Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1902-10-28
A DARING AMERICAN.
VIII Fight a cannibaI Tribe to Gain a
Treasure Island.

VIII Fight a cannibal Tribe to Gain a
Treasure Island.
IL he can, with 40 hardy Americans
and 40 good Winchester, subdue a
nation of fierce untamed cannibals,
"Arizona Charlie Meadows will own
one OF the richest islands on the Pa
ciiic coast
The expedition started from San
Diego, Cal lis destination is Ii
buron, an island 80 miles long
and 20 wide lying in the Gulf Of
California, near the State of Sonora.
Meadows authority for its occupa-
ton is a deed from the Mexican GOV
eminent to him for the entire island.
Tiburon is said to be fabulously
rich in gold, silver and copper. 1t
also has valuable guano deposits.
Furthermore, it is the home Of the
Seri Indians, a cannibal tribe which
has so far thwarted every effort Of the
whites to gain access to its wealth.
The Mexican government, says a
New York World writer, does not
guarantee peaceable possession the
island; Meadows must take his
chances on this. He believes he viii
find little trouble in conquering the
natives. There are people in San
Diego, however, who have reason to
believe otherwise.
Five years ago the steamer World,
San Diego boat, manned by George
Foster, John johnson and a Mexican
guide, dropped anchor at Tiburon.
Foster and johnson were seeking the /
bird known as the king egret, the
feathers of which have a highmarket
value.
The Mexican returned TO the main
land alone. He reported that the
party had been attacked and made
captives. After a time George Eos
ter was killed and eaten by the can
nibals, Later Johnson was killed
and probably met a similar fate. AS
to that, however, the Mexican could
not say, for he found opportunity to
elude his captors and escaped.
Capt Lewis B. Harris, also a res
ident Of San Diego, formerly com
manded the schooner Emma and
Louise, engaged in the guano trade
among the islands of the California
gulf. He knew the island well,
though he never went on shore there,
having heard Of the character Of the
inhabitants. lie has frequently
dropped anchor off the island and
his vessel was on each occasion Wis
tied by natives in canoes. He de-
scribes them as hideous looking, Zero
cious, repulsiye and utterly degraded.
lie says:
81 learned while in the southern
country that Lieut. r. Z. Robinson
and his partner, Logan, were surely
killed and eaten by the Seris Of Ii
buron talked with a survivor Of
the party, a Mexican, who gave the
details Of the case. When l saw the
Indians believed the story"
Cne portion of the island lies but
two miles from the Sonora shore and
the Serbs have made frequent raids
upon the Mexicans Of the main land,
stealing women and children
One Of the conditions Of the sale
Of the island to Meadows is that he is
to subdue the natives and establishat
least ten families upon the island
within two years.
Meadows viii sail, with the Omen
who have signed articles to aid him,
around Cape Lucas and across the
gulf, where he will be joined by sew |
eral smaller boats and their crews
now on the Colorado river. Then this
small navy will move upon the island. |
After that, as Meadows puts it,
"there will be a little benevolent as
Sanitation, and there will be some
good Indians or no Indians"