Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-02-20

clerk of the hotel where we stayed.
A writer possessing descriptive pow.
or would roycl in the oportunity st.
Augustine affords FOR displaying his
talent. A quaint old city this. OF
another day nnd Of different people
Most of us, perhaps, associate St
Augustine with Spanish inhabitants,
vet, strange to say, since the cesslon
Of Floriday to the United States In the
beginning of the present century,
there have been but few residents OF
Spanish origin. The population is sor
the most part composed Of various
foreign elements, and health or wealth
seekers from the North. There is, be-
sides, strong sprlnkling Of descend.
ants OF the AIinorcans and Majorcans,
who came thither to escape the tyran-
nous outrages inflicted on them in
New Smyrna. The brief history of
the Minorcan and Majorcan settlement
is this: After the English took posses
sion of Florida, In 1853, DR.. Turnbull,
proprietor of plantation, Coasted
along the Balearic Isles Of the Med
iterranean Sea, and by large promises
induced many of the inhabitants to
embark with him for Florida. When
the reached New Smyrna, the place Of
settlement, Turnbull revealed himself
in his true light as monumental
rascal. He visited the greatest cruel
ties upon the poor people, treating
them as slaves, 1ogged them for
offenses, and went as far as TO execute
several of them. Finally, the people
could bear his barbarous treatment no
longer, and they rose in body and
went to st. Augustine, where they
were promised protection. Don Pedro
Campos had left the Balearic Isles
with them to minister to their spirit
ual wants. He stayed with them TO
the end, eighteen years, dying as he
had completed arrangements to VISIT
his native land.
st. Augustine was founded in 1865
by Pedro Menendez. He was a brave
soldier who came to the New World
in search of son who had preceded
him and of whom no tidings were re-
ceiyed. Menendez stained a record,
in some respects remarkable, by his
heartless massacre of the French
Huguenots at Matanzas Inlet. For
many years st. Augustine was prin.
cipally a FORT having only small
settlement adjacent to the strong
walls that rose in front of the ocean
to protect Spanish territory. Francis
Drake descended upon the fort in 1885,
ransacking it and burning what he
could not take with him. In 1865,
when the Buccaneers attacked the
place, the garrison and town people,
unable to offer effectual resistance,
fed into the woods.
AS q point Of vantage in time of
war, st. Augustine is well situated.
On the east is the Matarzas river, on
the west the st. Sebastian. AT little
distance, across the Matanzas and
overlooking thesepiss Anastasia Island
from which rises the lighthouse.
Along the beach of the island is
beautiful drive of ten or twelve miles
in extent In the early days of the
settlements, lookouts took up their
posts on this island, and eagery search
ed the main to discern If any passing
sail presnged danger to the inhabi
tants. st. Augustine never thrived.
1t is today of comparatively small i'm
portance, and if health seekers from
the North, together with those who
find it delightful resort for winter
holiday, did not enter within its gates,
the rest of the world would be obliv
ious of its existence. Florida no more
than the town has kept pace with the
advancement of the country at large.
Lemon, orange, olive and lime. ole,
ander and magnolia, date palm, bay
and palmetto are ever green here;rose
gardens are in perennial bloom. "The
sky above ST. Augustine arches as
delicately blue and soft as that of
Seville; the sunlight is as warm and
as golden as that which floods the
paths of Spanish Alcazrs; the Florida
heavens are as radiantIy brilliant by
night, and the full moon floats as
luminously above the Atlantic coast
as where the pinnacles and minarets
of Valencia glitter in its beams on the
Mediterranean Shore ana yet the
land is strangelydevoid Of the culti-
walton which it would seem to own
by natural right. 1t is the traveller
mainly, and such enterprising capital
lists as Flagler and Plant that have
On vad ~ from toi.i6 hIaakOnsS