Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-07-10
ROMANTIC STORY
OF JEAN LAFIT1E
Has Pnsae T~sszre Va DIG
Fnon Ssoe Adaaaas E.
posasoa STE.
LOVED BEAUTIFUL GIRL



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s#a AL IA she Manufactures building
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EFs ehss: etaaaimins several hanaTea
tAzsasaa1 daalsEs In Sud ana ss.els
AS asg fE0sn The SHIRE a 81 sasaesas
iusst after his esSGh-
Bullet Killed his esesshesss
Jean lAfiste. . pirate. sisxsfrsaer.
soldier IN the service - the rnisea
States. naval officer o The s~ryce a
Cartaseas and last Ut all geatssmsn
u leisure ~ Norfolk. xss born u BoE.
aesax. France. In lisa. lie msis .
trip 10 she island u Nautilus In lkas
and there feli In love xith q b~aatt.
fai giEa. LAxette fondse. She shrew
herself 10 front u Lafitse In . duel
in which b. became Involved through
his infasaation for her and the bnlle,
intended for him pierced her heart.
Lsfitts VAS 10 madd@ned with grief
Al her death that be- was with diff
Guilty restrained from suicide. ae
turned 20 piracy A. being the only
occupation fierce enough To o~hlitsrats
hissgrieI. The vessel I'm which he BE-
Gan his pirasieai career sss headed
for the Caribbean Sea shsre for
many years he was the terror ~ all
nations Finally after many years II
prosperity he Was captured by a RFii.
fsh manofwar. Tie was released By
bis Brother Pierre. Who was one of the
crew of the warship. The brothers
then began hnecsnesrinr on a larger
scale than ever. Nut long after his
escape from the British ship Jean la.
fitte had several weilarmed ships
manned by aesperadoes from all
lands. The Republic Of cariagena
gave o commission Ia him 10 serve
against Spain, With this % give u sem.
hiance of legality 10 his operations he
settled down In New Orleans prescott.
Ing his p~iracles in the guIse Of wal.
fare. After a time the pirates became
too open I'm their attacks ON neutral
merchant ships and the United States
government lent Commodore Patter.
50 nagainst their headquarters ON the
island nf Grand Terre. forty miles
west Of the mouth u the Mississippi.
The stronghold was captured, but
most of the pirates escaped AMI went
back as soon as the naval vessels
we're withdrawn.
Pirate . Patriot
Soon after this Jean Isafifteis y.
vices were solicited by the British goy.
eminent In their attack on New Or.
leans. He was offered $4,000 In
gold and a commission u he would
fight against the Americans. Instead
Of accepting this offer T.afitte inform.
ed Governor Claiborne Of Louisiana Of
II and Offered To serve AGAINST the
British " he we're granted a pardon
and his brother were released from
New Orleans TAIL. Governor Clai.
borne pardoned him and the Lafitte
pirates fought with great distinction
against the British. President Mad.
fson not only confirmed Governor Clai
borne's pardon hut offered Lafitte
a commission In the navy. This was
,efused.
Man Of Affairs
History next tells Of Lafitte as
being a respectable man Of affairs In
Philadelphia. From Philadelphia he
moved 10 Sewelrs Point on Hampton
Roads near Norfolk, where he bull,
a home he called Bordeaux Manor"
Here he died In 1850 leaving all his
property except Bordeaux Manor
to his daughter. Mrs. Garrison. Bor.
deaux Manor and an undecipherable
combination Of numbers scrawled on
a sheet were left to Jean Ciarkson,
his grandson. The Civil war and the
dishonesty Of an attorney named Dean
reduced the Clarkson estate to pov.
erty. Jean made several attempts to
decipher the puzzle that was mart Of
his inheritance hut without c
About 1866 he fell In with an old man.
Pierre Lafitte. who had turned MP In
Norfolk quite by chance. Clarkson
was pleased with the old mans tales
OF his wanderings and pirate life and
took him home to live with him. He
did not connect Pierre Lafitte with
his grandfather as he did not know
Jean Lafitte had been a pirate. Show.
ing the tumble Of numbers left him
by his grandfather one day. Pierre.
the old pirate promptly translated II
with the aid of the code the buccan-
GERS had used. II then read: Jean
Clarkson, when YOU are TWENTY-FIVE
years of age. at the end of a line three
hundred feet east from the front door.
way Of Bordeaux Manor dig for your
inheritance"
With the aid Of the old corsair Jean
dug one moonlight night and hauled
up a rusty brass bound chest from a
spot that was covered by water at high
tide. The pirate touched a hidden
a
- a.