New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-01
4 sougeniv Of LATTE. the Pirate
.Fro.E she GAve.co1 Civilian

sore time since two old bras. c.nnos
we've saken from The bay, Hea. Virginia
Poia.. some Elk miller from Galveston,
b.ou.h. here and soId 20 The firm o: G. B.
lee s. Co. steam engine manufacturers,
who, IL turn. sold the guns 20 che Calves.
old. and q: the time Of thei: sale 20 Che
artillery company, were reported 20 have
been on board the schooner Tom Toby, An
armed weasel sailing under che Texas flag
in the early days OF the republic. On Sat.
ucdse Afternoon we took look ~ the can.
non. which are in the establishment: o: AR.
Frank D. Harrar, being cleaned, and are
satisfied that they were never ca board T. .
Tom Toby. but instead we're a portion Of
the srmameI: 8: some of LATTE priva.
,eers Our reason. for this are:
l. The guns are OF uniform make, weigh
80 pound. each. and bear che Monogram
"Car!oA Ill" One IL marked ''Ei Cruel"
.he other Ell fue;te," while one OF them
bear. the inscription, santa Ce de Bogota,
June y, l1Ss." Bogota was che former
capital Of the sepublic Of Columbia, in
SOuti. America That country Wa always
famous for it, wealth, and even before the
date borne by the old cannon disposition
had been ehowH to shake OF The yoke Of
Spain. Independence was proclaimed in
1919. ani war waged with Spain until 1919.
When the independence o: the Country was
secured.
=. It is at this time that ve find Jean la.
f.ce, a:,erward famous az buccaneer, SAX
lag service Under the flag OF Sarthagenia,
a province of New Grenada. OF which Santa
E- de Bogota was the capitalo Letters of
.narGue were issued to him. and he there
procured armed vessels and. men with
which to wage war upon Spanish commerce.
This fact. we think. settles cOnclusiyely the
question as to whether or not The ed caI-
non we're from Latitte's vessels.
). After having tough. gaIlantIy ?oy che
Cnited States at the battle OF New Orleans
in isif-ls. LATTE was finally compelled
rendezvous since ;si3. and he sought
Galveston. Or Campeachr Island. as II was
then known. where he established town.
had d thousand men and a number OF
armed vessels under him. Colonel WarreS
D. {. Hall. who died here a few years
since. was on the ISLAND in January. 1919:
and saw Latte. In statement pUblish,t
IN 1879. a copy OF which is in our posses.
sion. Colonel Hall says: In the storm Of
ISIS. the overflow destroyed sou: Of
Laif.e's vessels. the wrecks of which !
saw n 1919. one of which was lying near
Lahttes fort. now hearty the highest part
OF the island. and another was thrown
ashore Oh Virginia Point" This is pretty
stson. testimony that one OF Laittes
vessels was driven ashore on the spot from
whence The old guns were resurrected.
That The guns were known to be at Virginia
Point. the following extract from an article
on storms. in the Ci.ilic,.. IN june. 1911,
show. conciusiveIy:
'She first storm Of which we have any
record ia in the year lSlS When L.ahtte, the
inlIdest hammered man that ever CUT a
throat. o. scuttled ship. hayia. been
driven from Barataria by the United States
forces on account Of his depredations, had
located upon this island, long end low.
"heu the storm came on, four OF his YES.
sells were unable to withstand it and went
ashore on Virginia Point, drowning many
men. During the late unpleasantness, one
DAY. when stiff nOrther had driven a
great deal OF the water out of the bay, the
remains Of vessel and a piece of artillery
were discovered in the mud. and, in all
probability. belonged to some of the YES
sells which wen. down before tbe sto:g1 Oh
that OCCASION
5. The schoone, Tom Toby. Of Texas ~.
socIety. did no. figure very extensively as
man-ot var. and although we have made q
most thorough search. and published 8
pretty complete historical sketch of the
nsst ana second navies of the RepHblie OF
Texas, We were unable to find ANYTHING
about the Toby. 1T is probable that shc
was merely a small schooner, with one gun
90 Uo1lH sAt ibH tVehL6 ene Is not OainetS
At Al! waege such vessels as the Brutus, IN.
dependenee. 3nviAcible and Flash fguSe in
the history OF the first Texas navy. It
would have been impossible for The Texans
20 have had possession ~ 1886 of cannon be.
longing to and stamped in province Of
south America ia 1888. 1t 10 highly impro-
.ahle that guns of that description EoulS
have been on the Toby.
Il IS extremely doubtful if che Hob- :vas
lost Oh Virginia Point instead of Bolivar
PENN .ufa; and We are satisfied in our mind
that We have shown conclusiveIy that the
cannon now owned by the Galveston Arti..
Jerry were shotted once by Laf.te's men,
and have rested in the mud and water a.
Virginia Point, since 1873 We are ready
70 hear the other side of the question, if
there is any. Since the above was writtes
we nave taken another look at the guns,
and lind the following inscription on the
srunnions: "Cobres de America, Moni-
9ulra,' which means "copper" of America,
Moniquira." Moniquira is a celebrated
copper mine in the vicinity of Velez, to the
north OF Santa Fe de Bogota, in the psCs
vince OF New Grenada
A camel and an elephant, belonging to Q
CIRCUS. tied IN kiahklIl