The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-23
JAMAICA;S MYSTERY.
THE FINGER OF FATE IN THE FALL
OF HER CAPITALS.


There exists In jamaica, in the West
Indies, a universal superstition that
curse rests upon any town chosen to be
lis capital. Since loU9, when the first
cLief city was founded. no fewer than
three capitals have been ruined in mys-
terious and tragic ways Two have
vanished utterly from the face of the
earth. Some Of the moro supcrstitious
of the colonists, brooding over the
strange history Of their country, fear
that Kingston, the present capital,
city Of 10000 inhabitants, will share
the fate Of its predecessors.
The FIST capital was Scvllla NueTa
(New SevilIc), otherwise called Seville
d'Oro (thc Golden Scvillc), on account
Of It's marvellous wealth. 1t was found
ed by Don Juan d'Esquivcl and Diego,
son of Christopher Columbus. In
few years 1t became the greatest Span
ish city In the new world. Thither
floclcd the blue bloodcd but impecunl-
Gus mobiles Of CASTLE, eager to rebuild
their family fortunes at the expense OF
the poor Arawak.
Cathedrals, palaces and monasterles,
rivaling those Of Spain in splendor,
were erected. The marble streets were
crowded with gay!y clad courtiers and
Indian slaves, who toilcd for them and
brought them tribute from mine and
jungle.
Then, in q night, the city vanished,
and no one can tell today what hap
pened to it. No survivors and no rec
ords were left behind to tell the tale.
Today one can see, buried in tropical
Jungle, a mile Of marble pavement and
q few broken columns and arches.
Nothing else remains Of the Golden
Seville, once so prosperous and splcn-
did, except few contradictory ma
tive traditions. These traditions va
riousIy ascrioe the destruction of the
city and its inhabitants to q mutlny OF
the oppressed Indians, an earthquake,
q 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 perlshed. Even in
Jamaica few people know anything
about the Golden Seville.
The Spaniards made Saint Jago de Ia
Vega, now called Spanish Town, their
second capital. Time and again it was
devastated by hurricane and plague,
harassed by Indian revolts or ransack-
ed by adventurous picaroons. Gradu-
ally it sank from its high estate until
now it 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 buc-
cancers. Port Royal soon became the
richest and wickedest city Of the new
world. At the height Of its splendor
and its vice it was destroyed within
the space Of two minutes by an earth
quake.
"The ground opening IN Several
Places at once" wrote an eyewitness
in 1902, a few days after the catastro-
phe, Swallowed up Multitudes Of Peo-
Die together, whole Streets sinking un'
der water with Men, Women and Chill
dren in them; and those Houses which
but Just now appeared the Fairest and
Loftiest in these Parts and might vie
with the Finest Buildings in the World
were in moment Sunk in the Earth,
and nothing to be seen Of them; such
Crying, such Shrieking and Mourning
l never heard, nor could anything IN
my Opinion appear more Terrible TO
the Eye Of Man. Here Company OF
People Swallowed up at once; there q
whole Street tumbling down, and in
Another Place the Trembling Earth
opening her Ravenous Jaws, let in the
Merciless Sea, so that this Town Is be-
come a Heap Of Ruins. Several Peo-
pie were Swallowed up Of the Earth,
when, the Sea breaking in before the
Earth could Close, they We're washed
up again and M!raculously 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 Of People Floating up and down,
having no Burial. The Burying 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;
it is sad to think bow we have Suf-
fered
'aTle 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; Pillaging and Stealing from
their Neighbors, even while the Earth
Quake lasted, and several Of them were
destroyed in the very Act; and indeed
this Place has been one of tho Ludest
in the Christian World, sink of all
filthincss, and mere Sodom."
Old Port Royal lies buried beneath
the sea. The present town Of Port
Royal, a place Of no importance except
as q coaling station, was built after
the earthquake, fire and landslide
having destroyed the few houses left
standing.
Kingston was not founded until the
early part Of the eighteenth century,
but it has already been thrice destroy
cd by fire and several times rayaged
| By hurricanes The inhabitants nat
urnlly wonder what catastrophe vii!
happen next.
Thief CIeTerness.