Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-10-20
WALTER wELLMAN.

The plan of The Herald was easy to understand. For centuries the iden- tity of the island which Columbus first landed upon had remained unknown. The quadricentennial of the discovery of the New World was about to be eel ebrated in Chicago with a great exposi- tion, and The Herald thought it proper that the spot at which occurred the most tremendous event in history should be sought out and appropriately marked. This was queer task, but a fasci- hating one. I went at it in characteristic American fashion-that is, jumped at it. l ransacked the Congressional library and other libraries. cabled to London for book which was not to be found in America. l procured from the hydro graphic office charts of the Bahamas | made by our government and the Brit ish admiralty.
 Night and day study of the mystery | of the discovery quickly showed these facts: In all history there is nothing that throws light upon the landfall save the journal kept by Columbus himself i Five islands had been put forward as the real San Salvador, and hundreds of books and pamphlets written in support of these theories. The correct theory must be based upon two conditions: The island itself must have certain features described by Columbus-lagoon, reefs, harbor hard by headland through which the sea had cut it's way, etc. and it must lie at certain distances and in certain directions from five other islands visited and described by l Columbus. As to the latter condition, inspection of the charts showed Wat lings to be the only one that would fit the geometrical lines of Columbus first voyage through the Bahamas. If it contained the physical features which Columbus had found in his San Salva- dor, then the mystery was solved. Oddly enough, the learned historians, l geographers and photographers who had | supported the claims of the rival islands had not taken the trouble to visit the region of which they discoursed. Had they done so their controversy might have come to an end long ago.
 Early in June our expedition sailed from New York. We went by Ward line steamer Santiago to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, having on board in addition to Charles Lederer, the fa- nous artist of the Chicago Herald, a stonemason, a marble globe, a memo rial tablet, thirty barrels of cement, a man servant, photographic outfit and sundry boxes, barrels, demijohns and
 bottles containing the necessaries of life. l At Nassau we had a narrow escape.
 The governor of the Bahamas was to leave for England within an hour or so after our arrival, and without his au- thority we could do nothing. An hour of hustling, the assistance of the Ameri- can consul and a letter which 1 had
 brought from Sir Julian Pauncefote,
 British minister at Washington, and
 Governor Shea gave us a letter com manding all the local officials of the Ba-
 hamas to place themselves at our com mand. Lucky for us that we caught
 kindly Governor Shea. The lieutenant governor, who came into power the min
 ute the governor sailed, was against us.
 "Impertinent, presumptuous Yankeesr' he exclaimed; ito think they can come , down here and in a few weeks set tie one of the great mysteries of historyr
 If the lieutenant governor had had his
 way we should have been sent back to , New York quicker.
 , Watlings was 200 miles away We had decided that if visit to Watlings
 produced the physical evidence neces- sary to establish it's claims beyond doubt, well and good. If not, we were to study , the other islands in the order of their ] theoretical probability. How to get , to Watlings was the question. In the
 harbor were sloops, yachts and schoon-
 CTS galore. One smelled of her last l cargo, Jamaica rum; another of sponges, third of fish, fourth of poultry. The cabins of all were mere cells And it
 was the season of the year when calms reigned for days at time. The only 3 steam vessel in port was the steamship , tender, a crude craft with a bottom as flat as street car, keelless and not f lovely. Besides she cost pretty penny. , But we bothered the expense and took , her, hove into her our cement and sup
 plies, employed some more masons with
 their tools, bought half ton of precious
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 Household Ointment after the patient wa
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