Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-08-22
Ponce De Leon.

No place has more romantic history
than st. Augustine. II is fact thai
little is really known of the early days
of the place. This uncertainty has de.
veloped the natural tendancy to involve
such obscurity in romance, and the re-
suit is several pretty stories, which are
interesting, and may be true. 1t is be,
lieved that Juan Ponce de Leon, the
gallant old Spanish navigator and com
panion of Columbus, in the later days OF
his eventful life, discovered the site OF
the city, which was an Indian village.
A beautiful Carib maiden, Aleida, whom
the gallant Spaniard had seized in some
of the Virgin islands offthe coast, told
DE Leon of the spring of eternal youth,
and her beauty, as well as his advancing
years, caused him to mako valiant
effort to find it. For this purpose, as
well as that of discovery, De Leon made
permanent settlement at ST. Augustine
in 1912 and laid the foundations of the
old fort which stands Just north of the
town, covered with the mold and dust
of three centuries and officered and gar.
risoned by veteran ordnance sergeant
De Icons mission, peaceful and
romantic as it was, led him to make
treaties with the Indians, the friendly
Selooes and the warlike ,,Yotematoes
Following the customs of European
courts, though in an humble way, he
established bull fights at Torroville
(Villa del Torro) in the city limits, and
taught the savages the pleasure of life
as he understood them. Tomoka, the
chief of the Caribs, the most savage of
tribes, became enamored of Aleida at one
of the games instituted by De Leon, and
demanded that he and the Spanish
cavalier should fight for her fair hand.
This De Leon, who was aged and in
firm, refused TO do, but proposed a
grand combat between his soldiers and
the tribe of Tomaka. Meanwhile, De
Leon had discovered spring, which is
still shown Just above the Sebastian
River, which was regarded with venera-
BILE superstition by the Indians. The
waters had such effect on De Leon that
he believed that il was a fountain OF
youth. According TO tradition an angel
came every evening to drink Of the ''water
of life," as the Indians called it, and the
few drops falling from his wings gave
to the spring its continual curative and
restoring powers. A curiously wrought
cup of clay from which the angel drank
is still in the possession Tustenuggee
(Tom Tiger TaiD, whose son Jim was
so drunk in the Kissimmee City saloon
the other day, and is regarded as the
most sacred of relics by the Seminoles.
Tomoka did not believe in the supersti-
ton, and he greatly offended the Setooes
and Yotematocs by drinking out of and
at last seizing the cup. which was
thoughtto be the vilest sacrilege. Ponce
de Leon, angered at Tomoka's love for
Aleida and full of the superstition of the
time, determined upon the destruction
of that chief, and sailed out of the fort
with his soldiers to attack him.
The two warriors met. De Icons
page threw himself before Tomoka's
spear and saved De Icons life for the
moment, but it was still at the mercy of
the savage. Suddenly Aleida, attircd
in the dress of Carib which she had
slain, darted forward and, drawing her
bow, pierced Tomoka to the heart, and
reaching forward TO snatch the sacred
cup from the dead chiefs neck, was
struck by poisoned arrow and fell
dead. The battle was decided by De
Icons friends, the Seloocs and Yotem-
atoes, appearing and killing every ono
of the Caribs. Temoka's body was
buried on Anastasia island, near the
Coquia quarries, where the giant re-
mains We're discovered some years ago
Aleida and the page were buried near
the spring, and Ponce De Leon, sorely
wounded, was borne into the fort. An
old slab of marble dug up near the
spring, which now bears De Icons s
name, has this inscription in Spanish:
"This narrow place is the sepulchre OF
hero, who was in the name lion and
much more so in reality, Ponce De
Leon. 81 Augustine (Fla.) Cor.
Phil1delI)hia Press.