The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-04-13

The statement that has been going
the rounds of the English press to the
effect that IL Dom Paul Kruger is cap
tured he will be imprisoned on the
island Of st. Helena, draws atten lion
to this island retreat, which has been
immortalized as the home of the first
Napoleon. The island, which lies over
j 200 miles west of Africa. was dis
covered by the Portuguese in 1901. At
that time the discovery was Of con-
siderable Importance, for the island lay
on the route Of ships going around the
world, or part way around It, to India,
and 1t was looked upon as a safe and
convenient stopping place for vessels.
The island was accordingly well stock
ed with goats, asses, hogs and other
cattle" for the benefit Of passing ships.
The first human inhabitant arrived Ia
1918, and the event came about in this
way; The Portuguese had won a vic
tory in India. and had taken captive
a number of Portuguese deserters. The
victorious general ordered that the
deserters should have their ears, noses.
right hands and left thumbs cut OF,
and that they should be sent in that
condition back to Portugal. Blu. in re-
turning they were mercifully landed at
st. Helena, where they were given
poultry, fowls Of different kinds and
cartridges. and other wild fowls were
set free on the island for them. Vege-
tables and fruits were also left that
they might have subsistence. The few
inhabitants grew in numbers and pros
pered, planting fruit trees and veg
etables, which grew a|bundantly. In
June, 1888, Thomas Cavendish, the
English explorer, sighted the island,
and the first account of it was given
to the English public.
In 1900 the British West Indies com
pany was organized, and the island
was more frequently visited by the
English as we'll as by the Portuguese.
But the latter people had made ume
GUS settlements along the coast of AS
RIGA, and they no longer needed the
island for the benefit Of their ships
on the way to India, so they abandoned
1t. Thereupon the Dutch seized it with
alacrity. But in the middle of the
seventeenth century also abandoned IL,
leaving it for the more promising col
ony of the Cape of Good Hope. 1t
is interesting to remember that it WAS
at that time hat the Dutch took their
hold on South Africa, leaving a way
for the English to occupy st. Helena.
Out of the Dutch occupation of Cape
Colony, followed in the beginning Of
the century by the English occupation
thereof, has arisen the present trouble
in the Transvaal. 1t would be passing
strange if that trouble should result
in President Kruger's occupation If
the island. When the Dutch left for
the Cape of Good Hope the English
took possession of the island of ST.
Helena; that is, the East India com
pany took it, for a stopping place for
their ships. The first governor of the
island under English supremacy erect
ed in 1868 a fertilization. In 1872 the
Dutch recovered the island by strate-
gem, but the next year the English re-
gained possession. From that time
until 1884 the island remained in pos
session of the East India company. It
then became a possession of the Brit
ish crown.
The event, however, which made st.
Helena famous for all time was the
Punishment of Napoleon Bonaparte to
its rocky shores, and his death there
after the battle of Waterloo. Napc-
leon landed on St. Helena in Novera-
Der, 1915. The population of the island
was then but a hundred or so more
than 1000. The former emperor occr-
pied a residence and grounds known
as "LOngwood." This was situated on
a plane at the summit Of a mountain
about 1000 feet above the sea. The
grounds embraced 1900 acres, and were
three and a quarter miles inland from
the little town of Jamestown. Here
it was that the great soldier spent his
last days, and it was here that he
finally passed away May 5, 1921. .