The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-02-11
THE KING OF YAP ISLAND.
He Is an Irishman by the Name OF
David ID. O'Elcefe.

David ID. O'INcefe.
The king of zap is coming to San
Francisco, says the Sunday Examiner
Magazine.
Spain wouldn't sell one of the Caroline
islands to the United States, but the
king of zap may sell three. 1t is new
chance for international complications
and for expansion.
The king of zap is natural expun-
sionist, and he has several International
complications of his own.
For instance, his name is David D.
O'Kcefe, and as native of Ireland he
is natural British subject. In his early
manhood he became a citizen of the
United States. He holds his islands
against rival claims of the Spanish and
the Dutch. Over his islands he floats
the stars and stripes, and On his single
trading schooner, the Santa Cruz, he
carries the flag of Great Britain.
The islands claimed by King O'Keefe
as his by right of discovery and by ac-
quiescence of the native rulers are zap,
st. David and OLAF. These are within
300 miles of Pelew. Their aggregate ,,op-
ulation, entirely native with the excep-
ton of the white monarch's few traders.
is about 5000.
Rumors about the king of zap have
occasionally drifted from Hongkong,
where O'Keefe is favorably known in
diplomatic circles At Hongkong
O'Keefe is known as the copra king, and
he is credited with spending from SIS
900 to 100000 in the two or three weeks
OF each visit to that port. William D.
Wilson, who has been mate on the
Umatilla. returned recently from the
South Sea islands, where he had an ex-
perience of ten months with King
O'Keefe as master of the trading schoon-
er Santa Cruz, and gives detailed de-
scription of the island monarch and of
the social conditions at zap, OLAF and
st. David.
King O'Keefe has accumulated an
immense fortune in the cocoanut trade"
says Wilson. "He is a millionaire aside
from his claim upon the islands, and if
he can establish his right to sell any
one Of the islands to the United States
or Great Britain he can command sew
eral millions.
"The Spanish claim zap. but they
have never prevented O'Keefe from fly
ing the American flag there. The natives
are all loyal to O'Keefe. There seems
to be clearer title to St. David, as the
Dutch insist that Spain has no right
whatever to authority over that island.
st. David is about as large as Yap--ten
miles long and four miles wide
The white king is eager for estab-
lished American control Of the islands
and when l last saw him he was plan
ming to come to this country and open
negotiations with the government at
Washington. I would not be surprised
to see him come on any steamer.
"OKeefe has had a very remarkable
life. He is GO years old. When he first
came to the United States he married in
Georgia. He had a married daughter in
Savannah, where his wife died before
he made his first cruise in the South
seas. This daughter will be the chief
heir to the vast island estate, though
there are other children at the islands.
when he settled at zap, OKeefe
married princess. He has three iaugh-
tiers on the islands and one in a con-
vent school at Hongkong. His island
wife is a very shrewd woman and is
ruler of the islands when the king is
away.
Several years ago O'Keefe sent to
Brooklyn, N. Y. for his nephew. a Tom
Newman, to go to the islands and as
sociate with him in trading. The young
man never got along we'll, though, and
he was shipped home on a Danish ship
that carried a copra cargo from
O'Keefes islands to Hamburg. A teacher
from a Christian Brothers. school ar
Hongkong was under salary at Yam IN
educate the children of O'Keefe's roval
household"
Wilson states that it has been a COM
mon practice in the Spanish islands Of
the Caroline group to steal young wom-
en- for slavery, but that King O'Keefe
has effectually checked the traffic in
zap, st. David and OLAF. The method
was to supply the chiefs with gin and
other liquors and take the women In
exchange, but the king of zap has COM
plete control over the native leaders and
ne has forbidden such deals.
The making Of King OKeefe's will on
an occasion when death was expected is
thus described by Mate Wilson:
ION the night of October 10. 1907
when we were bringing the schooner in.
to OLAF, King O'Keefe was taken sud.
denly sick. He thought he was going
to die and he ordered me to write ont
his will as he dictated it. He he
queathed $4,000 and the family proper-
" at zap to his wife, $4,000 in cash to
each OF the three children at zap, $4,000
IN cash to the daughter al school at
Hongkong, and the entire residue of bis
estate to the daughter in Savannah Ia.
he got we'll in couple of days, though
and his will has not been needed vet"
Wilson says that O'Keefe is in earnest
about the American annexation 81 his