The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-07-21

He was as mild hammered man as ever slit 4
throat scutted a boat"
The Forbes Purchase.
General William Augustus Bowles was Mary
lander, who held a command in the British army
in the Revolutionary War. He was man OF
brilliant mind versatile talents and doubtful hon.
or Dismissed from the British army at Pensn-
COLA he turned pirate and cruised the Apalach
cola bay and neighbOring waters In small boat
manned by Indians, carrying sx-pounder.
His piratical adventures were so successful
that he amassed a comfortable fortune, married
the daughter Of an Indian chief and lived among
the Creeks. In 1889 he led an unsuccessful ex-
petition against Pensacola, then in the hands os
the Spanards, and was for this act restored to
favor with the English. He soon became dissar
isied with his life and went north and became an
actor, and afterwards achieved reputation as
portrait painter in the Bahamas.
Returning to America he was sent to establish
a trading post among the Indians, but being amb
tious his mission did not satisfy him, so he went
among the Indians and persuaded them to join
him in making war against the Spaniards.
So persuasive was he tnat the Indians not only
consented to join him, but gave him the title OF
King of Florida, and under his leadership
marched against st. Marks and captured the fort
Shortly afterwards the Spanards forced him to
give 1t up and his Indian followers surrendered
him, whom they now called the Lying Captain, TO
the Spaniards who took him to Moro Castle
where he ended his adventurous life In its dun
geons.
In 1903 great tract of land bordering on the
Apalachicola River and st. George Sound was
coded by Spain to John Forbes & Co., successors
to the firm of Panton Leslie & Co., in payment OF
debts incurred by the Indians and for depreda-
tons their boats had suffered from the piratical
adventures Of William Augustus Bowles.
BoWIes Rencarnated in Graham.
IL could subscribe to belief in the reincarna-
tion of spirits, would say that the spirit of VIII
liam Augustus Bowles, pirate and adventurer, had
been re-incarnated In Jonn Alexander Graham, or
Manatee. Bowles had seen the land and had
forced unwilling tribute to the black flag, under
which he sailed Graham operated on the land,
Dut his methods were none the less those OF the
pirate
Between the Ocklocknee and Apalachcola rly-
ers lies the county of Liberty, large part OF
which was the original Forbes purchase. From
border to border, life moves on simply, naturally,
us quiet undisturbed and unbroken by the shrill
whistle OF the locomotive any of the sounds at
tendant upon the march OF evelopment-virginal
and primeva
In Arcadian simplicity the people titled the
SOIL, In peace their children grew to manhood
and womanhood around the humble home mar
ried and lived just as they had lived before them.
hnd,hearted, trusting, law-abding, content In the
homely plenty the soil yielded for their simple
wants. they lived their allotted time and were
gathered to their fathers
Bristol, the county seat Is a clean little village
OF perhaps two or three hundred people, al
though the census gives 1t population OF only
n1ty. TO reach Bristol you go by boat from the
landing at River Junction down the river.
About thirty or forty miles, as the bird fies YOU
md the town, hidden away mile from the river,
nigh up among the pines and black-ja
10 this Arcadian corner where the razor-back
roams the streets, his rights unquestioned and
where the whippoorwill and hooting owl holi
nightly concerts, while the stars look down from
the peaceful heavens, along in the eighties came
young man who was employed as clerk In the
State Department of Education under Supernten-
dent Russell
Enter the Serpent
John A. Grahams advent into Liberty county
was to lecture at the Teachers Institute held that
year at Bristol. His polished manners and fluent
tongue gained him the friendship of the simple,
trusting people he met, and on this trip lecturing
TO the teachers, he laid the plan of the boldest
piece Of piracy that has been perpetrated In Lib