A Great Escape
Reputed 'strong as
any ox' was Loyalist, Gibeson.
Like other refugees, he'd rob the citizens and run -
to "Oak Swamp" outside Tuckerton and stash his stolen
"loot" inside the nest.
Small wonder he was not a welcomed guest.
It's written down that Gibeson, with hop and skip head start,
few running steps and one giant leap, could clear a horsedrawn
cart.
Tradition says his sister, nearly agile as her brother;
could stand inside a hogshead barrel, and jump into another.
He was an expert
horseman, and his mischief-making rounds
were anywhere he chose to roam - no town was out of bounds.
A day of havoc pleasured him; he throught he couldn't be caught;
and when the lawmen chased him, true, it often was for naught.
And then, one day
they captured him, but in Mount Holly jail
he devised a great escape; it was one that could not fail.
His sister got permission to visit him, they tell,
and when the guards weren't looking they exchanged clothes in the
cell.
Their features were so simillar they even fooled the guard,
who helped him into the carriage that was waiting in the yard.
Upon discov'ry,
history does not reveal his sister's fate,
but shortly after, Gibeson showed up in New York State.
He went on to Nova Scotia, but 'tis said he changed his ways -
returned to live out peacefully, the balance of his days.
-Lillian Arnold Lopez "Pineylore"