The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-05-05

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apparitions have been seen at
various times by residents of the
locality, whose veracity and cOur-
age cannot well be disputed.
THE STATEMENT OF THE LATE
JAMES FRANK TUCKER.
The late James F. Tucker, of
PikeSville, a life long resident of
that section, and its police officer
from 1896 to 1900, has given the
writer a graphic description of
his encounter with an apparition
which answers to that of Black
Beard. We give it in his own
words:
sit was an evening in autumn
at about the close of the Civil
War in 1865, that my father sent
me to hunt the cows that had
strayed out of their pasture, and
had got lost IN the neigh borh0od
of "Abell's Pines" dense piece
of pine woods belonging to the
estate of the late A. S. Abel,
the publisher of the Sun. d.
II started on my errand with
out any visions of "spooks" and
"ghosts" dancing through my
mind, although the pines had a
very uncanny reputation; still
this did not prevent me from
making a search for my fathers
cows.
advancing along a path at
the edge of the pines about a
mile from home, | became weary
and stopped to rest. The cows
had not been located, and | sat
down on fallen tree.
The sun was now down and
the shadows deep and dense.
Nothing broke the silence save the
melancholy chirp of the cricket,
which we term the "fall bug"
Happening to raise my gaze to a
large pine that stood on the edge
of the woods, what should | see
but a powerful built man stand
ing up against it, stripped naked
to the waist.
"He was full six feet in height,
and had a jet black beard that
reached to his waist. AS [
looked on the apparition, his
eyes appeared to my boyish fancy
like globes of rolling blood shot
ten fat, and with a yell of terror
| started up from that log and
made for home.
"My older brothers and the
hired men hunted for the cows
the balance of that night. |
stayed at home"
This took place on the old
Court Road, about three miles
east of PikeSville.
The question now naturally
presents itself, whether these
different-shaped apparitions in
connection with this headless
horSeman is not the spirit of
Black Beard?
a tradition tells us that in the
desperate personal encounter be-
tween him and Lieutenant May
nard, the latter after having in
aicttd upon the pirates body
number of wounds. ordered
him to surrender or else "he
would kill him and cut off his
head" to which Black Beard
replied, Cut it off. and If you do,
by hell! l will hunt it to the
Judgment dayw
If this be true, the headless
horseman is no other than the
spirit of the desperate sea rover
who seeks to adhere to his last
terrible oath on earth.
This tradition, however, must
be accepted as all phantom mar.
ratives are generally accepted
with doubt; but be it either
romance or realty, the career
of Black Beard is one OF his
torical truth which anyone can
become acquainted with if they
will consult the standard histor.
zeal works of our country, and
that he also travelled through the
neighborhoods that we have de-
scribed Is also beyond doubt,
as that has been duly authenti
Gated by many prominent settlers
of We olden times. That portion
of our narrative dealing with
the apparitions we duly leave to
the discretion of the reader.
PIKESvILLE, MD.
May, 1905.
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