The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, May 30, 1912, Page 6, Image 6
WOMEN WERE F
PIRAT
Mary Read and Anne
Roger for Years.
Pirates U
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 hearthstones, there
flourished two women pirates, British
born. Real buccaneers they were,
who swaggered and swore right lustily
and sailed the Spanish Main and
slew folks with broad cutlasses and
did all the other things that wellregulated
pirates were in the habit
of doing. Their names were Mary
Read and Anne Bonny, and their recf
ords are still to be read in certain
ancient British court records, though
they seldom are.
Mary was one of those strange women
who have gone through life
dressed as men. She kept her secret
from all except a very few. Before
she was 18 she enlisted as a sailor
in the British navy, and a history of
pirates published in London in 1724
by Captain Charles Johnson tells all
about her. She did well enough as
a sailor, then enlisted in the army
and went with a British regiment to
Flanders, where she fought through
a number of campaigns and was distinguished
for reckless bravery and
helped keep up tne reputation iur
profanity which goes with soldiers in
Flanders. She called herself Frank
fRead, and A apparently no one suspected
that she was a girl.
But, being a woman, she could not
refrain from falling in love, and
finally was married to a fellow soldier
of whom she had grown very
fond. Then they both left the army,
bought a little inn in Flanders and
settled down to housekeeping. All
this seems a long way from piracy?
but do not be impatient. / i
Mary's husband died in a year or
two and she went back to her wild,
masculine life, shipping as a sailor
on a Dutch merchantman 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,
never suspecting that the recruit to
their crew was a woman.
Mary pirated for a little while with
the boys, and then the ship put in at
New Providence, one of the Bahama
Islands, and took advantage of a gen
?
eral pardon offered to every British
fI pirate except Captain Kidd and Captain
Avery. They all promised to be
good, the crew disbanded, and there
. f was Mary out of a job again.
Now, the British governor of New
Providence was fitting out a privteer&man
at that time to harry Span- |
ish commerce. Privateering, by the
way, was the respectable and legal
way of being a pirate, and was coun-1
tenanced because the owner of a pri- i
vateer had to divide his spoils with !
the government. Well, our Mary became
a member of the crew of this
British privateersman, and incidentally,
it was a very tough crew she
joined. One member of it was a pirate
named Backam. Another was I
his wife, Anne Bonny, a buxom
wench, who, like Mary, was disguis- j
ed as a man. Anne was a real "tough
kiddo," Captain Johnson tells us,
while Mary was just an honest working
girl whom cruel fate had made a
pirate quite against her will. How$3s*.
ever, Mary does not seem to have put
up any very violent struggle against
cruel fate.
/k
However that was the rough and
a Tine Ronnv fell in love with
t cauj
Mary, who, she fancied, was a 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 bp on Mary and insert a dirk
between her shoulders.
R- ~ The bold Rackam couldn't bear
the thought of being a subordinate
and dividing up the spoils of war
with the government, so he led a mutiny,
soon tossed the officers of the
fej'
ship overboard and moved his belongings
up the captain's cabin.
It is not known whether he hoisted
the Jolly Roger at the masthead,
but probably be aid, ana 11 ne uiuu t
be 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
its way after everything of value had
been carried off. Necessarily men
were killed occasionally, but wholesale
plank walking was not a feature
of this cruise. Maybe it was the refining
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 second
place, few members of the crew
AMOUS
ES IN THE PAST.
Bonny Flew the Jolly
?Did Everything
sually Do.
knew they were women. They brandished
cutlasses and pistols, and what
I they lacked in whiskers they made
(up for in ferocity.
And just at this stage of the game,
j that soft-hearted Mary fell in love
again. A young artist had been captured
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 making?drawing 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 suspected
that 9he was anything but a slender
and more than unusually handsome
boy. At night, when other
members of the crew were drunk or
sleeping, these two would sit together
in a sheltered corner of the deck and
Mary would lean back with her head
in the artist's lap, and listen to him
.tell the story of his life and his ambitions.
The artist seems never to
have suspected his comrade was a
girl, so at last Mary told him, and
they were married?informally, it is
true, and without priest or license.
Pirate ships do not carry chaplains,
although license is plentiful enough
aboard them.
After the marriage the cruise went
on for months, and once Mary saved
her husband's life when he had been
challenged to a duel by one of the
ruffians of the crew. Mary succeeded
in quarreling with this man and
I fought him a duel herself before her
, isband had an opportunity to risk
his life. The girl pirate?still known
! as Frank to her shipmates?went
ashore on a little island, and the pirate
with her. Both drew their pistols
and fired; but neither was seriously
wounded. Then they attacked
each other with broadswords, and after
a few minutes' fierce clashing
Mary stabbed her enemy through
the body and killed him. Then she
wiped her sword on the grass and
went back aboard ship and nobody
thought anything of it. ^
But it was not long after the duel
that the pirate ship was overtaken by
a British frigate. A short fight followed,
the pirates serving their stubby
cannon until a storm of grapeshot
drove them from the deck. Every
one rushed to the hold except Mary
Read and the redoubtable Anne Bonny,
who continued to load and fire
the cannon. Anne in rage rushed to
the companionway of the ship and
roared down to the men below to
come up and fight, and when they
refused jerked a great pistol rrom
her belt and fired into the huddling
cursing mass, killing one and wounding
several others. But it was of no
avail, and in a little while the crew
of the man-of-war came tumbling and
cheering over the side of the pirate
ship and overwhelmed its cowering
defenders.
All the pirates, including Anne and
Mary, were put in irons and carried
| back to England. The artist was ali
lowed to go free, as it was easily
i proved that he was a member of the
band against his will, but his pirate
wife was tried and sentenced to the
gallows. As she was expecting soon
to become a mother, a reprieve was
granted her, and before it expired
she fell ill of a fever and died. Rackam,
leader of the band, was hanged,
but Anne, his roistering wife, was
reprieved from time to time and
finally allowed to go free.?Kansas
City Star.
Not Hard for Polly.
The late Ned Harrigan, of Harrigan
and Hart fame, was a great story-teller,
and liked nothing better
than to gather a congenial lot
about him in some rathskeller and
entertain them, says the St. Louis
Globe-Democrat. His parrot story is
one of the best.
"An Irishman by the name of
; Burke ran a bird and goldfish store
| in the Bowery and was noted for his
| wit and the funny things he taught
! his parrots to say. One day a man
| came in who stuttered very badly
| and says to Burke: j
T w-w-want t-to-o b-buy a p-p-par-r-ot!'
" 'All roight, sir,' says Burke, 'I
have a foine bi-r-d here for twenty
; dollars.
j " 'C-a-an he t-t-a-alk,' asked the
| man.
" 'Well, be gorry,' says Burke. 'If
j he culdn't talk better than ye can
; I'd cut his d? head off.' "
Barber: "Well, this is the first
time I've ever had a tip beforehand?"
Customer: "That isn't a tip, you
fool! Thats hush money."?Boston
Transcript.
FOUR WOMEN G. O. P. DELEGATES
| All from Western States, at Convention
in Cliicago.
j Chicago, May 23.?Four women
will occupy seats as delegates at the
Republican National Convention,
| June 18. Two will come from Cali!
fornia and two from other Western
States.
"The first woman delegate to_sit in
| a National Republican convention
was at Minneapolis in 1892, when
Wyoming sent one of the fair sex as
one of its delegates," said Chairman
Harry S. New, of the sub-committee
on arrangements.
At least eight hundred assistants
will be employed by the sergeant-atarms,
W. F. Stone. Already thousands
of applications, including scores
of requests from Western women,
have been received. No wroman, how
ever, will be employed tnis year.
THOUGHT IT WAS HIS WIFE.
"Unwritten Law" Wins Acquittal for
>j[acon Manslayer.
Macon, Ga., May 24.?On his own
statement made to the jury, that
when he saw a man embracing a woman
in the dusk of the evening on
his porch he thought it was Mrs.
Tindall, and so fired on Charles H.
Taylor, society blood, when he advanced
on him, George F. Tindall, a
laundry wagon driver, was acquitted
of murder in the Superior Court here
to-day.
Two months ago Tindall shot and
killed Taylor, a prominently connected
young man, when he found him
sitting on the porch of the Tindall
home with his arm around Miss Lulu
Carter, a sister of Tinciall's wife. The
girl testified that at the time Taylor
was killed lie had in nis pocKet a
marriage license and that they were
to have been married the next day.
Fishing de Luxe.
Captain George Walker, an amateur
yachtsman of Savannah, says
that he used to have a darky hand on
his Georgia plantation who loved
ease and fishing. When he wasn't
fishing he was loafing.
One night there was a rain almost
heavy enough to be called a cloudburst,
and the next morning all the
low places on the plantation were
flooded two feet deep. Passing the
negro's cabin, Captain Walker found
him seated in an easy chair at the
kitchen door fishing in a small puddle
of muddy water that had been formed
there.
"Henry, you old fool," said Capt.
Walker, "what are you doing there?"
"Boss," said Henry, "Ise jest fishin'
a little."
"Well, don't you know there are
no fish there?" demanded Capt.
Walker.
"Yes, suh," said Henry, "I knows
dat. But dis here place is so
handy!"?Saturday Evening Post.
A Boomerang of Criticism.
Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, the president
of the University of Virginia,
tells this story, illustrating the importance
of being careful in criticism:
"I know or a certain instructor m i
rhetoric who always impressed upon
his students the necessity of clarity
in what they wrote. A young man
brought on one occasion a very carefully
prepared essay.
"A good piece of work," said the
instructor, "but, Mr. Smith, you
should remember to write every sentence
so that the most ignorant person
can understand every word you
put down."
The young man looked worried and
asked anxiously:
"What part of my essay was not
clear to you, professor?"?Popular
Magazine.
BROUGHT BACK TO HAMPTON.
Fred Golden Charged with Absconding
with Church Money.
Hampton, May 23.?Deputy Sheriff
J. Herman Lightsey arrived yesterday
afternoon from Columbus, Ohio,
with Fred Golden, colored, who, several
days ago, it is charged, skipped
with about $75 belonging to the
Methodist Church fund. Golden had
undertaken the contract of building
the edifice and had the work well
under way, when the treasurer, it is
stated, gave him a pay roll and $75
in cash. Soon afterward Golden left
town, his whereabouts being unknown
until a letter was received by
his brother here and signed "James
Golden," giving his address- in Coi
lumbus, Ohio.
( Immediately when the contents of
the letter became' known, Chief of
Police G. W. Fennell wired the chief
of police of Columbus, giving Golden's
description, to arrest the negro
at once. In a few hours Golden was
arrested and placed in jail there,
where he was kept until Sheriff
Lightsey, armed with requisition papers
from the Governor of South
Carolina on the Governor of Ohio,
arrived upon the scene and escorted
the prisoner back to Hampton. A
preliminary will be given him Saturday.
FIVE MULES BURNED.
Spartanburg County Farmer Sustains
Loss of About $3,000.
Spartanburg, May 25.?Fire believed
to have been of incendiary origin
incinerated five mules, /four hogs,
and one calf at a barn belonging to L.
Riebling, near Campobello last night.
The barn, which was erected at a
cost of $ 1,200, was one of the best in
the county. The mules had recently
been purchased for $1,600. The entire
loss amounts to well over $3,000
and is covered by $500 insurance.
The neighbors firmly believe that
some one set the building afire. Mr.
*n aVT.V fv 1 /\ri+ ft miilft It* O OITYlllo fi T*0
XVit: Ull JUg lust Cl JJLl U1C IU a. siuiuai Hi
ill a smaller barn several weeks ago.
The farm is located two miles from
the Gibson place, where several
months ago a house was destroyed by
fire and three children burned to
death. For this Alexander Gosnell is
in jail here, facing a charge of arson.
TRIAL LASTED EIGHT MINUTES,
Breaks Record in Capital Cases
Think Macon Lawyers.
Macon, Ga., May 24.?A negro
named John ?T:lllman was tried for
his life and acquitted in eight minutes
in the Bibb Superior Court today.
This is believed by Macon lawyers
to break all legal records for
dispatch in the trial of a capital case.
The jury was selected, the preliminary
argument made by the solicitor,
three witnesses examined and a verdict
of not guilty returned.
Tillman found his wife in a compromising
position with another negro,
whom he killed. The judge instructed
the jury to acquit the defendant.
The World's Debt for War.
"The war debt of the world for
borrowed money, practically all used
for war purposes, amounts to nearly
$37,000,000,000," says President
Jordan, of Leland Stanford University,
.in the June World's Work.
"This sum is expressed in the 'Endless
Caravan of Ciphers,' which carries
no meaning to the average taxpayer,
until he feels the pressure in
the rising cost of living, and in his
own difficulties in making both ends
meet. The interest charges of the
world on its national debt are about
$1,500,000,000 a year, and about
$2,500,000,000 are expended yearly
on standing armies and on battleships.
If we were to sell out the
entire holdings of the United States,
capitalize the returns, and put the
whole sum at interest at 4 per cent.,
it would just about keep up the military
expenses of the world in time of
peace."
ACQUITTED IX FEW MIXUTES.
Jury Frees Townville Men Charged
With Killing Welborn.
Anderson, May 24.?In less than
? - n-i J. - J."U ^
five minutes alter retiring iu me juij
rcom, the jury with the case of H. W.
Holcomb, Justin E. Wolbright, James
Baldwin and I. B. Sears, charged
with the murder of Doc Welborn, a
mountaineer, on the night of November
12; 1911, at Townville, this
county, returned a verdict of not
guilty.
Holcomb was chief of police at
Townville at the time, and he, with
the assistance of the three other defendants,
arrested and locked up
Welborn for drunkenness and disorderly
conduct. Soon after Welborn
was placed in the guard house,
the calaboose was discovered to be on
fire. The building was completely
consumed, and in the ashes were
found the charred remains of Welborn.
A detective was engaged and
he worked up sufficient evidence to
cause the arrest of Holcomb and his
assistants.
The case was called for trial yesterday
morning, and was concluded
late this evening. Many witnesses
testified for the State and defence.
The State attempted to prove that
Welborn was beaten up by the officers,
and that he died from the
wounds mnictea; iuai mc 5 uai u
house was fired to hide the crime.
The evidence adduced did not convince
the jury that such was the
case, for as soon as a pen could be
had the verdict of not guilty - was
rendered. The case attracted intense
interest in the Townville section, and
the sessions of Court yesterday and
to-day have been largely attended,
many ladies being present.
"Lady Cops" for Indianapolis.
"Lady cops"?that's what Indianapolis
is to have, and just a fun
proposition on the part of Mayoi
Samuel L. Shank caused it. He told
members of the Women's club committee
that he believed a few feminine
faces on the police force would
help some. The women have been
after him ever since.
After a conference, he ordered Superintendent
Hyland to issue police
powers to as many women as the
committee wanted.
The women offer to serve the city
in this capacity without cost.
*
i - . '
'
wmrnxmrvrnmammmmmv
iDONT THROW AWAYl
yj Good Wearing Apparell and Household Furnishings ;
fp simply because they have become stained or faded. jf
We can make them like new by our modern process ? ?
of CLEANING or DYEING. We quote a few prices: ' '
Cleaned and Pressed: Dyed and Pressed: zt '
tb Gentlemen's Suits $1.25 up $2.50 up $ }
?X? Ladies' Coat Suits 1.50 up 2.50 up ? ?
ifc Ladies' Waists 75 up 1.50 up ZZ
if! Ladies' Skirts 1.00 up 1.50 up *'
itl 1 iitnmrvhila Cnata 1 .nrt IIn 2.Srt Tin ? ?
9im ^uiA/iiix/wnv -r -r wA? '-m
Is! Chenille Portieres 1.50 up 2.50 up ^
?J? Blankets, Double 75 cleaned tcf
T For further information write for free booklet. 3?
I DEAL CLEANERS AND DYERS I |
King Street & Burns Lane CHARLESTON, S. C.
? CITY PRESSING CLUB, AGENTS, BAMBERG, S. C. A
&DlBgllplDlplpglgIg>ffllpaffiQattaiPipiaOaoS
===Bg
great iner uuu
C/\, when Vs timely qiverik.^, #
Deuluioii Has n rujlif 6 expect - <f\;
^ssisfeVicc jr<m.attars. '"8||
hvw toiXlx. R/KI&UJ U<t)? <wul
tkt Wdfotts that will prtpure. him Sim
caM the hfii ksh tfk his
omb ittm. m iaXvr U3fe. bu stortvn^ %f|f
ci s<u>vvujs axcoM/nt" tfti boM m. Mpi;
b<vnil_. '. t; |||p;
TV\e. iroio? of- <wU rfr %J|j
wnma DMoer (* taught ;$?
. > .\ . . I .i.j-J iHfl
iu.Sv P-T,/t4.6. ^V\.?\ r65pCMStt)(A.UM
wime.
Interest en s<umujs w. eru^T1 ? S|j|g
K/?/vii? i< P/rvu nfitu/nApA
if yv i i/iVJ "?/ ,
I FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK . :
I 4 per ct. Paid Quarterly on Savings Accounts. Ehrhardt, S. O. m
l if rHE BEg l |
| I We don't claim to have the best : 9
M H Horses and Mules ever brought to Mil
| p this market in our stables at this _ ? |
| | time, for we have had some mighty W i |
XI J^UVU V11CO UCl^WiVIV) VUV no UV | " | | ** ^ V8li
| i claim these to be just as good as any | j
^ ^ we have ever handled, and if you will TJ* | j|
xU I*j come and look we know we can ill r
jj I please you. See ours before buying ? |
JONES BROS J
j BAMBERG, . .. .. .. ^^ SOUTH CAROLINA, j j
M. sufficient number of them will stop a locomotive. Your MX
11 small change may seem unimportant to you, but if you ? 9
S-J open a savings account here, and constantly add to the ^
^ amount, the accumulation will surprise you and prove |
a great help to you when WANT tries to run you down. | | jgK
We pay 4 per cent, on Savings Deposits. gj ?
|| PEOPLES BANK ----- Bamberg, S. C. {|
Repaint Your Furniture ^ a
Didn't somebody scratch, scar or bung up some of your furni- | 5
ture during that Xnias jollification?
U"Le = Mo = L,ac" I
is a mighty good tonic for ailing furniture. Easy to apply and 4 . V.'
Q quick to dry. Try it for floors also, nothing better. , %
We have just received a nice assortment of Screen Doors andi j
Windows, Flower Pots, Jardinieres, etc., and they are going at i M
| i Summer Prices. , - J
1 We give S. & H. Green Trading Stamps for all cash pure liases Jjflj
and for all bills paid on or before the 10th of each month.1
U A. HUNTER |] 1
H THE HARDWARE MAN. BAMBERG, 8. C. M ?
ligfi TOBQOBQI 3BI J
* ^
1