The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-06-25
TALES OF
PIRATE ONCE A CROcDp

Glbbs was a native of Providence.
X. l.. and while his true name was
James ID. LETTERS, he was generally
known as Charles Gibbs At one time
ne Kept grocery store on old Ann
street in the North End of Boston.
He then had the reputation of one
VINO had a decided antipathy for
work. Being sailor. when he had
the chance to drop the hard grind of
a store, he had the habit OF suddenly
leaving things TO run themselves and
ship on some of the vessels that
sailed directly in the path of the
West Indian pirates.
A good deal of the history of
Gibbs, up to the time that he started
the grocery store on Ann street. has
been a mystery, though it was we'll
known that he associated with some
OF the toughest characters who fire.
quented the port.
1t is even said that he was a full
sharer in their plumber because he
concealed it for them.
He was swaggerer and was al
ways in possession of much wealth,
which the townspeople claimed never
came from honest toll.
The last voyage he ever made was
when he sailed from New Orleans i'm
November, 1880, as a member of the
brig Vineyard, bound for Philadel-
phia.
After the vessel was five days at
sea Gibbs and another sailor made
known to the rest OF the crew that
there was $4,000 specie aboard, and
they consulted as to the best manner
to get 1t into their own possession.
Finally, at the instigation of Gibbs,
1t was resolved that, as the captain
and mate were old men, it was time
that they should die and make room
for the rising generation.
William Thorby was the master of
the vessel and William Roberts the
mate, and the latter was declared to
be so peeylsh that he deserved death.
Under the leadership of Gibbs the
crew planned to murder the two on a
following night.
The murder of the master was as
signed to Gibbs and Wansley, and
that of the mate to the other men,
bers of the crew. The vessel W
just off Cape Hatteras when the time
set for the murder arrived.
Wansley was the first to act, and
he struck the captain behind the neck
with a pump brake so that he fell
forward crying 'murder!" He then
repeated the blows until the captain
was dead, and then with the assist
ance of Gibbs threw the body over
board.
Then the mate was struck down,
dragged to the rail and served in the
same manner as the captain was.
The pirates took possession of the
vessel, with Gibbs as the master, and
after caTousing for a while the money
was gotten from the hold and divided
all round, share and share alike.
They then steered a course toward
Long Island, and when near South
ampton light resolved to scuttIe the
brig and leave her in the small boats.
One Of the boats was swamped
with two members of the crew, but
the others got ashore with their
share of the piratical plumber and
buried the major portion of 1t on
Pelican Island.
They crossed the Sound to Great
Barn Island, and here were de-
nounced as murderers as murderers
by Brownrigg, one of the crew.
Gibbs, Wansley and Dawes. the
latter, boy of the ship, were captured
and later taken to New York to stand
trial for the murder and the scuttling
OF the ship. Both of the men were
found guilty and hanged in the April
following, but not before Gibbs had
notified friends OF the hiding place
OF the money and directed them to
unearth It and carry It to a certain
spot in Boston Harbor, so that II he
should by any chance escape death It
would be awaiting him
He never escaped. however, and it
is supposed that II his friends and
free companions carried out the or
der he gave the money lies still bur
led within tho harbor limits.
Just before death Gibbs made a
startling confession OF his life and
adventures before the taking of the
Vineyard, but much of IL was dis
credited He told of having been one
OF the crew Of the Columbian priva-
teer i'm the year 1913, and that when
the crew Of this vessel mutinied he
became the commander and hoisted
the black flag.
The FIRST vessel they took was the
English ship Indispensable. whose
crew they Immediately killed.
Those Of the crew that resisted
were hacked to pieces, while the 9th
ers were reserved to be shot and
thrown overheard by the fifty men Inc
claimed to have under him in this
ship
This was the manner I'm which they
proceeded In all of their subsequent
captures, which totalled a dozen. SO
he confessed.
Dead mep tell no tales. was his
order to all OF the men. and he said
that no never had to give the order
to begin a massacre.
This course OF piratlca1 life he
kept up on the Spanish Main for sew
eral years more, then returned to
Boston for a tow years, where, Il. Is