One of the most mysterious legends born in Palmer is that of the Captain Kidd letter found on the property of Samuel Shaw in 1849 (today the Pottoquatnck District).
The story is about 2 young Shaw men who were out hunting rabbits when their dog chased one under a stone ledge. The young men reached in and found a glass vial tightly sealed with sheet lead and wound in wire. Brought to the house, the bottle had to be broken to be opened inside was a roll of paper dated 1700-1, the old method of dating 1701.
The paper was a letter from Robert Kidd and addressed to John Bailey Esq. of New York. The letter stated that Kidd had been captured as a pirate and was to be sent back to England for trial.
Kidd instructs Bailey to rush to Boston, specifically to Conant’s Island in Boston Harbor to dig up 2 chests “containing from fifteen to twenty thousand pounds sterling, in money, jewels and diamonds.”
Mysteries and Legends of New England: True Stories of the Unsolved (Google Books)
List of Pirates (Wikipedia)
The Everything Pirates Book: A Swashbuckling History of Adventure (Google Books)
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