The Press., 1909-03-03
4 DARING BUCCANEER
Edward ThatCh, Who Was Known
 as the Blackboard Pirate.
HIS BATTLE WITH MAYNARD.
After the Hand to Hand Conflict the Desperado's Head Hung at the Bow sprit End of the Lieutenant's Sloop as She Sailed Back to Virginia.

pesperado's Head Hung at the Bow spirit End of the Lieutenant's Sloop as She Sailed Back to Virginia.
 If is almost POO years since Edward Thatch. better known as the pirate Blackboard. was a name with which to terroriZe the Atlantic coast of the then new country of America. As huccaneer whose deeds of desperate daring made him feared wherever his name was known he stands a close rival of the famous Captain Kidd, If indeed in some respects he did not sur pass that notorious freebooter.
 The date of Thatch's birth is lost in history, and his native place is vari- ously given as Bristol and Jamaica. He first appears as foremast hand to Major Stede Bonnet, a gentleman of Barbados, who, although a man of property and having small knowledge of the sea, thought proper to fit out sloop and take to life of piracy, the explanation of his being "a little dis tracted" being charitably given by one hiographer However that may be, his crew missed in the major the quail tiles of successful commander. They deposed him and elected Thatch in his place. Bonnet was tried and executed in 1711.
 Thatch's first independent exploit of which we have a detailed account took place in June, 1718, when he captured two French ships near the Bermudas, o,D0 1o1ovn w1f%h tho 0thoP oVnnfu Transferring to the latter the crew of the laden vessel and letting them go their way, he sailed with his prize of vessel and sugar for Bathtown, N. o., with the governor of which place, Charles Eden, he had previously ar rived at a pleasant understanding.
 Thatch gave out that he had found the French ship deserted Governor Eden received sixty hogsheads of sugar as his share Tobias Knight. his sec retary, took twenty, and the remain der fell to Thatch and his crew. Thatch fingered there for some months, plundering and insulting the merchants of the place. These. under standing at length the futility of ex- pecting redress from Eden, applied to the governor of Virginia to rid them of the pest
 The governor, after consultation with the captains of the Pearl and Lime, then lying in the James river agreed to provide two sloops, the war ships to furnish a complement o1 men. Lieutenant Maynard of the Pearl was placed in command. and the punitive expedition sailed on Nov IF, 1718 On the 21st the pirates were sighted in an inlet about sixty miles from Bathtown. and Maynard anchor ed for the night.
 On the following morning Thatch maneuvering to elude attack, ran his vessel aground. but Maynard's sloop drawing more water, though she had no guns on board. failed to get tC close quarters The lieutenant, how ever, threw out his ballast and in an swer to a truculent defiance from 1 Thatch promised to be ''soon aboard him with his sloop." Coming at last within close range, a broadside from the pirate killed or wounded twenty | of Maynard's crew and nine on board his consort
 Maynard now ran alongside the pi rate. when. under cover of discharg' of grenades. Thatch and fourteen fol lowers boarded the kings ship. May nard and Thatch. pistol and sword fl hand, engaged in a desperate persona encounter The lieutenant's sworC broke, and more than once he narrow ly escaped a fatal injury. But a last Thatch. having received sixteel wounds. fell dead in the act of cock ing a pistol His followers jumped overheard and cried for quarter. May nard hung Thatch's head at the bow spirit end. sailed for Bathtown, wher he seized the governors storehouse and then. still with his grisly sigl of triumph swinging in the wind. re joined his ship in Virginia. where thiT teen of the captured pirates wer hanged
 One of the Blackbeard's crew wh' obtained pardon was Israel Hands who makes his appearance in Treas ure Island" Shortly before Thatcl met his death Hands had been lameC for life by pistol shot in the kne' fired by Thatch from under the cabil table, at which he. with Hands ant others. was carousing, just to remint his crew in general "who he was.' Such an act was only one of the man! eccentric brutalities of Thatch's ca reer
 When he felt himself in the vein o was going into action his appearance was somewhat startling-his bush! black beard tied up with ribbons. tn ends of which were thrown over hi ears; a fur cap on his head. with ; lighted match on either side. and thre brace of pistols slung across his shOul der Of the usual condition of himsel and his crew much may be gathere' from the fact that tour compan. somewhat sober" was circumStanc deemed worthy of note in the diar, found after his denth London Globe 
 For Loaf, All Right.
 As the tramp looked at Mrs. GOdar'