The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 17, 1906, Page 4

por- the over- érmen on tae The litile hut h of urse name it a ffty ago. This ore is covered with sand stances half aymile in feet in width, which es for conceal- f, likely to prove feh might venture from this beach derable distance. Fhe formation plays an important part in the old tules which are stiil told of this region. I: the early days, s the stories run, the people who lived along this shore preyed on the wrecks of ships which they lured ashore to sertain destruction. It was common, if She cld legends are to be credited, to The end was givan years ends out | room. deceive the ships with false lights and t tne reward of such rise. A lighted lantern s tied to the neck of a horse and its legs ild be hobbled to make it limp :md,\ estrict its speed e horse, | he irregular sandl 14 na ily cause the light 1 to bob up and down violent- s would a light upon a ship was in this lonely region that the ing of Aaron Burr's daughter was| gcovered so man years after the| ppearance of the ship. In the st of 1869 Dr. W. G a prominer any one | from the outside worid ever enter old he in treating visits, ¥ patient was ful and offered to give him am in lieu of 4 fe e she was almost e doctor magde no chatge vices. i his visits Dr. Pool had noticed t port nging o iking extreme poverty of the [ ed many questions as to | its history, but the old woman would | say nothing about it. Finally, in her atitude for her recovery, the old told the story of the painting, e day, when the doctor's lttle | ®irl visited her, she actually presented the picture to her. The portrait was | afterward identied as that of Mrs, | Theodosia Burr Alston. It s due t {the courtesy of Dr. Pool's daughter, |now Mrs. John P. Overman, that thy has within the last few days | been loaned to the Hall of History of North Carolina. The painting had been in the old woman's possession -for many years, just how many she did not know. She a young. girl when it had come ore at Nag’s Head. The ship which | brought it, she said, had come ashore with all her salls set, guided by the merest chance. She was quickly | boarded by the wreckers, who found her entirely deserted, with her tiller lasbed down. In her cabin the dinper tables were found as if for a meal. The beds were not made up in the stateroome. The floors were littered with a curious disarray of trunks, {broken open, with their contents | scattered in all directions. There was ! ship at Nag's Head, a man named Til- CLEW TO THE FATE EODOSIA BURR endes to prove that % Aaron Burrs daughter \ wae made to walk the AN plank by-Lafittes crew. /[ "o blood about the vessel to indicate a fight, no bodies, no sign of & violent | To the wreckers, encounter. of the of the deserted ship was as clear as| experienced eyes | however, the story print. In the tables set for a meal a:\d: 80 suddenly Interrupted they could sea | that the ship had been surprised. In | the trunks broken open and the! scattered clothing they saw the work of pirates. The absence of any sign of | struggle showed that the ship's com- pany must have met death by walking the plank. The tiller firmly lashed down, the sails set to every breeze | again indicated the drunken fancy of ! those who had captured, looted and de- | been an object of great curiosity to serted her, The old woman who re- people from all parts of the country.| calied this strange tale could not fix | Many have made the trip to Elizabeth the year of the wreck, so that the|City, where it has been exhibited, in interval, probably to be measured by | the hope of jdentifying It. Among Ing avith its frame for half a century. Tor many years this painting has vears, during Which the deserted ship |these visitors have been. several mem- | tackeq_aimlessly about the seas will|bers of the Burr family, and these never be known. | bave stated their full belief that the! One of the wreckers to board the | Painting is certainly the portrait of the 111 fated Theodosia. Several friends | of the family have made the trip from | New York to seé the painting, and | among them all there has bren no din-| senting voice. The list of those who | have ldentified it is too long to re- lett, cullected a few pleces of old finery from the cabin floors and carried them ashore to give them to his sweetheart. Out of the wreckage he picked up a silk dress, a vase, a lace shewl, a bunch of wax flowers and a painting. Shortly | Peéat here. afterward he marrled the girl. The| The actual story of the tragedy was poverty stricken old woman in the de- [not told unti] many vyears after all serted hut at Nags Head whom Dr. [ hope of news of the lost ship had been Pool treated had preéserved this paint- | miven over. The strange sequel to thg TON !))})’\/lfi\\}\&\\\l-—\ — N R ] romantle story of the painting was/ treasure. gained from the deathbed confessions of an old pirate who died in a poors=y necessary, house in Michigan many years after | ' thesg tragic scenes. He had been | chance one escape there would be evi- haunted all his life by the memory |dence against them. This was accom- of it. It was actually by his own | Plished in the simplest manner by fore- hands that Aaron Durr's danghter was ' In& them all (0 walk the plank. darowned. The old pirate was hardened to such | In his early life this man had been ! sights, vet the death of Theodosia made one of the Lafitie gapg, and had taken | o vivid an impression upon him that part in many desperate attacks. The | it was always before him. Her beauty | pirate ship on which he sailed sighted and doubtless her breeding contrasted & vessel one day during a cruise near | with the rest. The old pirate described | the coast of North Cardlina and gave the scene in detzil. He had been chase. They finally overtook her, en- | haunted all his life by the beautiful countered ligtle resistance, and finally | face of this woman, With its expres- boarded her. The prise was found to | sion of agony as she stoed for & mo- carry & valuable cargo and many pas- ment on the plank facing her death.: sengers. The pirates helped them-| When the last of the passengers had | selves, breaking opeu trunks and loot- | gone the ship was abandoned, her tiller ing every possible hiding place for' was lashed down and she was set adrift | The death of every man and! woman on board was decided to be for fear that should by any OF = / g™ e with all sails set. less After years of aim- drifting on a thousand different tacks she carried this eurious old por- treit to a place of safety. NSRRI S SRR More Noses in Paris. Paris takes pride in its population and now is rejoicing in mew figures, 2,731,728, showing an increase of 7113 in five years. Some arrondissements gained and others lost, among the latter being the fourth, sixth and seventh, their decrease being enough to cause each to lose a Dsputy in the Chamber. The strange result thus obtained is that, though Paris shows an Increase of over 70,000, on zccount of the fashion in waleh the population is distrid- uted it wiil have only thirty-geven Depu~ tles instead of forty. The falling off im certain arrondissements is explained - movements toward the suburbe.