It is easy to consider that what we read is always true... however, when it comes to understanding pirates... for example, like capt. kidd, it is better to accept no truth until you have sorted out all the misinformation... the devious and clever ways used to hide a persons identity...

Did Capt. Kidd really swing onthe gallows... something tells me he didnt... who would ever go up to a corpse hanging in thebreeze to check out if it was his dear friend capt. kidd... could you really tell... and he was left there indefinitely... so... who is to say that was really him... he was one of the first masons of NY... maybe it was a contrived trial and certainly a contrived ending... convincing to say the least... why... the Crown wanted the spoils of their new trading partner... what better way than to have their good friend Kidd collect the precious cargo... 

 After tracing Capt. Kidd's adventures, some years ago, I began to re-think  the sequence of events... 

I recall reading that when a soldier took up the life of a sailor he changed his name... hence perhaps Kidd was his marine name ...

Since people did not carry birthcertificates around with them... nor did they worry about "aka names" ... I think it is indeed presumptuous to conclude that we know who the pirates actaully were... It was customary to bind associates to secrecy simply by having a rose ....secrets were kept "under the rose"....