Show from pugilism to piracy was not so lucrative a PUGILISM profession in the old days as it Is in these modern times which may account for the tact fact that its followers occasionally forsook the squared circle tor for a wider circle of activity on the high seas perhaps the most famous of these was william fly of whom hom we first hear as the boatswain on tile the good ship elizabeth ril zabeth sailing tron from bristol england tn in ir 1720 G there was a mutiny headed by the boatswain and the crew tossed the captain overboard and killed all of the officers except the surg surgeon eolL then they unanimously elected fly captain and set out in search of ships to plunder their first prize was the john and hannah taken oil off the coast of north carolina followed soon afterwards by the capture of the john and betty then captain fly headed his piratical craft into northern waters and also into disaster oft off the newfoundland banks they overhauled a whaler but by the strategy of the tha wh alers captain the pirate leader and most of hta his men were nere made prisoners they were carried in chains to and on july 4 1726 tried in boston justice was swift in these days and on july 16 fly slid aud liis his men were executed justice was also severe from the point of view of tile the pirates at least tor for in addition to being hanged they were forced to listen to long harangues on the error of ol 01 their ways by preachers famous tor for their hanging sermons for condemned pirates oue of the most noted of these was rev cotton slather blather among whose sermons has been preserved one preached in 1704 called A briet brief discourse occasioned by a spectacle 0 of f a number Kuni lier of Mise L ander niter sentence of death tor for piracy captain fly however seems to have been a particularly hardened sinner for or he refused to go to church just before the hanging Afore moreover over he con ducted himself with great bravado on the way to the gallows ile he jumped briskly into the cart holding a bouquet of flowers bedecked bedecker be decked with rIb ribbons borks a decorative deiora desora tive scheme much in favor am among took ng the pugilists of his day and took his last ride thus smiling and bowing as aig though lie were viere a hero find and his bis a triumphal procession hey aey tell the story of another ex liiv ster elrate dennis 31 cCarthy hanifl tn ea at t now naw providence Ba bahama hania itic ile n al absec feared on the gal L fuwa wa adorned wl w say ay colored ribbons lly aly frier ra et often in jest declared that I 1 giuld die in my shoes b he proclaimed see I 1 make them liars saying which he kicked off oc his nl ho e and died without them |