The Portland daily press., 1898-01-28

house in the United States" said to be
more than three centuries old. There are
several of these in ST. Augustine, and
visitors have their choice. They have
not read, perhaps, that the village was
sacked and burned threp tunes by pirates
alter the French had laid it in ashes, and
that the historical facts are all against
the.tradition.
The first houses were of wood, until a
number of Indians had been captured
and put to work building the historic
Fort San Marco in 1640. The coquinaSwai
excavated on st. Anastasia Island, op.
posite the town. The Governor and the
Treasurer and other. officials had sub
stantial coquina houses built by the In
dians, whom they had enslaved.
The exact time of the construction OF
these houses is not known, nor is ii
known which of them was first built.
There is an old coquina house on Treas
ury and St. George streets, where the
Treasurer lived, and from this official
residence the narrow, crooked seven foot
street took its name.
| Near by, on Charlotte street, is another
| "oldest residence 1t was successfully
| occupied by several Spanish governors,
and is known as the "Sanchez Casa" it
having been owned by the Sanchez de-
| scendarts for generations.
| This historic house is also noted for be-
ing the place where Osceola and "Wild
Cat" the Seminole chiefs were betrayed
into captivity. Gen. Sanchez, who com
manded detachment during the last
Seminole war, captured wild Cat's''
father, and when the chief came in under
a flag of truce to see his father, he him
self, Osceola, and others were invited to
a feast, They came to the number OF
about fifty, dancing and singing, but
their joy was cut short when they were
told that they were prisoners.
They We're put into Fort San Marco,
now called Fort Marion, after the South
Carolina "Swamp Fox"-a descendant,
by the way, of the South Carolina Hu.
guencts. The ordnance sergeant now in
charge of the fort still shows to gaping
visitors the narrow window through
which "Wild Cat'' escaped, by fasting
several days, SO as to reduce his body to
the proper size.
mats is also rehearsed. hut strangely
enough there is no Tradition as to who
the unfortunates were.
The tale of the cedar iron-bound chest,
containing $40, 900, which the bold pirate
Drake rifled, lis told also. But the chest
has long since disappeared. Specializing
curio-sellers cut it into splinters, and
grew wealthy by selling them. Indeed
the adjacent forest was almost exhausted
LII OIStOI W supply OhO oCAAp-kN iOA cEAl11'
ters from that chest.
The famous old city gates have greatly
suffered in bygone times from shameless
vandals. A contractor, in laying cause.
way, once found it easiest to demolish a
part of the walls. He was finally made
to restore the coquina, but replaced it in
such manner as to detract very much
from the architectural beauty of the
gates.
There is also considerable fiction in
"histories" in reference to the "Plaza
de Ia Constitution. 1t was never an
orange orchard, but was always plaza.
at least after the Spaniards captured the
place from the French. The name was
given to 1t in 1879. The monument
erected in 'seterna memoria' of the short
lived Spanish constitution Of the revolu.
tionists is one of the most novel things
seen by the visitor. After the revolution.
lists unseated the King, a liberal constitu
ton was proclaimed, and monuments
commemorating it were erected through
out Spain and her provinces. When the
monarchy was restored, the new constitu
tion was repud lated, and the monuments
in eterna memoria were torn down
after a brief eternity of two years
The one at st. Augustine was overlooked