of their retreat has ever since been called the Pirates’ Glen, and they could not have selected a spot on the coast for many miles, more favorable for the purposes both of concealment and observation.  Even at this day, when the neighborhood has become thickly peopled, it is still a lonely and desolate place, and probably not one in a hundred of the inhabitants has ever descended into its silent and gloomy recess.  There the pirates built a small hut, made a garden, and dug a well, the appearance of which is still visible.  It has been supposed that they buried money; but though people have dug there, and in many other places, none has ever been found.  After residing there some time, their retreat became known, and one of the king’s cruizers appeared on the coast.  They were traced to their glen, and three of them were taken, and carried to England, where it is probable they were executed.  The other, whose name was Thomas Veal, escaped to a rock in the woods, about two miles to the north, in which was a spacious cavern, where the pirates had previously deposited some of their plunder.  There the fugitive fixed his residence, and practised the trade of a shoemaker, occasionally coming down to the village to obtain articles of sustenance.  He continued his residence till the great earthquake in 1658, when the top of the rock was loosened, and crushed down into the mouth of the cavern, enclosing the unfortunate inmate in its unyielding prison.  It has ever since been called the Pirate’s Dungeon.  A part of the cavern is still open, and is much visited by the curious.

This rock is situated on a lofty range of thickly wooded hills, and commands an extensive view of the ocean, for fifty miles both north and south.  A view from the top of it, at once convinces the beholder that it would be impossible to select a place more convenient for the haunt of a gang of pirates; as all vessels bound in and out of the harbors of Boston, Salem, and the adjacent ports, can be distinctly seen from its summit.  Saugus river meanders among the hills a short distance to the south, and its numerous creeks which extend among thick bushes, would afford good places to secrete boats, until such time as the pirates descried a sail, when they could instantly row down the river, attack and plunder them, and with their booty return to the cavern.  This was evidently their mode of procedure.  On an open space in front of the rock are still to be seen distinct traces of a small garden spot, and in the corner is a small well, full of stones and rubbish; the foundation of the wall round the garden remains, and shows that the spot was of a triangular shape, and was well selected for the cultivation of potatoes and common vegetables.  The aperture in the rock is only about five feet in height, and extends only fifteen feet into the rock.  The needle is strongly attracted around this, either by the presence of magnetic iron ore or some metallic substance buried in the interior.