Legends and Lore of the Mississippi Golden Gulf Coast Read Online Free PDF Page A

placed there.
    Some of the interesting points of the story make you wonder. In the Daily Herald city news section, there was a recent visitor named Don Emilio Cardenas, of Madrid, Spain. As far as the steamer Creole , it did ply the waters of the Mississippi Sound from New Orleans to Mobile. Captain Charles Walker was the captain of the Creole , as well as other steam vessels. The “Astounding Discovery” article was published on April 1, or All Fool’s Day. With these interesting points, was it history or tall tale?
    On April 2, the Daily Herald explained that the “Astounding Discovery” article had the “smooth, catchy style” of an occasional contributor. It appears the weaver of this tall tale also displayed swords and old coins in the show window of J.B. Lemon’s drugstore. The Daily Herald reported that the tale duped “quite a number” of individuals into visiting Lemon’s drugstore. A large group of individuals at one of Biloxi’s hotels was planning a visit to Deer Island to see the spot of discovery. A visitor like Don Cardenas of Madrid, Spain, would not have gone unnoticed. As for the swords and coins that were on display, the swords were returned to their owner, Miss R.L. Nixon, and the rare old coins were returned to the Bank of Biloxi.
    The stories of ghosts, pirates and other legends have haunted Mississippi’s Golden Gulf Coast for centuries. Just as there is always someone who can tell a historical story, there will always be someone around like the Biloxian to stretch the truth into a tall tale, thereby creating a legend.

CHAPTER 5
    T HE L EGEND OF THE P ITCHER P OINT P IRATES
    Any point of land extending into a body of water in geography is known as a cape, headland, spit, peninsula or point. Maps in the 1850s show numerous points along Mississippi’s Golden Gulf Coast. From Long Beach to Pass Christian, one finds Bare Point, Goose Point, Point du Pain and Pitcher Point. There are also many colorful legends of pirates. In Long Beach, there is the pirate’s legend of how Pitcher Point got its name.
    One legend is of John Pitcher, a barbarous pirate who was even disliked by his own corrupt crew. Pitcher and his crew were typical pirates of the early 1800s who preyed on merchant vessels. The point that would carry his name became their pirate’s refuge. From their refuge, they would sail into the Mississippi Sound looking for vessels with rich cargos of gold and silver. After each successful raid, they would return to Pitcher Point to bury their treasure chests.
    During their time onshore, they became friendly with the Native Americans, and some of the pirates even had female companions. There was some speculation that Pitcher and his men were at one time traders and frontiersmen. After moving to the area near Pitcher Point, they had to adapt to the lifestyle of the area. One of the most important tools would have been boats used for trade. They would have noticed the large volume of trade goods and passengers going from Mobile to New Orleans, as well as other port cities. During hard times, they became pirates and preyed on these easily accessible vessels.
    Like most pirate leaders, Captain Pitcher didn’t trust his crew, nor did they trust him. One of the descriptions of Pitcher Point as a credible place for pirates comes from the National Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. The program created three million jobs for unemployed men. Locally, the WPA hired men to write the history of their own communities. The chapter on Long Beach stated that “numerous points are vistas of the water through the branches of oaks and pines. Few signs of habitation break the scene, and the isolation and forest growths make credible the story that here the pirate Pitcher had his hideout.”

    The western section of the beach at Long Beach. Courtesy of Alan Santa Cruz Collection .
    Supposedly, Pitcher and his crew operated at Pitcher Point