The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbersEllms, Charles
History
The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbers
Ellms, Charles
Pirates
Some reported the treasure to have been buried in solitary, unsettled
places about Plymouth and Cape Cod; but by degrees, various other parts,
not only on the eastern coast but along the shores of the Sound, and
even Manhattan and Long Island were gilded by these rumors. In fact the
vigorous measures of Lord Bellamont had spread sudden consternation
among the pirates in every part of the provinces; they had secreted
their money and jewels in lonely out-of-the-way places, about the wild
shores of the sea coast, and dispersed themselves over the country. The
hand of justice prevented many of them from ever returning to regain
their buried treasures, which remain to this day thus secreted, and are
irrecoverably lost. This is the cause of those frequent reports of trees
and rocks bearing mysterious marks, supposed to indicate the spots where
treasure lay hidden; and many have been the ransackings after the
pirates' booty. A rocky place on the shores of Long Island, called
Kidd's Ledge, has received great attention from the money diggers; but
they have not as yet discovered any treasures.
THE BLOODY CAREER AND EXECUTION OF VINCENT BENAVIDES A
PIRATE ON THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA.
Vincent Benavides was the son of the gaoler of Quirihue in the district
of Conception. He was a man of ferocious manners, and had been guilty of
several murders. Upon the breaking out of the revolutionary war, he
entered the patriot army as a private soldier; and was a serjeant of
grenadiers at the time of the first Chilian revolution. He, however,
deserted to the Spaniards, and was taken prisoner in their service, when
they sustained, on the plains of Maypo, on the 5th of April, 1818, that
defeat which decided their fortunes in that part of America, and secured
the independence of Chili. Benavides, his brother, and some other
traitors to the Chilian cause, were sentenced to death, and brought
forth in the Plaza, or public square of Santiago, in order to be shot.
Benavides, though terribly wounded by the discharge, was not killed; but
he had the presence of mind to counterfeit death in so perfect a manner,
that the imposture was not suspected. The bodies of the traitors were
not buried, but dragged away to a distance, and there left to be
devoured by the gallinazos or vultures. The serjeant who had the
superintendence of this part of the ceremony, had a personal hatred to
Benavides, on account of that person having murdered some of his
relations; and, to gratify his revenge, he drew his sword, and gave the
dead body, (as he thought,) a severe gash in the side, as they were
dragging it along. The resolute Benavides had fortitude to bear this
also, without flinching or even showing the least indication of life;
and one cannot help regretting that so determined a power of endurance
had not been turned to a better purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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