The Appeal., 1901-09-07

Z owners find it nard even to be sure that
| they are the stolen property and still
harder to prove it. The first thing that
| is done is to scrape and burn all the
paint off. and give them coating of en-
tirely different color. Then all nrivata
| marks are cut out and the wood around
| them scraped down to hide the marks
of the operation. Often the thwarts are.
changed. That makes an immense dif-
ference In the appearance of rowboat.
There is nothing timorous about the
modern Capt. Kidds. They know that
they may expect short shrift If thew ara
caught. Over and over again the bav-
men, having overpowered crew of the
thieves, give them tremendous beating
take their boats and gear for further
punishment and throw them overheard
to sink Or swim as may be. Having ac-
qu1red a good vessel and obtained re-
verge at the same time, the baymen
naturally do not feel it advisable to talk
! about the little affair. And the pirates
IS naturally, If they happen to survive,
10 not unbosom themselves to the world
They take what comes as part Of their
profession, as their predecessors Of the
Spanish Main did.
II any one doubts the prevalence Of
that piracy-'long shore piracy-let him
make a little water voyage among the
oyster islands anywhere on the Atlantic
shore coast. He will find that there hard
lly is a single hut that is not provided
with one shotgun at least Many of the
oyster houses boast an arsenal Cen
orally there are two or three heavy shot
guns and at least pair Of reyolvers, and
they are not for show. Every one is
loaded, and the bayrnen are economical
souls, who hate to waste powder and
shot. So they shoot to hit
Once year, in the season when it be-
comes necessary to plant new oysters to
stock old grounds, there is an outbreak Of
unique piracy on the American coast. To
|replenish worked out beds young oysters.
known as seed oysters, are used. Oyster
planters everywhere have superstition
that the grounds where seed oysters are
found belong to everybody. This supersti-
tion Is not shared by the owners of seed
oyster beds, whose own superstition is
that they must have good money for
them. Therefore, each season there is a
little American holy war, each side fight
ing for its articles of faith, and good,
honest oyster planters become pirates for
the Time Delng. ~
A popular scene for this is off New Lon
ion, Conn.,. where, in the season, shot
guns and rifles are I'm hearty demand
Hardly a night passes that squadroni
Of long, low and rakish craft does not
aover in the ofing: They are erstwhiles
i.onest oyster boats of genial and hearty
oayYnen of Long Island and New jersey
who steal up the Sound to do the same to-
re oyster beds. The seed bed owners
ire not timid and shrinking Christians.
They don't believe in getting warrants
for the arrest of unknown thieves on the,
day after they have stolen and disap-,
peared. They use the ounce Of prevention
in the form of about that weight of pow
der and shot, and they aim to hit. The
thieves. having sailed long distance, OBJ,
Ject earnestly to sa1 away without the
spoils, and it needs a quite expensives
amount Of shooting to impress on them
the fact that 1t is immoral to take what
does not belong to them.
They know that there will be shooting
and they must have the sociabIe habit OF
bringing guns OF their own. Shoteuns at
long range are not particularly deadly.
but enough lead finds its billet every sea-
son TO make a respectable casualty list.
Neither the shooters nor the shot burn!