From the South, just before the Civil War...
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June 11, 1860
LYNCHBURG DAILY VIRGINIAN, June 11, 1860
* Albert Hicks - last pirate executed
* Rare antebellum publication
* Less than year prior to Civil War
Inside includes: "The Very Latest News from Pike's Peak" concerning the gold rush there. Also: "The Battle With the Indians At Pyramid Lake" and: "The Career of Hicks, the Condemned Pirate". This was Albert Hicks, the last person in the U.S. to be hanged for piracy.
Four pages, very nice condition.
background: The June 11, 1860, edition of the Lynchburg Daily Virginian serves as a vivid historical snapshot of an American landscape caught between the rugged lawlessness of the frontier and the increasingly sensationalist urban East. By featuring the "career" of Albert Hicks, the paper tapped into the public's morbid fascination with the man who would become the last person executed for piracy in the U.S., a case that blended maritime law with the era's burgeoning appetite for true crime. Simultaneously, the reports from Pike’s Peak and the account of the Battle at Pyramid Lake reflect the volatile nature of westward expansion, juxtaposing the desperate hope of the gold rush with the violent reality of the Paiute War. Printed on high-quality rag paper just months before the onset of the Civil War, this specific issue captures a unique moment of "calm before the storm," where the nation’s attention was still divided between the gold-filled mountains of the West and the high-seas drama of the Atlantic, all while the internal pressures of sectionalism were quietly reaching a breaking point.
* Albert Hicks - last pirate executed
* Rare antebellum publication
* Less than year prior to Civil War
Inside includes: "The Very Latest News from Pike's Peak" concerning the gold rush there. Also: "The Battle With the Indians At Pyramid Lake" and: "The Career of Hicks, the Condemned Pirate". This was Albert Hicks, the last person in the U.S. to be hanged for piracy.
Four pages, very nice condition.
background: The June 11, 1860, edition of the Lynchburg Daily Virginian serves as a vivid historical snapshot of an American landscape caught between the rugged lawlessness of the frontier and the increasingly sensationalist urban East. By featuring the "career" of Albert Hicks, the paper tapped into the public's morbid fascination with the man who would become the last person executed for piracy in the U.S., a case that blended maritime law with the era's burgeoning appetite for true crime. Simultaneously, the reports from Pike’s Peak and the account of the Battle at Pyramid Lake reflect the volatile nature of westward expansion, juxtaposing the desperate hope of the gold rush with the violent reality of the Paiute War. Printed on high-quality rag paper just months before the onset of the Civil War, this specific issue captures a unique moment of "calm before the storm," where the nation’s attention was still divided between the gold-filled mountains of the West and the high-seas drama of the Atlantic, all while the internal pressures of sectionalism were quietly reaching a breaking point.
Item from last month's catalog - #364 - released for March, 2026.
Category: Pre-Civil War
