Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-12-03
,ANAICA'S MYSTERY.
'HE FINGER OF FATE IN THE FALL
or HER CAPITALS.

Tragedies That Are Mrttsen il sh.
History Of Her Kuined Gittes-Two
of Them Vanished utterly From on
the Face OF the Earth.
There exists In Jamaica. in the West
Indies, a universal superstition that a
urse rests upon any town chosen to be
its capital. Since 1909. when the first
chief city was founded. no fewer than
three capitals have been ruined III mys-
FERROUS and tragic ways Two have
vanished utterly from tile face OF the
earth. Some Of the more superstitious
OF the colonists. brooding over the
strange history of thcil country. fear
that Kingston. the present capital. .
city Of 10000 inhabitants, Mil share
the fate Of Its predecessors.
The FIRST capital was Sevilla Nneya
New Seville,. otherwise called Seville
d'Oro tthe Golden SevilleI. on recount
OF Its marvellous wealth. 1t was found
ed by Don Juan d'Esquivel and Diegn.
a son OF Christopher Columbus. LII q
few years It became the greatest Span
ish city In the new world. Thither
flocked the blue blooded but impecuni
GUS mobiles or CASTLE, eager to rebuild
their family fortunes at the expense Of
the poor Arawak.
Cathedrals. palaces and monasteries.
riyaling those OF Spain in splendor,
were erected. The marble streets were
crowded with gayly clad courtiers and
Indian slaves. who toiled for them and
brought them tribute from mine and
jungle.
Then. In a night. the city vanished.
and no one can tell today what hap
pened TO 1t. No survivors and no rec
ords were left behind to tell the tale.
Today one can see. buried in tropical
jungle. q mile, of marble pavement and
a few broken columns and arches.
Nothing else remains Of the Golden
Seville. once & prosperous and splen-
did. except a few contradictory ma
tive traditions. These traditions va
riously ascribe the destruction Of the
city and its inhabitants to a mutiny of
the oppressed Indians. an earthquake,
a sudden visitation Of millions Of red
ants and an attack by French buc-
cancers. The very memory Of what
was once the greatest city Of the new
world has almost persisted. Even In
Jamaica few people know anything
about the Golden Seville.
The S%paniards made Saint Jago de la
Vega. now called Spanish Town. their
second capital. Time and again 1t was
devastated by hurricane and plague.
harassed by Indian revolts or ransack-
ed by adventurous picaroons. Gradn-
ally It sank from Its high estate until
nov 1t Is merely a squalid village.
When the English conquered the is
land they made Port Royal their real
capital. though Spanish Town remain
ed for some time the official seat of
government. The emporium Of the In
dies and the Spanish main, the market
for the i'll gotten gains of 10000 hue
cancers. Port Royal soon became the
richest and wickedest city OF the new
world. At the height OF its splcndor
and its vice II was destroyed within
the space Of two minutes by nm earth
quake.
THE ground opening in Several
Places at once" wrote an eyewitness
In 1862. a few days nfter The catnstro.
phe. swallowed M Multitndes ~ Peo-
pie together. whole Streets sinking I'M
der water with Men. Women aud Chill
dren In them; and those Houses which
hut just now appeared the Fairest and
I.0fticst In these Parts and might vie
with the Finest Buildings In the World
were I'm a moment Sunk in the Earth.
and nothing 10 be seen of them: such
Crying. such Shrieking and Mourning
! never heard, nor could anything III
my Opinion appear more Terrible to
the Eye of Man. Here d Company OF
People Swallowed up at once; there q
whole Street tumbling down. and in
Another Place the Trembling Earth
opening her Rayenous Jaws. let Ia the
Merciless Sea, SO that this Town Is be
come d Heap OF Ruins. Several PEG.
pie were Swallowed Up Of the Earth.
when, the Sea breaking III before the
Earth could Close. they were washed
up again and Miraculously saved from
Perishing. Others the Earth received
up TO their Necks. and then Closed
upon them and squeezed them TO
Death. with their Heads above Ground,
many OF which the Dogs Eat; Multi.
tudes or People Floating mp AMI down.
having no Burial. The Bnrying Place
at the Palisades Is quite destroyed.
the Dead Bodies being washed out Of
their Graves. their Tombs beat to
Pieces and they floating up and down:
II Is sad TO think how we have SUI.
fered.
THE Earth hath still fits Of Shaking.
with very much Thunder and Light
ming. and dreadful Weather: yet this
had so little effect upon some People
here that the very same Night they
were at their Old Trade Of Drinking
and Swearing; breaking up Ware.
houses; Plllaging and Stealing from
their N~eighbors, even while the Earth