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Trial and execution of the notorious pirate Captain Kidd...



Item # 665373

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May 12, 1701

THE LONDON GAZETTE, England. A part of very significant issues which are best kept together, dated May 12 and May 26, 1701. Sold individually for a combined total of $21,250, we offer a special price for the pair:

May 12, 1701  One of the best issues of all of this title we have offered, as page 2 contains a report on the trial & sentence of the pirate Captain Kidd.
Datelined May 10, just two days prior to this publication date, the report begins: "At a session of the Court of Admiralty held at the Old Baily on the 8th and 9th Instant, William Kidd, late Captain of the Adventure Galley, was indicted and tried for the murder of William Moore, his gunner, on board the said ship and was found guilty..." followed by additional particulars, and includes the noteworthy statement: "...whereupon the court proceeded to pass sentence of Death upon Captain Kidd and eight of the other Pirates...".
We have never found another period newspaper reporting the trial and sentence of Captain Kidd.

May 26, 1701  The back page contains an exceedingly significant report--perhaps the rarest and most sought after pirate report to be found in any newspaper--which is datelined "London, May 23" and reads: "This day Capt. William Kidd, and three other of the Pirates lately condemned at the Admiralty Sessions at the Old-Baily, were executed at Execution-Dock."
Certainly the first, if not the only report on the death of Captain Kidd as the date of this issue spans the date of his death. I have never seen another period newspaper with this report.

Both issues are complete as single sheets, 7 by 11 12 inches, great condition.

Category: The 1600's and 1700's