The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-14
BLUEBEARD'S HOME.
SIT. THOMAS, THE ISLAND WHICH
UNITED STATES MAY BUY.

tH the west lndtes-Ihen Game the
Destruction of the slave Trade
and the Change In the Commerce
Channels of the WorId-A Revival
During the Spanish american
War - Strategic Value of the
Island Inhabitants Care Little
whether They Are to Become
Americans or Remain Danes.
From the New York Commercial Advers-
tiser.
Washington, Jan. S.-Down in the West
Indian waters at Charlotte Amalie. or
better known as ST. Thomas, COM
munity of less than 10000 persons is wait
ing with more or less Indifference but
some curiosity, to find out whether in
the near future they are to haul down the
Danish flag and raise the Stars and Stripes
in tits place. This island of the Virgin
group is so far out in the Atlantic Ocean
that It serves as a key to the widely ex-
tended groups of islands which form a
sort of chain from the South American
coast to Florida. In the shores of this
little island is a harbor, sharply indented,
well protected from the sea by its narrow
entrance and from the winds on all sides
by steep hills
The community on this island is largely
Danish, though il may be said that at
least six languages are current as a medi-
UNI of exchange between the inhabitants
and those who may visit them. Being
Danish. the town is well built, as clean
as a lady's parlor, quaint in its architec-
ture and quainter in the customs of it's
people. Should Denmark agree to sell
this island to the United States for the
reported sum of twelve million kroner,
or less than "a 100000. we will secure
what has been considered for four CEN
turtles the best refuge for storm driven
ships and the best basis of military opera
TONS between the Bahamas and the South
American coast. 1t was in the sixteenth
century that two pirates chose the harbor
of st. Thomas as their place Of residence
ana rendezvous. One of these pirates was
Huebeard and the other Blackboard, and
their two small round castles which were
probably considered magnificent struc-
lures in that day, still stand, adding to
the picturesqueness of this most pictures
que town.
Local tradition varies somewhat with
the Bluebeard story of the modern fairy
book. 1t agrees that Bluebeard's wife was
a sister of Blackboard, but it puts the
burden of crime upon the lady rather
than upon the pirate. The story goes in
st. Thomas that when these two pirates
agreed to settle on the island they divd~
ed the land between them and mainland
separate fleets of vessels for their pratt
cal operations combining only to meet
some enemy of unusual strength or to
sack some town well defended Blue
boards wife was of jealous disposition
and seven ladies of the village between
the two castles incurred her enmity as
being rivals in the affections of her hus-
band, and she promptly poisoned them
all. Bluebeard appears to have been a
just man according to this local tradi-
tion, and he proposed to punish his wife
by inficting the death penalty, and it
was then that sister Ann climbed to the
ramparts of the castle and waved the
signal of distress that Blackboard her
brother, might intercede.
1t must have been a rough ride for
Blackbe from his castle to that of his
brother-in-law for three hills interviewed,
and upon these three hills are built the
present town of St. Thomas with its
white walled houses and red-ti.ed roofs.
In the earlier days of this community it
was most prosperous. There was rarely
a time when the flags of a half-dozen ma
tons were not represented upon the ship
ping in the little harbor. The limited ag-
ricultural area of the island was titled to
its utmost. The warehouses of the city
overlooked with the wealth of the tropics.
Merchants and traders, shipowners and
slavedealers amassed fortunes with ra-
pldity and ease. Then came the destruc-
ton of the Saw trade, the rivalry of
Havana, San Jual and other West Indian
ports and a terrible drought which con-
tinuing for number of years destroyed
ell vestige of agriculture upon the island
The ships grew fewer day by day. com
merce languished and finally st. Thomas
became but the refuge for occasional
tramp trading ships or storm-driven YES
sells and the regular stopping place of but
one or two trans-oceafc steamships The |
warehouses empticd themselves the great |
firms of former days either failed or re-
tired from business, and but for handful |
of sailors or an occasional tourist the |
community might have slept the day |
Ground many times during the year with
out disturbing the ordinary course of
events. Then came the war between Spain |
and the United States, during which st.
Thomas was a neutral port. International |
law says that only one vessel of bellig- |
erent shall enter such a port at time, |
which was a serious inconvenience to the |
fleets of the United States constantly |
passing back and forth through the West |
Indian waters.
Before the Spanish-America war the
quiet of the harbor had only been dis
turbed by salute to the Danish flag
fired from the guns of an occasional
warship visiting that part of the world !
The quiet of the town was so marked
that the evening and morning gun from
the little fort on the hill divided the day
into two distinct periods. THIS gun is
fired at o'clock in the evening and
clock in the morning. For why no one
knows. for the salute IS relic Of slavery
days. Before freedom came TO the black
men they were compelled to live outside
Of the city limits. The O'clock gun was
a signal for them all to so to their homes,
the o'clock gun for them to return to
were freed and lived where they pleased
there was no longer need for this morn
ing and evening gun. but II had become
such a habit that its maintenance is an
item in the regular annual budget 10 TINS |
day. The inhabitants still remember with |
a shudder a period not so very long ago
when the government ran out Of powder |
and the gun was no longer fired. At first !
the people, accustomed as they were to
by the O'Clock salute. wandered
through the streets restlessly seeking !
some cause for their wakefuness. When, |
finally exhausted by their wandering |
they fell asleep 1t was TO let the early |
hours Of the day slip by unheeded because
no o'clock gun awoke them TO their