The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-27
Spain in America.


and the people are waiting calmly for
the decision OF the board of inquiry TO de-
eide whether the royal course of blood
shed, deceit. nisrule and cruelty in the
western world shall not stop in the wreck
ing of the Maine. 1t may be that this act
viii be the final scene in the dark tragedy
which has been on the boards for nearly
| 400 years.
Ponce de Leon was the first MAJ who
| swung the sword on American necks He
learned TO shed blood in the wars Of
| Granada His reward for his killing Valor
on those fields was governorship of
| Porto Rico. He started for new victims
| in America The wind cal ried his three
| ships into the har5or Of St. Aug Justine in
1913. His adventures drew their sabers as
| soon as their feet touched earth. The
red men were robbed of their golden CT
| naments, their bodies left along the coast
from the landing point to the southern
! cape of Florida. The campaign pleased
| the King of Spain. He summoned the
prince and eight years later sent him
forth with a commission to be ruler of
| the whole land in the west IN clse he
could subdue or slaughter the Indians.
| The slaughter was partly executed. He
| left piles of bodies OF sayages for the vuI-
| lures. An arrow from one of his vic
Tins pierced his side. He went home TO
| Cuba, wounded in pride and body, TO
| die.
SPANS king started another numbering
expedition in 1920. II landed on the shore
! Of South Carolina. The plan was 10 fool
! the Indians and then Kill all that could
not be carried away as galley slaves. The
innocents of the wilderness did not know
| nm ar1 - a
vessels, attracted by music and the prom
| Use of feast. They were laden with
! gold they had found somewhere in the
mountains. The moment the boats We're
| filled almost TO the waters edge the an
| chors were weighed. The gold was con-
| fiscated. The men and women were put
| into chains. The angry members of di-
vided families were shot as they tried to
| rescue wives. husbands and children. The
| thing pleased the king. Lucas Vasquez
was sent the next year to do the same
thing. He came as far north as the Ches-
| apeake and Delaware bays. His conveys
were laden to a danger point with people
in thongs and ropes. Providence frowned
on the treachery, sent a whirlwind,
wrecked half of his fleet and ended this
civilizing mission of Spain in the igno-
minious death of its leader.
Pamphilo de Narvaez, a man of no
virtue, had the next commission to massa-
ere and pillage. He landed in Tampa
Bay in 1928. There were 400 Adventures
and cut-throatS with him. They carried
gorgeous flags and the attractive guidons
of Castillo and Arragon. They killed $500
natives in a night attack on a village
with which they had pretended 10 be
friendly. They wandered all over Florida
and went as far as Mississippi. and were
the first whites 10 look upon Suwanee
River. The hand of fate again was the
aVenger. The mission was failure. Half
of the force starved 10 death. They left
trail of dead and stole everything they
could carry.
Ferdinand de Soto came in 1899 His
raid had GOO raiders. He left his wife to
prosecute Cuba while he was gone. He
worked inland from Spiritu Santo as
licensed freebooter. He went into Geor-
gia and found red men wearing great mug
gets of gold. He babe them tell where
they found the stuff. They did not know
This noble Spaniard burned some hun
dreds at the stake for refusing to tell
what they did not know. 1t is told in his
tory that he made a heap of 1900 skulls
at one battle. He reached the Mississippi
and fled home in log boats. rich and opu-
lent. More than half of his invading crew
was left in the swamps, the victims
Of poisoned arrows.
Spain's next business in America was
the massacre of the French colony al ST
Johns The dons had a colony close by
-across the river. They took night for
the killing. and the next day were in the
proud possession of the French settle
nd obi h..
headed, mutilated and slashed, lying
about the streets of palmettos and in the
huts of palm leaves. The French men
and some of the wOmen-escaped in their
ships. Melendez knew they could not |
stay off at sea long. They were coaxed 10 |
the shore by smiling eyes and good prom
Uses. The whole 800 men, women and |
children, were dangling from the tree |
limbs the next day. This massacre in /
st. Augustine was conducted with mar /
tial music and trumpet fanfans. Dominic /
dc Gourgnes. a Frenchman in France. did I
not keep cool. He sent out an expedition /
of revenge. The Spaniards were hanged 1
to the same trees. The avenger of the 1
treachery wrote in his diary: Il do not |
this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but !
as unto traitors. robbers and murderers."
Spain tried to ply steel TO the necks Of /
the English Colonists. This attempt lost
for them. in Cuba, the Castle Moro, I
which. in times of modern warfare is re-
garded as impregnable. Admiral Pc
cooke led the assault and siege. He had 4
1000 effective men and about 1900 ne
groes. They appeared off the harbor in
the latter part Of June. 1862 The cam
paign lasted to midsummer The heat
ruined the provisions and dread fever took
men from sound health to death in a few
hours. The ocean waves carried the bod
les of unburied soldiers. The suffering
and sights only increased the valor and (
The castle fell the gov
ernor capitulated in August and Havana
came into the possession Of the English.
along with 100000 in booty.
Spain refused 70 recognize the continen-
tai congress, long after the independence
Of the United States had been establish
ed Juan de Miralez came TO Washing
ton in LIS 10 live lie went home q little
later. because the government found he
was a royal spy and intrfguer from Ma
drid Spain insisted IN i7Sa that the boun-
5arics Of the United States on tho west
should be the Allegheny Mountains and
tried to get the powers 70 support the
command Franklin SAID no. Congress
backed him. Spain acquiesced when
forced L acGuiesCad on many other prop
lsiticls 81 the point OF threat Tire kings
kept drawing back from preteuses. and
finally the rOmaucers. adyenturers and
olu1derers we're left m i-ch on ;his north A..
zrn part 4 tire coutlnent-savc Cuba ( .
They have lost everything. ard bancroft
says e = -etribU;io7 for their policy q ,
.reachery and uufairnesF