The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1894-06-14

Indian invasion. Accordingly they com
bined strength, dimension, proportion,
and beauty Of symmetry. This is better
appreciated if the reader recalls the days
that Davy Crockett and his noble, plucky
comrades, few more than hundred of
them, withstood Santa Anna and his
5000 disciplined troops. This was in
the Alamo, a mission that stands today
in the Alamo Plaza in the city of San
Antonio. Remember the Alamo
became the battle cry of the Texans
under Sam Houston, some time thereafter
when the Texans won the decisive battle
of San Jacinto and thus freed them
selves.
The Columbus theory which if estab-
lished, makes the building here the old.
est on the continent built since the
Spanish discovery, and it takes away
from Ponce de Leon the honor of Flor
ida's discovery. History, if memory
serves me correctly, makes no mention
of settlement in this region of such "A
character as to support this mission, and
its evident antiquity, its ecclesiastical
design, its colossal proportions, its superb
architectural plan, the admirable artistic
finish of those who wrought upon it,
force upon us the conviction that it must
have been built shortly after the Great
DISCOVERIES second voyage in compli-
ance with the expressed wishes of SPANS
rulers.
DIR. Turnbul was Presbyterian and
certainly would not have built such
structure for his colony. His conduct
in tyranizing over them and in grinding
them down is hardly consistent with the
idea of his having built so magnificent a
place for his subjects to worship their
Creator. We must look beyond his time
for n solution of the problem.
1t is matter of historical record that
in September, 1893, Columbus started a
second time or rather the first. as he had
started to the East Indies when he made
his first discovery, for this country with
a fleet of seventeen ships, 1900 men,
well armed and abundantly provisioned,
and with the queens commission to
BUILD A CHURCH in dedication of the
New World to the christian religion. 1t
was designed by the ruling power to be
emphatically voyage of discovery, ex.
ploration and colonization, and was
intended to occupy an indefinite number
OF years, but rs the reader is aware did
occupy, so far as part of the fleet is
concerned, three years, for after this
lapse of time the great commander was
sent back to Spain in chains. Recorded
history says he made discoveries among
the Carribee isles and along the South
American coast. Reader, have you not
often thought that there is vastly more
unwritten history than written? Often
times, too, how conflicting and mislead-
ing are records! We need not suppose
that these seventeen vessels kept together
for those three years and returned to-
gether to Spain. No volume of colonial
history would be more interesting than
n full and accurate account of the man
Guvers of that fleet of seventeen vessels
from its departure to its return. To my
mind, considering the mutiny, the num-
Der of vessels, the diversified character
and opinions of the officers and leaders
of the different vessels, it is most reason
able to conclude that part of the fleet
coasted our Florida shore, sailed in at
Mosquito inlet at which our light house
now stands as beacon dropped anchor
along side of this great rich hammock,
the finest in all Florida, and here carried
out the plans commissioned by Queen
Isabella.
II was in 1912 that Ponce de Leon
came to Florida, and we are told that he |
came in search of Fountain of
YOUTH" What gave him the idea that
there existed this fountain of youth
He had been told of it by one of the
returned voyagers who came with the
Columbus vessels or he himself had
found what he thought was such foun-
tain. De Leon was one of the voyagers
who accompanied Columbus on the lat
ter's second visit. Isn't it possible, even
probable, that de Leon or some of the
party came upon one of the numerous
large springs which abound in the vicin-
ity of this old rock house and found