Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-02-12
PIRATES OF VENEZUELA
eoasts OF the Little Country Ravae-
ed by Morgan and L'OIonpoie

cd ny Morgan and L'OIonnois,
IN the good old days of buccaneers
and pirates Venezuela, the little war
swept country of the South. so much
IN the public eye of late, was the
very special field of the worlds most
notorious shooters.
Francis LOlonnois and Henry Nor
gan, who remain unequalled for their
unlawful daring and skill, and a
score OF others were sailing 800
years ago the very seas now patrol
led by England and Germany, ana
they were fearlessly pillaging and
plundering right and left.
This piracy lasted from 1000 to
1880, during which time England and
France were at almost continuous
war with Spain.
The richest of all the towns and
cities of the Spanish Main in those
days were La Guayra, a place called
Gibraltar, which today is nothing
more than miserable village of
huts; Maracaibo, and Merida, in Ven
ezuela, and Puerto Bello and Panama.
on either side of the isthmus. Here,
since the days of Cortez and Pizarro.
the merchandise coming from Spain
and destined for the colonies of
Ecuador, Peru and Chill on the south.
and Mexico on the north, and the
gold, silver. emeralds and other prod
ucts from the colonies intended for
shipment to Spain were handled, the
entire six cities forming a cluster of
distributing and collecting points for
the products of some of the richest
countries on earth. These towns
were full of merchants, Maricaibo be-
ing settlement of Christianized
lousy rich.
1t was in 1854 that Francis L'Olon-
nois, the most intrepid of the buc-
cancers, gathered a feet and set sail
for Puerto Cabello, then mere pi-
rates resort, from which point he
fitted out and proceeded toward Mar
acaibG.
A short time before he started on
the Venezuelan expedition the Gov
ernor of Cuba sent a man-of-war
against him, with instruction to
show L'Olonnios and his crew no
quarter. Inc latter was lying off
Hayti. and ascertaining the location
of the Spanish ship, armed himself
with a meat cleaver, and telling his
men that he would give them les
son in bravery, left with one compan-
ion for the hostile vessel.
Climbing on board, he surprised
and killed the sentinels on guard,
and, going below among the sleeping
officers and crew, he, single-hanied,
beheaded them one by one, placing
the cleaver to his lips and tasting
the blood as he despatched them one
at a time.
This stands unparalleled for dar-
ing and courage.
Henry Morgan, a Welshman, the
greatest of the English buccaneers.
was a different sort of a man from
L'Olonnois, but as great a rogue.
1t was in the year 1867 that Nor
gan undertook what turned out to be
one of the most remarkable naval
engagements ever fought, and which
is of interest to Americans owing &c
the fact that the conditions were al
most exactly the same as those
which prevailed in the Santiago
fight, of the late Spanish-American
war Maracaibo had been sacked in
1,,- 7 snIAnvoic hr1f had rlnnV.AT
ed from the shock, and in 1868 was
again a very rich town. Like Santi
ago, in Cuba, it is situated on the
shores of a long bay or lake, having
q merry narrow mouth-so narrow. IL
fact. that one ship could almost blocl
It,
Morgan entered this peculiar ba!
with three ships, stormed the tow
and took the fort. His entire com
mani entered the building and were
making merry with some wine which
the garrison had left, when Morgan
STEPPED outside to take a view of tn,
place.
The city was deserted, but Morgan
sent 100 men into the woods to hunt
up the fugitives. who with theh
wealth were secreted in the forests
roundabout
They returned with thirty men and
women. This was kept up for days
AMI the most inhuman tortures were
employed to force these unfortunates
10 confess where they had hidden