The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-01-28
PLAIN KIDD


compared in villainy, exploits and
wealth to dozens of captains who
are today forgotten. A doggerel song
("My Name Was Captain Kidd, as
Salied") and the foolish belief that he
buried vast treasures somewhere near
New York are the two things that
have made Kidd immortal.
In the latter part Of the seven
teenth century, the American coasts
swarmed with pirates who spoiled sea
commerce and blocked travel. King
William III. Of England sent Lord
BeIlomont to New York as governor,
with orders to stamp out piracy.
Bellomont liked the idea of combin-
ing duty with profit. So, with Robert
Livingston and other rich, shrewd
New Workers, he formed company
to make money out of crushing the
pirates. A powerful warship was to
be fitted out and sent against the
/ freebooters. They and their plumber
were to be seized, and the profits of
/ the enterprise divided between the
company and the king.
Next, Bellomont and Livingston
/ looked about for the right sort Of man
| to captain their warship. Livingston
suggested a fright worthy and honest
mariner" William Kidd by name.
Kidd was the son of Scotch clergy
man who is said to have suffered mar
tyrdom. The right worthy and hon.
est mariner" had for more than thirty
years followed the sea, fighting
against England's French foes. thrash
ing pirates and in many ways prov
ing of use to the colonies. At that
time (1696) he had retired and was
living quietly in New York.
Kidd was made shareholder in
Bellomont's company, took command
of the thirty-gun galley Adventure
and set forth on his pirate-ehasing
task He bore with him a commission
from the king, made out to 'our well
beloved and trusty William Kidd"
After an unimportant capture or two,
he vanished For a time nothing was
heard, directly. from him. Then came
ugly rumors that shaped themselves
into facts.
: It seemed that the "well beloved
| and trusty William Kidd" was doing
things that tended to make him Meth
er trusted nor beloved. In short he
and his crew. who had been sent to
destroy piracy, had themselves be-
come pirates and were holding up and
robbing merchant ships. This news
aroused tremendous excitement. Pub
lie feeling ran dangerously high.
Many people even limited that, Bello-
: mont. Livingston and the rest had Sc
cretly formed piratical company and
were only waiting to gather the
spoils. Bellomont. thoroughly scared,
reported the bad tidings to the king,
who received them with horror-real
or assumed-and Who in 1893. or
+ dered every British port to be On the
: lookout for Kidd's capture.
Meanwhile the "well-beIoved" Kidd.
r cruising the Spanish Main, heard Of
t the plan to arrest him. Leaving his
) large ship near Hayti, he fastened
northward In a s1oop laden with $70-
geo worth of treasure and with crew
of forty He touched at Oyster Bay.
s L. T., sent for New York lawyer and
/ opened negotiations with Bellomont.
: 1t is supposed Bellomont sent word
l. that the captain had nothing to fear,
Q for Kidd landed and went on July 1.
r 1899, to Boston to talk matters over.
+ There Bellemont arrested him and
( packed him of to England to stand
g trial. Then the company sent to the
It pirate sloop and seized the treasure
d AS Kidd had started out to do such
great things the public grew to be
lieve that $4,000 could not represent
all his plumber and that he must have
: buried part of the treasure. There Is
no reason for thinking go. Yet the
: rumor has lived for over 200 years.
: Kidd. meantime. was placed on trial
: in England. He denied that he had
! ever consented to be pirate and said
= his crew had bullied him into 1t. He
n could not be convicted Of piracy, even
= by court which for some mysterious
reason rushed his trial through with
suspicious haste and lack OF Justice
But he was found guilty Of having
killed a mutfnous sailor named WIN
: lam Moon by hitting him over the
L head with bucket For this crime
Kidd was condemned to death. He
> was hanged on May "a, 1901, with
= nine OF his crew, at Execution Dock
3 London.
a To this day it cannot be definitely
4 known whether Captain Kidd was a
a harmless old man, threatened into IN
willing piracy by a mutinous crew, or
whether he was the BLACKBOARD ac-
complete OF a band Of fnanciers who
used him for their own ends and then
IL disowned him. The haste and injus.
% tice Of his trial led some to think his
l. speedy execution was needed to hush
8. a pirate scandal that would have In
d volved some OF the highest names IN
England and in the colonies.