Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-06-13

III HEAL PlKA / l0LAND
It Was Once the Stronghold Of
Morgan, the Buccaneer.
la TINY COUNTRY TO ITSELF.
i Old Providence, an Uneanny Spot In
the Caribbean Sea, and the Lawiess,
Reckless, Murderous Crew That Now
Claim It as Their Own.
Sailing upon that almost unknown
sea which GIBBS and flows upon the
4 Mosquito Coast, the line OF the horizon
lis broken by two faint points. AS the
vessel approaches nearer strange
Isight meets the vision. The points
Il have become two jaws looming against
4 the clearness Of the sky and water. It
is as if an enormous mouth had been
suddenly thrust out Of the sea with
/ distended jaws pointed skyward.
Truly the sight is uncanny, but the
jaws mark an uncanny spot in the
i Caribbean. Once these waters were
not SO deserted by man. Upon their
bosom passed stately galleons, the
plate ships loaded with treasure from
Il the new Spain. When their captains
saw those black jaws they may have
said an Ave as, altering their course,
| they sailed away from them, for this
bit of dry spot In the ocean was then
known, as It is today, as q pirate is
Hand.
4 Old Providence, as the map maker
calls it is in truth dot on the waters.
Not over four miles from end to end
in Its longest direction and half as
much in width, IA good walker can en-
/ circle 1t by the little coast path the ma
tives call a highway in half q day. The
human beings who call it home are
i confined to its outer edge, for the sub
marine volcano which at some time In
the past ages gave birth to Old Provi-
Il dence In one Of it's commissions, topped
1T off with a miniature mountain range
q stretching above the center Of the is
land. 1t is one Of these mountains that
forms the black gaping jaws SO plainly
seen long before the graceful cocoanut
palms marking the shore line are wish
BILE. In a whimsical display Of its
power the volcano cut a great wedge
in one Of the peaks-a wedge fully
hundred feet across at the top and
tapering to a score or SO at the bottom.
Today, as centuries ago, Old Provi-
Idence is tiny country to itself. Far
out Of the modern ocean highway, in
one of the least frequented parts of the
Caribbean, the steamship or sailing
ship has no occasion to pass near 1t
i unless driven there by storm. There is.
mo postofhce, FOR the reason that there
Is no mail service. True, it is claimed
by some country just as every point
1 that sticks out OF the sea is claimed.
Colombia calls Old Providence part
4 Of Its republic, but not man lives
] upon It to act as governor, judge or
4 even agent. So its people kill, steal
and commit other crimes utterly re-
/ gardless OF any authority save force
and the little influence Of the solitary
4 white man who has cast his lot among
Il them. 9 sS s,,.
St Catherine, as 1t was mockingly
called In the old days, was the strong
hold Of Henry Morgan. For nearly $50
years the blood Of his followers has
flowed in the veins Of It's people, but
before the freebooters sailed into its
harbor the Spanish governor Of Costa
4 Rica had made it an island prison for
criminals he thought too dangerous to
keep on the mainland. When Morgan
defeated the garrison he placed as
lguards Of his eaptives 100 Of these CON
lYicts, released on their promise to join
= has band literally human dregs Of
new Spain. Again the Spaniards cap
tured the island and turned it into a
tpenal colony until Morgan's flag was
raised above it in 1910 and the struggle
for its possession ended. Since then
most Of those who have lived upon it
II have been descendants Of the white
outlaws, their convict allies and the
black women who went there from the
West Indies on Morgan's ship.
The blood of the islanders Is the
blood Of English, Irish and Scotch, but
Iadulterated with that Of the negro. To-
day fully 1000 persons live upon this
a islet-a thousand human beings who
Il have degenerated In mind until the
majority Of them are little better than
beasts. Murder; is common; theft is not
crime; marriage is unknown. Only
j the fear OF stronger keeps many a.
man from taking life for a trif1e.
Most Of the cocoanuts are traded for
clothing, liquor, firearms, knives and
trinkets. After vessel has loaded
i and departed, for days the island may
be the scene Of drunken debauch,
which brings to mind stories written
about the carousals OF the buccaneers
after the capture Of prize, but here
Is no captain or discipline Of the sea-.
Il The weaker are the prey of the
stronger, and robbery and killing pass
unnoticed. II is the testimony Of Fa-3
ther st. John, the brave priest who
~