"Small Scale" Pirates on City Island in 1880

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The annals of crime in Pelham include some odd incidents. One involved "Pirates on a Small Scale", as an 1880 newspaper article labeled the incident. The article appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune on January 10, 1880 and is reproduced below.

"PIRATES ON A SMALL SCALE.

A CURIOUS EXPEDITION IN LONG ISLAND SOUND.

Three men landed from a small schooner on City Island, Long Island Sound, October 16, and their movements excited suspicion. In the night the sail loft of William Darling was broken into, and sails valued at $600 were stolen. The schooner was pursued in a steam tug and overtaken in the Hell Gate channel. Police Officer Runge visited the vessel in a rowboat, but was warned off by two men who held revolvers. The three men took to a small boat and reached the Long Island shore. The schooner fell into the hands of the police, and the sails and other stolen articles were found on her.

Recently Thomas Mack, alias Thomas McEnery, was arrested for a theft in the Bowery and was identified by Officer Runge as one of the men who had pointed pistols at him on the schooner. The prisoner was convicted in the General Sessions yesterday and sent to State Prison for five years."

Source: Pirates on a Small Scale, New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 10, 1880, p. 2, col. 6.

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