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Bicentem^ial JEdUion,_JuI> ^ 1976^_	_ 	_The Slill* Herald
Pirate House
Tales of Lafitte surround home
Page G-3
Staff photo by Vernon Matthews
Piece of history. . .
Mrs. Borjn Lister holds a locket	can flag flown during the War of
which contains a piece of an Ameri-	1812.
ODELE H. PERANICH
Herald Bay Bureau
Summer-evening breezes, so familiar to the Gulf shores, blow steadily, caressing a large white frame house set neatly but obscurely some 100 feet inland.
A golden flickering light shines through an upstairs window — perhaps as a signal — meant to be seen by only one man and arranged to warn of dan-ger or to offer assurance of safe passage from the multi-sail ship anchored in the Bay of St. Louis.
The scene is one which could very well have taken place many times during the skull
and crossbones days of Jean Lafitte and his pirating adventures.
Waveland's Pirate House, built in 1802 by a so-called gentleman pirate, a privateer and New Orleans businessman believed to be ruler of the Gulf Coast pirates, is said to have harbored the buccaneer Jean Lafitte.
Lafitte, the French marauder of the late 1700s and early 1800s, concentrated his piracy exploits within the Gulf of Mexico and discriminated against no country in the selection for his high seas ventures.
Although Lafitte’s homeland created a strong bond between him and the Louisiana
and Mississippi Coasts, he successfully avoided entanglement in the United States and Britain’s War of 1812 for two years, principally because of the profit. As long as he stayed uncommitted to either side, all flags continued to be vulnerable to his attack, and gains unvaried.
In September of 1814, however, he shunned an offer of 30,000 pounds by the British, and in trade for a full pardon and citizenship restoration for himself and his followers, Lafitte joined forces with Gen. Andrew Jackson and Louisiana Gov. William C. C. Claiborne in the successful defense of the city of New Orleans and the Coast, thereby implanting for himself a deep affection in the hearts of the American people.
Lafitte’s Pirate House, said to be the headquarters for his privateering, was constructed in resemblance of the early Louisiana planter’s cottage.
Iron grill banisters trimmed the spacious gallery fronting the house and bordered the steps from the ground level to the entrance.
The foundation to the two-story frame house was supported by brick columns nearly eight feet high which rested on brick flooring. A trio
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dungeon located below.
Torturous screams and soulful moans are said to have been heard on many occasions coming from the location of the dungeon.
And tales have been told of this old house which once offered refuge to the gallant buccaneer who terrorized the Gulf of Mexico waters — some believable
—	some not... some believed — some discredited.
One legend, convincing not because it is believed but because it has withstood the test of years, is of a secret tunnel which ran from a sub-cellar to the open Gulf, through which the pirates, hidden by dark of night, would stealthily transfer booty from ships to a stronghold below the house.
This tunnel is said to have been discovered many times since the days of Lafitte.
One such discovery, said Mr. and Mrs. Borjn H. Lister, the last owners of the Pirate House before its destruction in 1969 by Hurricane Camille, was by the young sons of a former owner of the house.
And the tunnel was again revealed, said Lister, by workmen who built that portion of the beach road fronting the house, this time with the addition of a skeleton and a dagger.
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feel the house was haunted. They do believe, however, that it was inhabited by visitants. And their English poodle, Tel, believes this also, insists Mrs. Lister as she tells of the dog’s inexplicable barking at empty rooms.
But the powers of nature which allowed Lafitte and his men the adventurous and profitable days as pirate and buccaneer, also meted out, on the fateful day of Aug. 17, 1969, the 200 mile per hour winds, which ultimately destroyed his legendary Pirate House.
The structure — with its magnificent doors, its heavy square columns which gave support to the roof, the iron grill-work, and the thousands of brick laid into the formation of fireplaces and foundation
—	was literally blown to pieces.
Blown to pieces — but not abandoned, as the Listers proved.
Through tireless effort, they arranged to have the brick, strewn recklessly over the area, retrieved and cleaned. Lister himself searched for and found the doors and grill-work.
sided in the Pirate House while she was a teacher at St. Stanislaus College in Bay St. Louis.
Through her and the incident whereby she was conferred her rebellious title, Mrs. Lister became heir to a piece of an American flag flown during the War of 1812, passed down from her greatgrandfather.
from a flag threatened with desecration by Ben. Butler, a British regiment officer, was one of two pieces spared before the flag was ceremoniously burned.
Mrs. Listers greatgrandfather, Joseph Goldsmith, a New Orleans jeweler located on the corner of Royal and Canal Streets, gave refuge to a man being pursued by the British. The
smith he was carrying an American flag recov-ered from British possession and begged to be hidden, explaining his life’s danger.
Successfully concealed and with the British troops thwarted, the men decided the flag should be burned, but each retained a piece which was placed inside identical lockets for preservation, and as