As to the skull and crossbones, Wikipedia - Jolly Roger, has a vivid account of a much older history.

"Be careful when reading health books, you may die of a misprint." MT

Speaking of pirates, seems to be I read about the skull and bones in reading a John Paul Jones biography.

Warren Brown - Catch the Twain
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Harold Bush <[log in to unmask]>
To: TWAIN-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Feb 28, 2012 8:38 am
Subject: Re: Pirates in the Indian Ocean?


somewhat related, and a further query:

In "Person Sitting in Darkness" MT suggests redesigning the US flag to
include black stripes for the white, and a skull and crossbones for the
stars.  I assume this is a reference to his readers (circa 1901) that the
imperialists/ missionaries (sort of in bed together in this essay) are like
pirates, yes?  My assumption is that the skull and crossbones at that time
signifies as it does today -- and for me, I think of pirates.  Is that
plausible?

I even checked Skull and Bones on Wikipedia, to discover that the
organization dates back to 1832!  I wonder why they chose the skull and
bones as their logo?  Did the symbol suggest pirates in 1832??


-hb


-- 
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Professor of English
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>