A quiz question · medium
What plea saved Anne Bonny and Mary Read from the gallows at their 1720 Jamaica piracy trial?
Both were convicted on 28 November 1720 and pleaded pregnancy. Midwife examination confirmed both. Mary Read died in prison in April 1721. Anne Bonny disappeared from the record — possibly ransomed home to South Carolina by her plantation-owner father.
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The Two Women Tried for Piracy at Saint Jago de la Vega in November 1720 Who Pleaded Their Bellies and Avoided the Gallows Anne Bonny and Mary Read were captured along with the pirate captain "Calico Jack" Rackham off Jamaica on 22 October 1720. Tried for piracy at Saint Jago de la Vega the following month, both pleaded pregnancy. Their executions were postponed; the men of the crew were hanged on 18 November. Mary Read died in prison of fever in April 1721. Anne Bonny's fate is unknown.
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