QUEEN OF THE KIDNAPPERS

QUEEN OF KIDNAPPERS

KIRK CANNON

Historical Adventure, suspense, drama, skullduggery, criminal brutality, and outright murder will give pause to the faint of heart. A classic example of fact surpassing fiction. The legend of Patty Cannon reveals the basic greed and brutality of our specie like no other literary account of the ERA - it's an engrossing account, balanced perfectly on the edge between enchantment and historical fact, with the emotional sweep and resonance only great novels possess. The author's excellent portrayal of his subject is outstanding and a credit to his profession. This book is a must read.

About The Author

Kirk Cannon is a prolific writer of novels about historical sites and events along the Eastern Seashore area of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. This volume is typical of his writing style and portrayal of vibrant and believable characters. The author's writing skill is unsurpassed in its ability to grab the reader and not let go. The author is a seasoned writer, and a great talent destined for literary fame in this new millennium. A great book!

e-BOOK

Maverick Publishing

HOUSTON, TEXAS

KIRK CANNON

QUEEN of

KIDNAPPERS

A Historical Novel

LEGEND OF PATTY CANNON

e-Book 2003

www.mittymax.com

QUEEN OF THE KIDNAPPERS

KIRK CANNON

e-Book

Maverick Publishing

HOUSTON, TEXAS

QUEEN OF THE KIDNAPPERS

KIRK CANNON

The Legend of

PATTY CANNON

This is a biographical historical novel set during the

Dark Ages of The Eastern Seaboard of Maryland. All he major characters are real. In the days before fingerprinting and photo identification, people could easily change their names, and quite often did. Ebenezer Johnson may have been Abraham Johnson, and Patty herself was registered as Martha at the Court House in Georgetown, Delaware. After two hundred years, and many families disclaiming any relation to Patty Cannon, the trail is somewhat blurred. The arrest and trial of Patty Cannon and her partner in crime Joe Johnson, is recorded in the official record and are historical fact.

In the writing of this novel I have endeavored to portray the legend of Patty Cannon as accurately as possible. The dialog between the characters is based upon the record of personality, education, and temperament. The interpretation of character speech is entirely my own. I hope you enjoy.

KIRK CANNON

"Yes, she was my several greats Aunt - BY MARRIAGE!"

QUEEN OF THE KIDNAPPERS

KIRK CANNON

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

History of the Concord Methodist Church

The Sons, Daughters, and Friends of Concord

Concord Story

Sussex County Delaware

The Eastern Shore

A Fable

QUEEN OF THE KIDNAPPERS

KIRK CANNON

FOREWORD

THE TALES OF PATTY CANNON'S EXPLOITS have endured for two centuries. So vile and evil was this outlaw she became a disgrace to the entire region (Eastern Shore of Maryland and Sussex County, Delaware). Patty Cannon ran the Underground Railroad IN REVERSE! She kidnapped free blacks from the North and sold them into slavery. This period of time (180 - 1829) is now referred to as the "Dark Ages of the Eastern Shore," when kidnapping of Negroes was not considered much of a crime, and those who enforced the law were easily bribed.

Anyone who saw Patty Cannon never forgot her. She stood five feet-six inches tall and weighed over 225 pounds. Her hair was cold black; her complexion rosy and she had a peculiar way of rolling and swaying as she walked.

Her strength was legendary. She could lift 300 pounds from the ground to her shoulder. She was a champion wrestler, equestrian, a crack-shot with a pistol, and she terrorized the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Sussex County area for decades.

Patty Cannon was finally arrested, not for kidnapping, but for the murder of four people - two White men, one Negro boy, and a Negro infant. *Local people distanced themselves from the notorious Patty Cannon, and the people changed the names two towns to erase any connection with the "Queen Of Kidnappers.

Still today, there are reminders of her. The Patty Cannon House, now a private residence, stands on the MASON-DIXON LINE, five miles west of Seaford, Delaware on Routes 20 and 577. Just three miles away is Cannon Hall in Woodland Ferry, Delaware. Jacob Cannon built Cannon Hall in the early 19th Century for his bride to be. She jilted him and he never lived in his new mansion. Other historic buildings described in this novel are still standing. The Washington Tavern (now a hotel) and the Teakle Hall (now the Teakle Mansion) are in Princess Ann, Somerset County Maryland. Also in Somerset County there are the private residences: Beckford, Elmwod, and Reward, and the Diamond Chimney House, which is near Shelton. The reader can readily identify the Stage Coach stop, and General Jesse Green's mansion in Concord, Delaware. The old Court House in Georgetown, Delaware is being restored.

*Cannon's Ferry was renamed Woodland Ferry, and Johnson's Cross Roads, the headquarters of the notorious Joe Johnson - Patty Cannon gang was changed to Reliance.

Some two millenniums ago these proud and humble aborigines were visited by a tall, fair-bearded prophet the Lenni Nappe's called Wis-ah-co. He wore a white robe, performed miracles, and foretold the future. "White men will come," he said, "and they will be too many to count, like snow flakes. They will drive your people from this beautiful land into the west where your people will join other tribes and you will cease to exist as a nation." Because Wis-ah-co was at the village of the Nanticoke he told them: "You are my chosen people. You tribe will survive."

Wis-ah-co, the Prophet, taught the Indians the sign of peace and how to love one another. Indians have no whiskers and therefore they had never seen a bearded person, except Wis-ah-co, in the thousands of years they lived on the peninsula. When Captain John Smith, of Jamestown and Pocahontas fame, explored the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1608, he landed at the Indian village of the Nanticokes. The Indians believed Smith to be Wis-ah-co returning as he had promised.

Instead, the white men came, just as Wis-ah-co predicted, "like snow flakes, and there will be too many to count." The proud Lenni Nappe were all but annihilated by the white men. The few that managed to escape trudged wearily westward to be assimilated into other tribes. The Lenni Nappe (Delawares) were no longer a nation! A few stayed behind to guard the sacred ancient chieftains' burial grounds. It wasn't the white man's brains that destroyed the Indians. It was his coughing sickness (consumption), smallpox, measles and whiskey. Still the Nanticokes remained.

Maryland became a Royal Charter to Cecil Calvert in 1632. The Calverts coveted the flat sandy soil of the peninsula across the Bay.

In 1681, William Penn was granted the land he named Pennsylvania, which included the upper part of the peninsula between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The Calverts of Maryland issued endless land grants on the peninsula, pushing further into William Penn's territory.

Finally, in 1750, by mutual agreement, the Nanticoke River and one of its tributaries, Deep Creek, formed the border between the slave state of Maryland and the anti-slave state of Pennsylvania. The actual border was later resolved by two English surveyors, Mason and Dixon. These two Englishmen began the dividing line between the Baltimore family of Maryland and Penn families of Pennsylvania, in 1763. South of Philadelphia, and 35 miles north of New Castle (then in Pennsylvania) a circle was drawn with New Castle at its center. From this circle a line at lat. 39°43´ 26.3¨ north went west, while another line went south to divide the peninsula equally. This part of Pennsylvania was called the three lower counties (New Castle, Kent and Sussex). In 1776 these counties separated from Pennsylvania, becoming Delaware, an independent sovereign state of the English colonies.

It was on the Nanticoke River, just inside the Delaware line, that the tiny village of Cannon's Ferry was built. The ferry began operating in 1793 (before that it was known as Cannon's Port). All of the land and buildings were owned by the Cannon family, Elizabeth, the mother, and her two sons Jacob and Isaac.

In the late spring of 1824, THE MOST UNLIKELY of all persons landed at the dock at Cannon's FerryCCthe redoubtable Captain Dennis! (Patty Cannon's young lover who for years had been away). He was fuller now, having gained considerable weight, and sported a healthy suntan. His flaxen mustache had grown to enormous proportions. He wore a wide-brimmed plumed beaver hat, a leather tunic, ruffled shirt, red military sash with pistol, powder horn, and sword, green corduroy breeches, wide-topped boots, and elaborate spurs.

As Captain Dennis walked towards the stable, he heard cries of anguish coming from a small crowd of people gathered around a single-story cabin. Curious, the elegantly attired sea-cavalier walked over to see what the commotion was about. Towering above the crowd was Jacob Cannon. He was seizing the contents of the cabin and tossing everything outside. A woman's voice was heard crying inside.

"Otra de las suyas!" lisped the aristocratic-looking Captain Dennis.*

"'Tis no trick, sir! Isaac and Jacob Cannon have a writ, and we are legal," answered Jacob.

"Have you no scruples, sir?" Dennis stuttered. "How could one be so cruel as to leave a mansion not lived in, and at the same time evict a poor soul from a humble low cottage?"

"You, sir, should be accustomed to the cries of the white trash. You are of noble bearing. You should know, sir, as do Isaac and Jacob Cannon, that the love of money is like music."

*Afflicted with hay fever and a speech impediment.

"Add your mother to that quotient," the Skipper wheezed.

"My mother? Sir, what do you know of my dear mother?" Jacob asked.

"As the courtier of Madam Cannon, I have seen and heardCCmuch."

"Oh, the absent gigolo, I've heard of you, Captain," Jacob replied.

"How much to return the contents of this cabin to its rightful place?" Captain Dennis asked.

"You wish to stand for Mrs. O'Day's rent?" Jacob said in astonishment.

"Que digamos, si."

"I've got the judgment, Captain Dennis. All legal days are judgment days to Isaac and Jacob Cannon."

"Jacob Cannon," the Skipper said as he walked inside the bare room of the shack, "how much to recover the furnishings you have confiscated from this..." He nodded to the anguished woman holding a child to her breast. "...poor widow woman?"

Jacob rubbed his hands in anticipation of monetary rewards. Before he could answer, Captain Dennis snatched the writ from his grasp.

Looking at the legal paper, the Captain lisped, "Qui-quere-aqui, you bastard! You are taking everything this woman owns for ten dollars?"

Just then a small boy made a vicious dive at Jacob Cannon's legs, toppling him. Jacob, sitting on his backside, yelled, "The assault and trespass are the equivalent of mortal sin."

"I'll kill you!"* The boy yelled back at Jacob.

"Who is that lad?" Dennis asked?

"The son of the woman inside, Owen O'Day."

"Owen," called the Skipper. "Come over here."

The boy came to his side.

"Why didn't you pay your mother's rent?" the Captain asked.

"Because," Owen answered, "Jacob told my mother that she needn't pay rent. He is a liar."

"Take the boy!" Jacob angrily yelled at the Captain. "Take him and I'll not press charges for his assault of me."

"I will," replied the Skipper. "Here is your ten dollars, Jacob. I pray you choke on it."

"My son Owen," spoke up the mother. "I need him to supply the baby and myself food, clothing, and the bare necessities.

"Never fear, Mrs. O'Day. I take Owen to a place where he will earn good wages. Enough to keep you and your child living in comfort."

"You're Patty Cannon's escort, her paid lover, I heard you tell Jacob. Now my son is going to the gallows with Lucretia Cannon and her gang."

"Lucretia?" questioned Dennis.

*Owen O'Day did kill Jacob Cannon on April 12, 1843.

"Yes, that's what folks around here call that evil womanCCLucretia who married her husband Alfonso."

"Local legend," added Jacob, "taken from ancient folklore."

"Tell me about it, Jacob, if you please."

"Yes, Captain. The name Alfonso is prominent in Spanish-Italian history. The Borgias family, the first being Alfonso Borgias, who became Pope Calixtus."

"Interesting, but a Pope shouldn't have a wifeCCcould he?"

"No, Lucretia was born afterwards and she had two husbands, both named Alfonso, and the first of the two was murdered by Lucretia, it was rumored. So when Patty poisoned her husband, she became the legendary Lucretia and poor JesseCCAlfonso."

"Ah, now, Mrs. O'Day, who would you rather have your son work for? Patty "Lucretia" Cannon or the skinflints Isaac and Jacob," the Skipper asked.

Before she could answer, Owen blabbed out "Patty Lucretia Cannon!"

"Right answer, young man. Now that Owen is gainfully employed I would say he should have an account at your store, Jacob. What do you say?"

"Humpt," snorted Jacob. "A bird in the hand of Isaac and Jacob Cannon is worth two in the bush anywhere else."

"Put this money on Mrs. O'Day's account," said the Skipper as he handed some coins to Jacob.

"Your first week's wages. Three dollars. You understand, Owen?"

"Yes, sir, Captain."

"He's working for you, sir, and not the wicked Lucretia?" the mother asked.

"Chito! Chito!" answered the Captain. "I did it for the boy and numero uno."

"God bless you, Captain Dennis," the mother gushed.

"You have saved mother and child from certain death."

"A menos que no fuera," answered Captain Dennis.

"Come, Owen. An amazing lady has waited too long."

"Patty Cannon?" Owen asked.

"Si."

The Captain rented a horse from the Cannon brothers and he, with Owen riding behind him, rode the few miles to Johnson's Crossroads where the infamous Joe Johnson tavern* stood.

As Captain Dennis walked into the tavern with Owen at his heels, Patty rubbed her eyes not believing what she was seeing.

"La voir, c'est l'aimer," the Captain wheezed.

"You are one beautiful son-of-a-bitch!" Patty yelped and headed to meet him. She hugged him and said, "Did the horny Don Quixote get tired of punching windmills? Or what exactly do you call black witches of a harem?"

"Afrigue nue."

"French? What happened to your harsh Spanish?"

"Marchons, marchons! Vive la France!"

""You're full of it, Captain, but I still love you."

"Are we, Patricia dear, on an inflexible axis, our hearts, which love is poured forth in light, the other in darkness?" he articulated between wheezes.

"Oh, Captain, how I have missed you and your romantic eloquence. Speak of love."

"We are exquisite lovers with wings which we gather, amass, and explode into sweet fragments of sensuous lust."

"Don't stop."

"La noche no era para menos," he lisped.

"Your Spanish is the language of love," she gurgled.

*"Golpe del aire con aqua," he whispered.

**"Bancos...bancos," she whispered back.

Patty led the Captain to the stairs, saying, "I have a wonderful boudoir upstairs, Captain. It has a large fireplaceCCvery romantic. What's that following us?" she demanded.

"Owen O'Day. He is mine for a week."

"Tell him to go away, unless he is to sleep with us," Patty said.

*A gust of wet waves.

** A play on words.

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