The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
THE PIRATES OF BARATARIA.
Origin of the Pirates-Their Leaders
and Methods.

and Methods.
New Orleans Letter in New York Post.
No one can travel through the southern
part of Louisiana, near the Gulf and west
of the Mississippi, without feeling some
quickening of his curiosity to know some
thing more about that strange man La
fitte, and that still stranger band of hete-
rogenous desperadoes, slavers, and SNUG
glers who for number of years cut such
a figure in local and even in national and
international history.
Passing down through the bayous which
crawl in a perfect maze interlacing the
cypress swamps all the way to the Gulf,
the summer tourist must be struck with
the spirit of the place. The scene is
beautiful of it's kind, but so lonely and
desolate, so wild and Iawless that the mind
of the inhabitant of crowded cities feels a
sense of fear as it dawns upon him that
these swamps and bayous and lakes were
once the scenes of strange doings, and that
even now, under the half-hoating turf or
shell-mounds, are perhaps buried pots of
old Spanish doubloons guarded yet, so say
the 'cadjuns" and negroes, by the corpses
of the murdered slaves who dug the pits.
One can think of nothing but pirates and
plumber and buried treasures, so it is natu-
raj to think again of the half-forgotten
tales still told by old inhabitants of New
Orleans of the princely Lafitte and his
reckless men.
l shall try to give a brief but compre-
hensive account of the Baratarians, having
had more than usual opportunities of get
ting at reliable facts and at the same time
of hearing personally from the lips of an
old resident, the gossip and floating talk
of the city during the time of Bafittes ac-
tivity.
During the long hostilities between Eng
land and France, the French government
fAf # fha MN
priVateers who lowered among the islands
of the West Indies. These priYateers
plundered English vessels and sold their
prizes among the Islands, and even when
war was not actually going on, these free
lances continued TO plumber, picking off,
now and then, an occasional Spanish gal
leon by way of variety. In fact, / doubt
If they ever inquired any too closely into
the nationality of any vessel which seemed
likely to make a fat prize In course OF
time, these privateers were driven by the
English from their retreats on the Islands
of Gaudeloupe, Martinique, Cuba, etc;
and so the whole fraternity flocked in a
body to the Barataria district Making
their headquarters on the island of Grande
Terre, they plundered Spanish vessels. I'M
der the authority of the new republic of
Carthagena, and sold their prizes in New
Orleans. The place which they had
chosen proved true pirates paradise
Under the name Barataria is generally
Included all the coast along the Gulf of
Mexico between the Mississippi river and
Bayou Lafourche. Close 10 the mainland
latter covers and protects the mouth Of
Barataria bay a shallow body of water
which affords secure harbor for small ves-
sells. The privateers established their
chief settlement on Grande Terre which
they fortified and armed with cannon, and
even to-day the island retains a grim, for
bidding look and bears a ruined remnant
of the old fortress. No large vessel could
come behind Grande Terre into Baratarla
bay, and so the freobooters had secure
shelter in the many bayous which empty
into the bay AS the number OF priva-
teers increased. numerous settlements
were made on the mainland, where a brisk
trade was carried on with the inhabitants
of the villages of Attakapas and Lafourche
districts The country was inhabited by
traction, as il Is at the present day, and
their inherited hatred Of the British and
Spanish made them favor the privateers
especially since they paid much less for
of these enterprsing gentlemen than they
would have TO pay for the legitimately
imported articles.
All the portion of Louisiana which went
under the name OF Barataria was low,
swampy land, overgrown with rank marsh
press trees old and decrepit and gray with
moss Much OF the land Is not properly
land at all, but merely "a shafting. DOGGY
mass Of turf. into which even the most
daring pot hunters are afraid to 20 for
any distance; but at intervals are white
heaps Of shells and occasional knobs and
ridges, and the whole wilderness is inter-
sected by innumerabe threads of water,
sluggish bayous, broadening now and then
into lakes and forming q labyrinth which
Is puzzle to any but the most experi-
enced. The Baratarians knew every foot
OF this labyrinth and always cluded easily
the feeble expeditions sent out half
heartedlX now and then, when the public