for considera-
ton and ci6pt him into chains. His trial
was in England, where for political reasons
he was marked for the shambles. There
was hanging on Execution dock May p
1701, and that was the end of Captain Kidd
the ferocious sea robber of ballad and the
reluctant knave of history.
The captain was reputed to have laid up
treasures in EARTH perhaps with the sus-
picion that none awaited him elsewhere. His
buried riches has been an object of many a
vain expedition. Tradition has located it at
various points around New York, at Cape
May, GARDENERS island, Oyster bay Block
island and Rhode Island and at the foot of
the Dunderberg in Hudson river. But it
seems that the major part of his hidden
store was dug up by the colonial govern
ment on Gardeners island less than a year
after interment. 1t consisted of "a box
containing 73S ounces of gold and SAT ounces
of silver, besides Jewels"