Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-17
aliseeltanenus Rsaains.
WOMEN WE'RE FAMOUS PIRATES.
Mary Read and Anne Bonny Flow the
jolly Roger for Years.

jolly Roger for Years.
Long before ever the suffrage was
an issue in England, in a time when
women for the most part spent their
lives by their own hearth stones, there
hourished two women pirates, British
born. Real buccaneers they We're
who staggered and swore right lus-
! tily and sailed the Spanish Main and
slew folks with broad cutlasses and
did all the other things that we'll
regulated pirates were in the habit OF
doing. Their names were Mary Read
and Anne Bonny, and their records
are still to be read in certain an
cient British court records, though
they seldom are.
Mary was one Of those strange wo-
men who have gone through life
dressed as men. She kept her Sc
cret from all except very few. Be-
fore she was Is she enlisted as sail
or in the British navy, and a history
of pirates published in London in
1924 by Captain Charles Johnson tells
all about her. She did well enough
as a sailor, then enlisted in the army
and went with British regiment to
Flanders, where she fought through
number of campaigns and was dis
tinguished for reckless bravery and
helped keep up the reputation for
profanity which goes with soldiers In
Flanders. She called herself Frank
Read, and apparently no one sus-
pected that she was girl.
But, being woman, she could not
refrain from falling in love, and final
ly was married to fellow soldier
Of whom she had grown very fond.
Then they both left the army, bought
little inn in Flanders and settled
down to housekeeping. All this seems
a long way from piracy-but do not
be impatient.
Mary's husband died in year or
two and she went back to her wild,
masculine life, shipping as a sailor
on a Dutch merchantmen bound for
the West Indies. Before the vessel
reached its destination it was halted
by British pirates, who. being in need
Of a sailor, took the lusty Mary, new
er suspecting that the recruit to their
crew was a woman.
Mary pirated for little while with
the boys, and then the ship put in at
New Providence, one of the Bahama
Islands, and took advantage Of gen.
eral pardon offered to every British
pirate except Captain Kidd and Cap
tain Avery. They all promised to be
good, the crew disbanded, and there
was Mary out Of job again.
Now, the British governor Of New
Providence was fitting. out a priva-
teersman at that time toharry Span
ish commerce. Privateering, by the
way, was the respectable and legal
way Of being pirate, and was coun-
tenanced because the owner Of pri-
vateer had to divide his spoils with
the government. Well, our Mary be-
came a member Of the crew Of this
British privateersman, and incident
ally, 1t was a very tough crew she
joined. One member Of it was pi-
rate named Backam. Another was
his wife, Anne Bonny, a buxom
wench, who, like Mary. was disguised
as a man. Anne was in real tough
kiddo." Captain Johnson tells US,
while Mary was just an honest work
ing girl whom cruel fate had made a
pirate quite against her will. How
ever, Mary does not seem to have put
up any very violent struggle against
cruel fate.
However that was the rough and
ready Anne Bonny fell in love with
Mary, who, she fancied, was man.
OF course, Mary had to explain and
then Anne explained and they grew
very chummy, and being women
couldn't resist embracing each other
frequently, so that Rackam, Anne's
husband, grew very jealous Of the
supposed Frank" and had to be let
in on the secret for fear he would
sneak up on Mary and insert a dirk
between her shoulders.
The bold Rackam couldn't bear
the thought Of being a subordinate
and dividing up the spoils Of war
with the government, 80 he led a mu-
tiny, soon tossed the officers Of the
ship overheard and moved his be-
longings up to the captains cabin.
1t is not known whether he hoisted
the Jolly Roger at the masthead.
but probably he did. and If he didn't
he should have. Anyhow, they went
plundering merrily over the southern
seas, although they do not seem to
have been as bad as some members
Of the profession. Generally the crew
Of a merchant ship was allowed to go
it's way after everything Of value had
been carried off. Necessarily men
were killed occasionally, but whole
sale plank walking was not a feature
Of this cruise. Maybe it was the re-
fining influence Of having two pirates
Of the gentler sex aboard, but the
chances are it wasn't. In the first
place there was nothing very gentle
about Mary and Anne, and in the Sec
ond place, few members Of the crew
knew they were women. They brand
ished cutlasses and pistols, and what
they lacked in whiskers they made
up for in ferocity.
And just at this stage Of the game,
that soft-hearted Mary fell in love
again. A young artist had been cap
tured from a British ship-Rackam
had an idea that he might be useful
in sketching scenes and drawing
charts. Pirates, you know were great
at chart misunderstanding mysterious
maps showing location Of buried
treasure, with explanations in cipher
that it takes a Sanskrit dictionary and
an X-ray machine to make clear.
Mary and the artist became good
friends long before the artist suspect
ed that she was anything but slen-
der and more than unusually hand
some how At night when other