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>