No one passing through the smiling and picturesque town of Penryn would dream that that beautiful place could ever have been associated with such a fearful and horrid event as that known to history as the “Penryn Tragedy,” which happened during the reign of James I.

At that time there lived at the Bohechland Farm in the parish of St. Gluvias a well-to-do farmer and his wife and family.  Their youngest son was learning surgery, but, not caring for that profession, and being of a wild and roving disposition, he ran away to sea, and eventually became a pirate and the captain of a privateer.  He was very successful in his evil business, amassing great wealth, and he habitually carried his most valuable jewels in a belt round his waist.  At length he ventured into the Mediterranean, and attacked a Turkish ship, but, owing to an accident, his powder magazine exploded, and he and his men were blown into the air, some of them being killed and others injured.  The captain escaped, however, and fell into the sea.  He was an expert swimmer, and reached the Island of Rhodes, where he had to make use of his stolen jewels to maintain himself.  He was trying to sell one of them to a Jew when it was recognised as belonging to the Dey of Algiers.  He was arrested, and sentenced to the galleys as a pirate, but soon gained great influence over the other galley slaves, whom he persuaded to murder their officers and escape.  The plan succeeded, and the ringleader managed to get on a Cornish boat bound for London.  Here he obtained a position as assistant to a surgeon, who took him to the East Indies, where his early training came in useful, and after a while the Cornishman began to practise for himself.  Fortunately for him, he was able to cure a rajah of his disease, which restored his fortune, and he decided to return to Cornwall.  The ship was wrecked on the Cornish coast, and again his skill in swimming saved him.  He had been away for fifteen years, and now found his sister married to a mercer in Penryn; she, however, did not know him until he bared his arm and showed her a mark which had been there in infancy.  She was pleased to see him, and told him that their parents had lost nearly all their money.  Then he showed her his possessions, gold and jewels, and arranged to go that night as a stranger to his parents’ home and ask for lodgings, while she was to follow in the morning, when he would tell them who he was.  When he knocked, his father opened the door, and saw a ragged and weather-beaten man who asked for food and an hour’s shelter.  Taking him to be a sea-faring man, he willingly gave him some food, and afterwards asked him to stay the night.  After supper they sat by the fire talking until the farmer retired to rest.  Then his wife told the sailor how unfortunate they had been and how poor they were, and that they would soon have to be sold up and perhaps finish their life in a workhouse.  He took a piece of gold out of his belt and told her there was enough