About the close of the century in which our hero was born, the depredations of pirates upon British commerce were so extensive that it was determined to send out privateers to attack the freebooters. The owners of these privateers were reimbursed for their outlay by the sale of the goods and ships captured from the pirates, and they calculated that they could make a great deal of money, provided they had a fair catch. One company, in which several noblemen were shareholders, asked the governor of New York to recommend a suitable person to command a privateer; and in consequence of his recommendation, Kidd received a commission, signed by the king, and addressed to “the trusty and well-beloved Captain Kidd, commander of the ship Adventure Galley.”
The vessel thus put in charge of the enterprising William (not Robert) carried thirty guns, was a fast sailer, and had a plentiful supply of provisions, and a crew of about one hundred men. She sailed from Plymouth, England, in April, 1696, and cruised off the American coast for several months. She occasionally entered New York and Boston, where the crew was recruited until it included more than a hundred and fifty men. With this increased force Kidd finally sailed for the East Indies and the east coast of Africa. While on the voyage, he concluded that it would be much more profitable to turn pirate—at least so the story goes; and finding that his crew were not averse to the project, he became a freebooter of the most enterprising character. He captured many ships, and after filling the Adventure Galley with gold and diamonds, and all that kind of portable property, he returned, in 1698, to New York. According to tradition, he buried a large part of his treasure on various parts of Long Island, Staten Island, and the banks of the Hudson River, and then boldly sailed into Boston harbor, under the impression that his royal commission would save him from any charge of piracy. But, unluckily for him, the Earl of Bellamont, governor of Massachusetts and New York, was a stockholder in the Adventure Galley, and was disappointed at the failure to declare a dividend. He had heard of Kidd’s indiscretions, and this knowledge, added to the chagrin naturally attending the failure of the enterprise as a financial speculation, caused him to arrest the gallant captain, and send him to London for trial.
HE MURDERED WILLIAM MOORE.
At this day there are many persons who believe Kidd was innocent of the charge of piracy, and they unhesitatingly say that he did nothing more than carry out his orders. On his trial, which was most unfairly conducted, the charge of piracy was abandoned, as it was found impossible to prove it, and he was arraigned for killing one of his crew,—William Moore,—in consequence of the mutinous conduct of the latter. It was shown on the trial that Moore addressed insulting language to his commander, and was knocked down by Kidd. The blow which was delivered with a bucket, proved fatal, and the decision of the court was against the prisoner, on the ground that a bucket was not a proper weapon with which the commander of a ship should enforce discipline. Had he prodded him with a sword, or perforated him with a pistol, he might have been acquitted; but this assault with a bucket was too much. Times have changed since then. At the present day we have the spectacle of the successful defence of murderers, on the ground that the weapons they used were not murderous. I may instance the case of Foster, a conductor on a street railway in New York, who killed Mr. Putnam with a “car-hook.” One of the strongest points made in his favor was, that a car-hook is not a murderous weapon. Had Kidd been tried in New York subsequent to 1870, he would have escaped the notoriety he obtained.
There was an interesting performance at Execution Dock, in London, on the 24th day of May, 1701. William Kidd and the executioner performed a duet, which resulted in the death of the former, after an acrobatic exercise of some fifteen or twenty minutes at the end of a rope. As a warning to the rising generation, and for the amusement of the elders, the ruins of the ex-pirate were left in chains at the end of a gibbet, where they swung in the wind for several years. Pious fathers used to take their sons to look at the pleasing spectacle, and counsel them never to turn pirate, and come to such a rope’s end as befell the once well-beloved Kidd. Evidently the warning was effectual, as none of the London youths of that period were able to secure the command of an Adventure Galley, and sail to the Indian Seas. The suppression of piracy as a joint stock operation became unpopular, as it was not found to be profitable.
AS HE SAILED.
Many of the incidents narrated in the touching poem, “My name was Robert Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed,” are altogether apocryphal. According to history, Kidd left seven hundred and thirty-eight ounces of gold, eight hundred and forty-seven ounces of silver, and several bags of silver ornaments and precious stones. These were secured by the Earl of Bellamont, but whether they were ever handled by the unfortunate shareholders of the enterprise is not known. The probability is, however, that they were all required for the expenses of the arrest and trial of the pirate.
According to popular belief, the quantity above named was only a small fraction of the wealth acquired by Kidd; and down to the present time people have been searching localities on the New England coast and along the Hudson River, in the hope of finding some of Kidd’s abandoned wealth. Tradition has been exhausted, and the chief reliance has been, especially of late years, upon dreams and the revelations of spirits. Almost every year somebody dreams of a locality where Kidd’s treasures have been found, and he frequently gets wrought up to such a degree that he sets about digging for a fortune. Thousands of dollars have been expended in these researches, and they have invariably resulted in nothing. It is safe to say that nobody has yet found a dollar buried by Captain Kidd, and it is equally safe to predict that nobody ever will find one. The writer of this knew, in his boyhood days, of several enterprises of this sort, and though he never dug for Kidd’s treasures, he was acquainted with several persons who had been in the business. Some had abandoned it in disgust, and some still clung to the hope that they would one day be successful. They were waiting for dreams and revelations that should indicate the precise spot where they could dig for the iron-bound chest, which invariably contained the wealth they sought. An oaken chest, with hoops of iron, was somewhere concealed, that should one day be theirs.
One garrulous old fellow used to be full of mystery about the matter. His stories were a little incoherent, but I am confident that he firmly believed them, and thought he was telling the truth. He was as superstitious as an Arab, and believed in all sorts of ghosts, hobgoblins, and disembodied spirits in general. One day I happened to see him when he was bewailing his ill luck a night or two before. He had a violent cold, and had swallowed a prodigious quantity of rum and molasses to drive it away. When I asked how he caught it, he became very solemn, took another “dram,” as he called it, and then proceeded to a confidential talk.
“Now, boy,” said he, “I will tell you all about it; but you must first promise not to reveal my secret.”