with his Sloop at Gardners Island, there was a New Yorke Sloop,
whereof one Coster is Master, and his Mate was a little black man,
unknown to the Narrator by name,[4] who, as it was said, had been
formerly Captain Kidds Quarter Master, and another Sloop belonging to
New-Yorke, Jacob Fenick[5] Master, both which lay near to Kidds Sloop
three dayes together, and whilst the Narrator was on board with
Captain Kidd, there was several Bayles of Goods and other things put
out of the said Kidds Sloop and put on board the other two Sloops
aforesaid, and the said two Sloops sayled up the Sound. After which
Kidd sailed with his Sloop for Block Island, and being absent by the
Space of three dayes returned to Gardners-Island again in company of
another Sloop belonging to New-Yorke, Cornelius Quick Master, on board
of which was one Thomas Clarke of Setauket, commonly called Whisking
Clarke, and one Harrison of Jamaica, Father to a boy that was with
Captain Kidd, and Captain Kidds Wife was then on board his own
Sloop.[6] And Quick remained with his Sloop there from noon to the
evening of the same day, and tooke on board two Chests that came out
of the said Kidd's Sloop, under the observance of this Narrator, and
he believes several Goods more, and then sailed up the Sound. Kidd
remained there with his Sloop until next morning, and then set saile
intending, as he said, for Boston. Further the Narrator saith That the
next day after Quick sayled with his Sloop from Gardners Island, he
saw him turning out of a Bay called Oyster-pan Bay,[7] although the
wind was all the time fair to carry him up the Sound; the Narrator
supposes he went in thither to land some Goods.
JOHN GARDINER.
[Footnote 4: Carsten Luersen and Hendrick van der Heul.]
[Footnote 5: Jacob Phoenix.]
[Footnote 6: Capt. Thomas Clarke, coroner of New York, was soon after
arrested in Connecticut at the instance of Bellomont, who charged him
with having privately deposited L10,000 worth of Kidd's treasure with
a man at Stamford. Clarke promised restitution. _N.Y. Col. Docs._, IV.
595, 793; _Calendar of Council Minutes_, pp. 143, 144, 164.]
[Footnote 7: Not Oyster Bay, but Oyster-pond Bay, near Orient.]
Boston, July 1699.
The Narrator, John Gardiner, made Oath before his Excellency and
Council unto the truth of his Narrative contained in this Sheet of
Paper.
ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary.
_80. Sarah Kidd to Thomas Payne. July 18, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:861, no. 4 XVIII. Captain
Thomas Paine of Jamestown, R.I. (Conanicut Island), had come to Rhode
Island in 1683, as a privateer with dubious papers. In 1690 he had
defeated a body of Frenchmen at Block Island. He may have been an
accomplice of pirates, as Bellomont charges in doc. no. 85 (in which
this is an enclosure); he was certainly one of the founders of Trinity
Church, Newport.]
From BOSTON Prison, July the 18 day 1699.
_Captain Payen:_
After my humble service to your selfe and all our good Friends this
cometh by a trusty Friend of mine how[2] can declare to you of my
great griefe and misery here in prison by how I would desire you to
send me Twenty four ounces of Gold and as for all the rest you have in
your custody shall desire you for to keep in your custody for it is
all we have to support us in time of want; but I pray you to deliver
to the bearer hereof the above mentioned sum, hows[3] name is Andrew
Knott.[4] And in so doing you will oblige him how is your
SARAH S K KEEDE
the bare hereof can informe you more at large.
[Footnote 2: Who.]
[Footnote 3: Whose.]
[Footnote 4: See doc. no. 85.]
_81. Petition of Sarah Kidd. July 25, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Mass. Archives, vol. 62, no. 317.]
To his Excell'cy the Earle of Bellomont,
Capt. Gen'll and Governor of his Maj'tys Collonies of the
Massachusetts Bay in N. Engl'd etca. and to the honorable the
Councill.
The Peticion of Sarah Kidd humbly Sheweth
That Your Petitioners husband Capt. Wm. Kidd, being comitted unto the
Comon Goale[2] in Boston for Pyracie, and under Streight durance, as
Alsoe in want of necessary Assistance, as well as from Your
Petitioners Affection to her husband humbly pray's that your Excell'cy
and Councill will be pleased to permitt the sd Sarah Kidd to have
Communication with her husband, for his reliefe; in such due Season
and maner, as by your Excelle'y and Councill may be tho't fitt and
prescribed, to which Your Petitioner shall thankfully conforme
herSelfe and ever pray etca.
SARAH S K KIDD
Boston 25 July 1699.
[Footnote 2: Gaol, jail.]
_82. Lord Bellomont to the Board of Trade. July 26, 1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 64; _Commons
Journal_, XIII. 19-21. The original is endorsed as received Sept. 20.]
BOSTON, 26th July 99.
_My Lords,_
I gave your Lordships a short Account of my taking Capt. Kidd, in my
Letter of the 8th Instant:[2] I shall in this Letter confine myselfe
wholly to an Account of my Proceeding with him.
[Footnote 2: Doc. no. 77.]
On the 13th of last Month Mr. Emot, a Lawyer of New-York, came late at
Night to me and told me he came from Captain Kidd, who was on the
Coast with a Sloop, but would not tell me where: That Kidd had brought
60 Pound Weight of gold, about a 100 Weight of Silver, and 17 Bales of
East-India goods, (which was less by 24 Bales than we have since got
in the Sloop), That Kidd had left behind him a great Ship near the
Coast of Hispaniola that nobody but himselfe could find out, on board
whereof there were in bale goods, Saltpetre, and other things to the
Value of at least 30,000 L.: That if I would give him a pardon, he
would bring in the Sloop and goods hither, and would go and fetch the
great Ship and goods afterwards. Mr. Emot delivered me that Night Two
French Passes, which Kidd took on board the Two Moors Ships which were
taken by him in the seas of India (or, as he alleges, by his Men
against his Will). One of the Passes wants a date in the original, as
in the Copy I send your Lordships; and they go No. I. and No. II.[3]
[Footnote 3: See doc. no. 87, note 2.]
On Thursday, the 15 of June, I sent Mr. Campbel, the Post-Master of
this town, Kidd's Countryman and acquaintance, along with Mr. Emot, to
invite Kidd to come into this Port. Mr. Campbel returned hither on the
19 of June, and gave in a Memorial to my selfe and the Councel,
containing what had passed between him and Kidd: The said Memorial
goes No. 3.[4] On the said 19 June, as I sate in Councel, I wrote a
Letter to Captain Kidd, and shewed it to the Councel, and they
approving of it, I dispatched Mr. Campbel again to Kidd with my said
Letter, a Copy whereof goes No. 4. Your Lordships may observe That the
promise I make Captain Kidd, in my said Letter, of a kind reception,
and promising the King's pardon for him, is conditionall; that is,
provided he were as innocent as he pretended to be. But I quickly
found sufficient Cause to suspect him very guilty, by the many lyes
and Contradictions he told me. I was so much upon my guard with Kidd
that, he arriving here on Saturday the [first] of this moneth, I would
not see him but before witnesses; nor have I ever seen him since, but
in Councel twice or thrice that we examined him; and the day he was
taken up by the Constable, it happened to be by the door of my
Lodging,[5] and he rushed in and came running to me, the Constable
after him. I had him not seized till Thursday the 6th instant, for I
had a mind to discover where he had left the great Ship, and I thought
my selfe secure enough from his running away, because I took care not
to give him the least umbrage of my Design of seizing him, Nor had I
till that day that I produced my orders from Court for apprehending of
Kidd, communicated them to anybody. And I found it necessary to shew
my orders to the Councel, to animate them to join heartily with me in
securing Kidd, and examining his Affair nicely, to discover what we
could of his behaviour in his whole Voyage. Another reason why I took
him not up sooner was that he had brought his wife and Children hither
in the Sloop with him, who I believed he would not easily forsake. He
being examined twice or thrice by me and the Councel, and also some of
his men, I observed he seemed much disturbed, And the last time we
examined him I fancied he looked as if he were upon the wing, and
resolved to run away, and the Gentlemen of the Councel had some of
them the same thought with mine, so that I took their Consent in
seizing and committing him.[6] But the officers appointed to seize his
men were so careless as to let 3 or 4 of his men escape, which
troubled me the more because they were old New-York Pyrates. The next
thing the Councel and I did, was to appoint a Committee of trusty
persons to search for the goods and Treasure brought by Kidd and to
secure what they should find till the King's pleasure should be known
as to the Disposition thereof, as my orders from Mr. Secretary Vernon
import. The said Committee were made up of Two Gentlemen of the
Councel, Two Merchants, and the Deputy Collector, whose names are to
the inclosed Inventory of the goods and Treasure. They searched Kidd's
Lodging, and found hid and made up in Two sea-beds, a bag of gold dust
and Ingots of the value of about 1000 L. and a bag of silver, part
money and part pieces and piggs of silver, value as set down in the
said Inventory. In the above bag of gold were several litle bags of
gold; all particulars are, I believe, very justly and exactly set down
in the Inventory. For my part, I have medled with no manner of thing,
but put every thing under the management of the Councel, and into the
Custody of the before mentioned Committee, that I might be free from
the Suspicion and Censure of the World. The enameled box mentioned in
the beginning of the Inventory is that which Kidd made a present of to
my wife by Mr. Campbel, which I delivered in Councel to the said
Committee to keep with the rest of the Treasure. There was in it a
stone ring, which we take to be a Bristoll Stone;[7] if it were true,
it would be worth about 40 L. And there was a small stone unset which
we believe is also counterfeit, and a sort of a Locket, with four
Sparks which seem to be right diamonds; for there is nobody here that
understands Jewels. If the Box and all that is in it were right, they
cannot be worth above 60 L.
[Footnote 4: Doc. no. 75.]
[Footnote 5: Peter Sergeant, a rich merchant, who had the finest house
in Boston, had given it over to the new governor's use. Mass. Hist
Soc., _Proc._, XXII. 123-131. Lord Bellomont held his council meetings
in its best chamber. It was afterward the famous Province House,
having been bought later by the province, for a residence for the
governors. Hawthorne, at the beginning of part II. of his _Twice-Told
Tales_, describes it as it was in 1845. A portion of the walls was in
1919 still visible from Province Court.]
[Footnote 6: Dr. Edward Everett Hale gives quotations from the council
records, in _Memorial History of Boston_, II. 177-178.]
[Footnote 7: Rock-crystal, of a kind found near Bristol, England.]
Your Lordships will see in the middle of the Inventory a parcel of
Treasure and Jewels delivered up by Mr. Gardiner, of Gardiner's
Island, in the Province of New-York, and at the East End of
Nassau-Island, the Recovering and saving of which Treasure is owing to
my Own Care and quickness. I heard by the greatest accident in the
world, the day that Captain Kidd was committed, That a Man had offered
30 L. for a Sloop to carry him to Gardiner's Island, and Kidd having
owned he had buried some Gold on that Island, (though he never
mentioned to us any Jewels, nor, I believe, would he have owned the
gold there but that he thought he should himselfe be sent for it), I
presently reflected that that man (whom I have since discovered to be
one of Kidd's Men) was to defeat us of that Treasure; I privately
posted away a Messenger by Land with a peremptory order to Mr.
Gardiner in the King's name to come forthwith, and deliver up such
Treasure as Kidd or any of his Crew had lodged with him; acquainting
him That I had committed Kidd to Goal, as I was ordered to do by the
King. My Messenger made great haste, and was with Gardiner before
anybody, and Gardiner, who is a very substantial man, brought away the
Treasure without delay, and by my direction delivered it into the
Hands of the Committee. If the Jewels be right, as it is supposed they
are, but I never saw them, nor the gold and silver brought by
Gardiner, then we guesse that the parcel brought by him may be worth
(Gold, Silver and Jewels) 4500 L. And besides Kidd had left Six bales
of goods with him, one of which was twice as big as any of the rest;
and Kidd gave him a particular Charge of that bale, and told him it
was worth 2000 L. The six bales Gardiner could not bring, but I have
ordered him to send them by a Sloop that is since gone from hence to
New York, and which is to return speedily. We are not able to set an
exact value on the goods and Treasure we have got, because we have not
opened the bales we took on board the Sloop; But we hope when the six
bales are sent in by Gardiner, what will be then in the hands of the
Gentlemen appointed to that Trust, will amount to about 14000 L. I
have sent strict orders to my Lieutenant Governor at New York,[8] to
make dilligent Search for the Goods and Treasure sent by Kidd to New
York in Three Sloops mentioned in Gardiner's affidavit,[9] which I
send with the other affidavits and Informations to your Lordships; and
I believe I have directed him where to find a Purchase in a house at
New York, which by a hint I have had I am apt to believe will be found
out in that house. I have sent to search elsewhere a certain place,
strongly suspected to have received another depositum of gold from
Kidd. I am also upon the hunt after Two or Three Arch Pyrates, which
I hope to give your Lordships a good Account of by next Conveyance. If
I could have but a good able Judge and Attorney General at York, a Man
of war there and another here, and the Companies recruited and well
paid, I will rout Pirates and Piracy entirely out of all this north
part of America, but as I have but too often told your Lordships, it
is impossible for me to do all this alone in my single person.
[Footnote 8: Capt. John Nanfan; see doc. no. 73, note 2.]
[Footnote 9: Doc. no. 79.]
I wrot your Lordships word in my last letter of the 8 Instant That
Bradish the Pyrate and one of his Crew were escaped out of the goal of
this Town. We have since found that the Goaler was Bradish's kinsman,
and the Goaler confessed they went out at the prison door, and that he
found it wide open; we had all the reason in the world to believe the
Goaler was consenting to the escape: by much ado I could get the
Counsel to resent the Goaler's behaviour, but by meer Importunity I
had the fellow before us; we examined him, and, by his own Story and
accounts given us of his suffering other prisoners formerly to escape,
I prevailed to have him turned out and a prosecution ordered against
him to the Attorney Generall. I have also, with some difficulty, this
late Session of Assembly here, got a bill to pass, That the Goal be
committed to the Care of the High Sheriffe of the County, as in
England, with a Salary of 30 L. _per Annum_, to the said Sheriffe: I
would have had it 50 L. _per Annum_, for the Sheriff's Incouragement
to be honest and carefull, but I could not prevail. I am forced to
allow the Sheriff 40 s. per Week for keeping Kidd safe; otherwise I
should be in some doubt about him. He has without doubt a great deal
of gold, which is apt to tempt men that have not principles of honour;
I have therefore, to try the power of dull Iron against gold, put him
into Irons that Weigh 16 Pound. I thought it moderate enough, for I
remember poor Doctor Oates[10] had a 100 weight of Iron on him when he
was a prisoner in the late Raign. There never was a greater Lyar or
Thief in the World than this Kidd; notwithstanding he assured the
Councel and me every time we examined him That the great Ship and her
Cargo waited his return to bring her hither, and now your Lordships
will see by Two severall Informations of Masters of Ships from
Curacao, that the Cargo has been sold there, and in one of them it is
said they have burnt that noble Ship, and without doubt, it was by
Kidd's order, that the Ship might not be an evidence against him, for
he would not own to us her Name was the _Quidah-Marchand_, though his
men did. Andries Henlyne, and Two more, brought the first news to York
of the sale of that Cargo at Curacao; and never such pennyworths heard
of for Cheapness; Captain Evertz is he who has brought the news of the
Ship's being burnt. She was of about 500 Ton, and Kidd told us at the
Councel, there never was a stronger or stancher Ship seen. His Lying
had like to have involved me in a Contract that would have been very
chargeable and to no manner of purpose, as he has ordered Matters. I
was advised by Counsel to dispatch a Ship of good Countenance to go
and fetch away that Ship and Cargo. I had agreed for a Ship of 300
tons, 22 Guns, and I was to man her with 60 men, to force (if there
had been need of it) the Men to yield who were left with the Ship. I
was just going to seal the writing, when I bethought myself it were
best to presse Kidd once more to tell me Truth: I therefore sent to
him Two Gentlemen of the Councel to the Goal, and he at last owned
That he had left a power with one Mr. Henry Bolton, a Marchand of
Antegoa whom he had Committed the Care of the Ship to, to sell and
dispose of all the Cargo: upon which Confession of Kidds I held my
hand from hireing that great Ship, which would have cost 1700 L. by
Computation. And now to-morrow I send the Sloop Captain Kidd came in,
with Letters to the Lieutenant Governor of Antegoa, Colonel Yeomans,
to the Governors of St. Thomas's Island and Curacao, to seize and
secure what effects they can, that was late in the possession of Kidd,
and on board the _Quidah-Marchand_. There is one Burk, an Englishman,
that lives at St. Thomas, who has got a great Store of the goods and
mony for Kidd's account. St. Thomas belongs to the Danes, but I hope
to retrieve what Burt has in his Hands.[11] The sending this Sloop
will cost but about 300 L. if she be out Three moneths. I hope your
Lordships will take care, that immediate orders be sent to Antegoa to
secure Bolton, who must have plaid the Knave egregiously; for he could
not but know that Kidd came knavishly by that Ship and Goods. It is
reported That the Dutch of Curacao have loaded Three Sloops with those
Goods, and sent them to Holland; perhaps it were not amiss to send and
watch their Arrivall in Holland, if it be practicable to lay Claim to
them there.
[Footnote 10: Titus Oates, the scurrilous and perjured informer,
wonderfully successful with his "Popish Plot" in 1679 and 1680, thrown
into prison, under heavy irons, in 1684. He was still living in 1699.
His doctoral degree ("D.D. of Salamanca") was spurious.]
[Footnote 11: The reply of the governor of St. Thomas is doc. no. 83.]
Since my Committment of Kidd, I hear That upon his approach to this
port, his heart misgave him, and he proposed to his Men the putting to
Sea again and going to Caledonia,[12] the new Scotch Settlement near
Darien, but they refused.
[Footnote 12: Caledonia was the settlement on the isthmus of Panama to
which the Darien Company, amid so much enthusiasm on the part of the
Scottish nation (see Macaulay's twenty-fourth chapter), had sent out
its colony in 1698. The settlement had proved a disastrous failure and
had been abandoned, and the ships bringing away the wretched survivors
were already approaching New York, but neither Kidd nor Bellomont yet
knew this.]
I desire I may have orders what to do with Kidd, and all his and
Bradish's Crew; for, as the Law stands in this Country, if a pyrate
were Convict, yet he cannot suffer Death: And the Counsell here
refused the bill to punish Privateers and Pyrates which your Lordships
sent with me from England with a direction to recommend it at New York
and here, to be passed into a Law. I shall by next Conveyance acquaint
your Lordships what a prejudice I have found in some of the Counsel to
the Laws of England this Session, but having writ myself almost dead,
I must till another Opportunity forbear to treat of the affairs of
this Province; but when I do, I must tell your Lordships beforehand, I
will not dissemble with you to favour any man or number of men; I am
both above it, and I should thinke I did not do the part of an honest
man, if I concealed any thing from you that tends to the prejudice of
the Interest of England.
You will observe by some of the Informations I now send, That Kidd
did not only rob the Two Moors Ships, but also a Portugueze Ship;
which he denied absolutely to the Counsel and me.
I send your Lordships 24 severall Papers and Evidences relating to
Captain Kidd. It is impossible for me to animadvert and make remarks
on the several matters contained in the said papers, in the weak
Condition I am at present; but must leave that Trouble to Mr.
Secretary Popple,[13] whose excellent clear method in business fits
him incomparably beyond me for such a Work.
[Footnote 13: William Popple the elder, secretary to the Board of
Trade from 1696 to 1708.]
I will always continue to be, with much Respect,
My Lords,
Your Lordships most humble
and obedient Servant,
BELLOMONT.
_83. The Danish Governor of St. Thomas to Lord Bellomont. September 1,
1699._[1]
[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 73 XIII. Johan
Lorentz, acting governor of the Danish island of St. Thomas 1689-1692,
governor 1694-1702, was of Flensborg in Sleswick, but his habitual
language was Dutch, which indeed was the usual language of St. Thomas
at this time. His letter, written in Dutch, was sent to the Board of
Trade as an enclosure in a letter from Bellomont dated Oct. 24.
Bellomont, as indicated in the latter part of doc. no. 82, sent the
_Antonio_, with a trusty skipper, to Antigua, St. Thomas, Curacao, and
Jamaica, to recover whatever could be found of Kidd's booty. This is
one of the letters it brought back. Lorentz dated by old style.]
_Aen Syn Excell. Bellomont_
ST. THOMAS de 1 Septembris anno 1699
_Myn Heer_