The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-21
then deserted and made his way to New
York and thence to Chs riestoD.

YORK and thence to Chs riestoD.
OFF FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO.
at the latter port he shipped on a vessel
| ostensioIy bound for Liverpool There " as
very large Grew, and when once outside
OF Charleston harbor the vessel was hove 20
near brig and man calling himself Jones
| came aboard. "He wanted said Mr.
! Cronea, some OF US to go with him, and
our captain appeared perfectly willing.
suppose 1t was all understood bstween them
beforehand. Fifteen Of US agreed to go
! with MIN. There was one CALIFORNIAN in
the party. TIE rest were French. We
went With Jones and he sailed away for & e
! Gulf OF Mexico. When be anchored of
| Corpus Christi he Landed US on an island
and left some food for US.
AFTER awhile one Of Lafitte's vessels,
| commanded by James Campbell, arrived
and came to anchor. Campbell talked TO
! us awhile, saying that he was serving under
Lahtte, and fighting the power of Strain
uhder letters of marque issued by the Car
toaglnien government in South America.
lie offered us good wages and plenty Of
prize money, and we went aboard and took
ssrVIce under him. / was too young to be q
seaman, and was inside cabin boy. | made
several cruises under Campbell, and we
captured number OF vessels, ell of which
surrendered without resistance. Campbell
was good man, and would not kill any of
some point near the coast and out them in
small boats. SO they could make their way
ashore Our schooner was Baltimore
clipper and could make fourteen knots an
hour, close hauled in still breeze.
LAFITTE AND HIS HOME.
'Lahtte," continued Mr.. Cronea, "had
his headquarters st Galveston Island. which
was then called Campeachy. This was in
1918. he had as many as a dozen vessels,
and at one time there we're 1000 men on
the island. Lafftte built a small dirt fort,
and lived, when ashore, in 2-story frame
house, which was painted red. He was one
Oh the nnest-looking men | ever met. He
was feet inches in night and his figure
was one OF remarkable symmetry, with
feet and hands so small, compared with his
large stature, as TO attract attention. In bis
experiment be was remarkably bland, dig
nlt1ed and social toward equals, though
reserved and silent toward interiors or
those under his command. He received
visitors with an easy air of welcome and
was remarkably neat in bis personal ap-
pearance. On board OF his vessel he usually
wore loose coat with nothing to distin-
guish MIN from his subordinat6s He pos
sessed superior conversational powers and
entertained his guests with the rehearsal
OF many interesting and amusing anecdotes
DE had the habit of closing one eye while in
conversation and keeping it closed so much
that many persons that he had only one.
lin the course of his stay on the island
Lafitte executed two of his own men, one of
them fellow named Brown, a ferocious
man, who had plundered an American ves-
sci in the gulf near Sabine Pess and the
other Frenchman named Francois, who
had robbed aud American who came to the
island to buy slaves.
NEGROES AT 81 POUND.
The privateers of Lafitte captured MANY
Spanish vessels bound for Cuba with Afri-
can slaves, and they we're brought to Gal.
weston and sold to traders, who smuggled
them into louisiana and sold them to
planters, The average price Of negro on
the island was 81 pound
"Lafitte, being ordered away from Gal
weston, disbanded most Of his force, burned
his town and sailed away in the schooner
Pride for the Caribbean sea. MIST of his
men, myself among the number, drifted to
New Orleans, from which pacs, in the
course OF the struggle for independence, |
returned to Texas, and have been living
here since 1886.
Campbell, the man under whom l sailed.
also settled in Texas. He was an old United
States man-of-warsman and had fought on
the Constitution in the engagement with
tho Guerriere. He has children still living
in Galveston, for ne did not die until 1857
Another of Lafitts's heutenants / knew
NO OOhA A1oAiLcEes ne s6tLLSu III galveston
and became butcher He had terrible
temper, and one day negro boy be had
working for him did something to displease
him and he nailed him by the ear to the
door OF the slaughter house and
kept him there for some time.
He went TO Mobile and died
there. Another was Ben Deliver. He was
down easter and a hard fighter. He was
wounded in many places and had a cutlass
slash across the head. Whenever he got
drunk 1t made him crazy. He would jump
into The bay and swim for miles like q fish.
he lived on Bolivar point for years aud was
we'll known In Galveston, where everybody
called him Crazy Bon. He has been dead
long time. am the only one Of them
left and IL may be my time TO take in sail
any day."