The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-15

fortress. He reckoned that the. de-
tenders would not fire IL the lives of
the nuns would be imperiled.
Morgan's career falsified the time
honored proverb that there is honor
among thieves. Once when sailing I'm
the Caribbean sea he a
formidable French pirate whom he in
vited to join his fleet. Its captain re-
fused. But Morgan. c~onceaiing his
wrath, invited the captain and his off,
GERS To dine with him. When they ar
rived upon his shin they were seized
and placed i'm irons. while Morgan pro-
ceeded To attack and capture the OFF,
cerless ship. He manned IL with a
large part of his own crew. but the
officers celebrated their capture too hi
lariously and. possibly through design,
the fabric was blow ~.
In. 1888 a Dutchman named Van
Horn. owning a frigate. collected a for
midable fleet of the buccaneers. at
tackled Vera Cruz, surrounded the
churches i'm which the citizens had
taken refuge. %pillaged the city and Of
fered TO ransom the citizens for 81, 000.-
900. Half the money was paid down,
when there appeared on the scene
some IL Spanish war vessels and Van
Horn made his escape without collec-
tion of the other 81. 900. 900. The bucca-
neers had no liking for silver. 1t was
too common. too bulky. They demand
ed invariably gold and Jewels. What
in over the devils back went out
under the DEVILS belly. The money
was thrown away. The crews ambled
among themselves, and though they
We're loaded with wealth oftentimes
suffered for the veriest necessities of
existence.
When Europe decided that the cruel
ties of the buccaneers We're past en-
durance and a united effort was made
to capture and dispense them it was
concluded by the diminishing number
of the buccaneers to transfer the black
Nag from the Caribbean to the Pacific.
Some vessels mad for Peru through
the Straits of Magellan. other bucca-
neers crossed the isthmus and the
scenes that were common in the Car
ibbean were repeated in the rich cities
of the South American coast. But the
pirates We're not so entirely dispersed
tina they were not able under Ora
mont to AXE Campeachee I'm 1885 and
capture Cartagena I'm 1897, the plumber
of the town yielding the s%coundrels
some 81. 1000. 900. They paid dearly. how
ever. for on attempting to sail for Eu-
rope they were attacked by a fleet of
Dutch and English ships and defeated.
All these buccaneers were not brutes.
Some of them were gentlemen of edu-
cation who flew the black flag for love
of ~ent and would have no hand
in wanton murder. Their careers sug-
gest the innumerable cheap sentiment
tai or blood and hunder
written about these pirates. Some of
them had "A smattering or science. 9th
ers were gay. gallant. d%ebonnair. Some
of them having quenched their thirst
for blood turne their energies to dis
coyeries in the south seas. Many of
them ook advantage of royal procla-
nations of amnesty and i've to an old
age upon the product OF their piracy.
But il was well into the 18th century
before they We're entirely wiped out
of existence. Some of them traded
with the Carolinas and found good
customers, for the Carolinas. like the
Spanish colonies. We're suffering from
the h~arshness of drastic navigation
laws.
But times have been gradually
changing if not improving. Piracy.
abhorrent name, and more abhorrent
practice, is INDUCED not by freebooters
at the peril of their lives. but by men
whose open lust for gold is sanctioned
by laws alleged to be made for the
general benefit. SO vast is the So
called Improvement hat nations now
do not authorize privateering. They
were glad i'm the 18th century to come
To terms with buccaneers. Now they
issue no letters of marque and reprisal,
they simpIy arm auxiliary cruisers.