| Show belmo ELMO SCOTT WATSON Q western newspaper union from piracy to poverty FTER captain avery had captured the great moguls ship the lunsway Gun sway with alth its rich cargo the news of hla his exploit was not long la in reaching england and almost overnight lie berame became something of a notional national hero perhaps it Is not to be wondered at that the english 9 should hould tall fall to feel pained because a moslem ship tied had been his victim but it Is curious that averys raids on english shipping should be forgotten so ao soon BOOS at any rate the most extravagant stories were spread about one was that avery had taken the moguls daughter with him to madagascar eliere lie he had bad married tier her and was living in royal state the father of several little princes and princesses 1 it to Is true that avery salted sailed for madagascar anil one incident of the voyage showed that he lacked even the proverbial honor among thieves which the usual pirate leader possessed lie he had called the captains of the other oilier vessels in the pirate fleet aboard ills his ship and explained to them that for safe tys sake I 1 it were better to he have ve all the booty placed upon his ab ship ip they agreed to this then avery altered his course slipped awny away in the night and his too trust ing confederates never saw him again ile he immediately sailed to the west indies and upon his arrival at new providence Provi denee in the bahamas bribed the governor with 20 pieces of eight and two of gold to get him a pardon it was impossible for avery to sell hla his plunder including inc tiding many diamonds and other gems without being questioned so he be prepared to return to europe in the north of ireland he be disposed of ills his ship where the crew dispersed and avery went to dublin cut but here too he found it difficult to dispose of his jewels so eo lie he decided to try his luck in england lie ile settled at Bi deford under in fin assumed name and through a friend opened negotiations with merchants in bristol some of these merchants came to see him took some of the diamonds and a few sod gold cups and returned to bristol bi astol to dispose of them at first they sent him a small amount of money promising to pay him in full when the goods were sold avery waited la in vain for full payment then it began to dawn upon him that there were others besides himself who knew the fine art of double crossing ile iia began writing pleading letters to the merchants and from time to time they sent him a few shillings hardly enough to provide him with food and lodging finally he fell III and died of all the vast fortune he had once had there was mas not enough to buy him a coffin in which to be burled buried during all the time he was living in extreme poverty in the little cottage in El deford the stories of the grand pirate aiho u ho was reigning as a king in madagascar were being told and retold all over europe so it was proved again that piracy does not pay |
