Beer prize, enabling him to spend a year in Italy at the government's expense. He also received a silver medal for a statuette in 1876. He now (1887) resides in Germany, but frequently visits this country. He has made numerous portrait busts, which include those of Cardinal Gibbons and Sidney Lanier. His principal works are “Toying Page,” “The Pet Falcon,” “Titania,” “Psyche,” “Ye Old Storye,” and the DeKalb monument in Annapolis, Md. (1883). This was modelled twice, the first figure having fallen while he was altering its pose.
KEYSER, Peter Dirck, surgeon, b. in
Philadelphia, Pa., 8 Feb., 1835. He studied at Delaware
college until 1851, when he entered the chemical
laboratory of Prof. Frederick A. Genth, and
there made analyses of minerals, the results of
which were published in the “American Journal
of Science,” and were afterward incorporated in
Dana's “Mineralogy.” In 1856 he went to
Germany and pursued professional studies for two
years. Soon after the beginning of the civil war
he became captain in the 91st Pennsylvania
regiment, and served with the Army of the Potomac
until after the battle of Fair Oaks. Failing health
then led to his resignation, and he returned to
Germany, where he studied at the University of
Munich, and then at that of Jena, receiving there
the degree of M. D. in 1864. On his return he was
appointed acting assistant surgeon in the U. S.
army, and was detailed to the Cuyler hospital in
Germantown, Pa. In 1865 he resigned from the
service to enter on his private practice, and was
called to the charge of the Philadelphia eye and
ear infirmary. In 1868 he delivered a course of
lectures to physicians upon the accommodation
and refraction of the eye, and in 1870 he delivered
the first regular course of clinical lectures on
ophthalmology that ever was given in Philadelphia,
repeating the course in 1871-'2. Dr. Keyser
was elected ophthalmic surgeon to the medical
department of the Philadelphia German society in
1870, and one of the surgeons to the Wills ophthalmic
hospital in 1872. Dr. Keyser is a member of
medical societies and of the Pennsylvania historical
society, and he has been a contributor of
medical papers to the journals of his profession
both in the United States and Europe.
KIDD, William, navigator, b. in Scotland,
probably in Greenock; d. in London, England, 24
May, 1701. He is supposed to have been the son
of a non-conformist clergyman who suffered
torture by the boot, and who died, 14 Aug., 1679.
Young Kidd went to sea at a very early age, and
in the latter part of the 17th century he had
acquired a reputation as a bold, skilful, and successful
captain. He had fought against the French,
had performed some daring exploits, had done
good service in the American colonies, and in 1691
had received from the council of the city of New
York an award of £150. In those days piracy on
the high seas prevailed to an alarming extent,
especially in the Indian ocean. It was claimed that
many of the freebooters came from America, where
also they found a ready market for their spoils.
When, in 1695, Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont
(q. v.), who had been appointed governor of New
York and Massachusetts, was about to set out for
his new post, King William, in an interview with
him, referred in strong terms to the piracy that
had become the disgrace of the colonies. “I send
you, my lord, to New York,” said the king,
“because an honest and intrepid man is wanted to put
down these abuses, and because I believe you to be
such a man.” It was soon known at New York
that the new governor was bent on the suppression
of piracy; and some of the more prominent
colonists, among them Robert Livingston, promptly
came to his aid. Kidd, who had acquired a
competency, was now living in retirement in New York,
and was well known to Livingston and other citizens.
It was suggested to the governor that if
such work was to be done, Kidd was the man to do
it. He had all the requisite qualifications — skill,
courage, large and widely extended naval experience,
and a thorough knowledge of the haunts of
the pirates, “who prowled between the Cape of
Good Hope and the Straits of Malacca”; and,
what was of equal importance, he was willing to
undertake the task. With a single ship of thirty
or forty guns he believed himself able to sweep
the whole race of pirates from the ocean. Bellomont
was pleased with the suggestion, and made it
known to the king. It was referred to the
admiralty, who raised objections; but Bellomont was
resolute. A private company was organized,
including Lord Shrewsbury, Lord Romney, Lord
Orford, first lord of the admiralty, and Somers,
keeper of the great seal; £6,000 were subscribed,
the “Adventure,” a galley of 287 tons, with 30 guns,
was equipped in London, and Kidd was placed in
command. According to the arrangement, one
tenth of the booty was to be set aside for the king,
and was to be put into the treasury, and the
remainder was to be divided among the share-holders,
the captain, and the crew. Besides the ordinary
letters of marque, Kidd carried with him two
commissions under the great seal — one authorizing
him to act against the French, and another
empowering him to seize pirates, and to take them to
some place where they might be dealt with according
to law. Failing to find his full complement of
hands in England, he sailed from Plymouth, 23
April, 1696, and visited New York, where he found
volunteers in abundance. On his way across the
Atlantic, when off Newfoundland, he captured a
French ship, arriving with his prize at New York
early in July. On 6 Sept., with a crew of 154 men,
he sailed from Hudson river, and in January, 1697,
reached the coast of Madagascar, then the great
rendezvous of the buccaneers. It seems doubtful
whether Kidd meant to play a game of deception
from the first. The probability is that he set out
with honest intentions, but he shared the opinions
regarding piracy that were common at that time
in the colonies, and it was so also with his crew.
To a man of easy morals the temptation was
strong. In any case, it soon began to be rumored
that Kidd was also among the pirates, and on 23
Nov., 1698, orders were sent to all the governors
of English colonies to apprehend him if he came
within their jurisdiction. In April, 1699, he
arrived in the West Indies in a vessel called the
“Quidah Merchant,” secured her in a lagoon on the
island of Saona, southeast of Hayti, and then in a
sloop called “San Antonio,” of 55 tons and about
40 men, sailed for the north. Entering Delaware
bay, he sailed up the coast to Long Island
sound, and went into Oyster bay. There he took
on board a New York lawyer, James Einott, and,
running across to Rhode Island, he sent Einott to
Boston to consult Bellomont as to a safe conduct.
Bellomont was evasive, but finally Kidd was
encouraged to go to Boston, where he arrived, 1 July,
1699. Finally it was deemed necessary to summon
him before the council, and, as his answers to
questions were not satisfactory, he was arrested, and
ultimately, with several of his men, sent to
England. He was charged not only with piracy, but
with burning houses, massacring peasantry, brutal-
