Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-02-08

ensemble.
sail Over First Town.
For more than 200 years. or since
that fatal day in l692 when Fort Royal
| disappeared beneath the waves, ships
| have been sailing and steaming over
| the roofs of the first town of impor-
| taEce built by the English in Jamaica.
| They had fought hard for the posses
| sion of that island, these sturdy British
Scamen who followed after the Span
| iardS to the West Indies. Columbus
| had discovered 1t: the SpaniardS had
! settled it after Il fashion of their own;
| Penn Nenablcs conquered and suhju-
| gated it in 1868.
The first Spanish settlement was on
| the north side of the island. in or near
the Bay &c st. AIMS. but the success
sorS of the conquistadores had finally
| Established themselves ri st. JagO de
| Ia Vega. now known rs Spanish Town.
They were driven to the woods. and
the English took possession. Shortly
| after. followed by the buccaneers.
| those brethren of the sea" of various
natiOnalities. who, finding the little is
| land of TOrtuga. off the north coast of
Haiti. too small to hold them all.
swarmed over to the more prosperous
Jamaica and also to the Spanish main
where the chiefeSt of their depreda-
tons had been contaminated There
We're many of them. and they went
the way of all pirates of those times
some by the rope and others by the
sword. but ono of the greatest of them
lived 10 become governor of Jamaica
and the agent OF their eNtirpation.
Henry Morgan. chief among the de
generate buccaneers. was Il WelShman
Like another well known to song II
might he said, "Taffy was Welsh
man. Taffy was thief" hut he re
formed after he had acquired vas
wealth by his piracies and the sackins
of Spanish cities, Cartagena. Porto Rel
10 and Panama. and in reward for hi
services was knighted by Charles I
of England Then he turned upon hi
fellow pirates. and for space the!
knew no rest, for he hanged them. an'
he shot them. and the ErewSOme gal
lows tree was familiar object on til,
sandy Palisades
Was Pirate city.
But while the buccaneers lived ant
before Sir Henry turned against them
what time they had in fair Por
Royal, at the entrance to the harbor o
what was later the city of Kingston
The streets of the pirate city resound
cd with their revelries. its sands gilt
tered with the gold they had gathere
in from the Spaniards. open hOgshead
of rum and wine stood at the corner
for all to partake. and woe To him VIII
refused. Well was that port know
far and near as the wickCdeSt city i
the universe as we'll as the richest i
all the West Indies.
Then the end came, suddenly an
awfully in the year of grace 1892. o
the 9TH of June wicked Port Roya
slipped off into the sea, carrying wit
: it vast piles of rich merchandise
wharfs, warehouses. dwellings.
3 church and IL portion of the fort. alon
z with great many of the most III
8 godly people on the face of the earth.
x Nearly 5000 houses were destroyed
8 and but few structures of any sor
x including one of the forts, RENAME
9 on the sands
8 That quake" or landslip -whatevt
8 it was-was but the beginning of G;
s lamities. for almost as many Peep
8 persisted soon after from pestilen,
q generated by the corpses floating
& the bay us We're killed outright by Il
8 destruction of the city. Apropos
* this terrible event. an inscription on
{, tombstone at Green Bay. not far fro
* Kingston, is worthy of note:
. Here Ives the body of lewis Gald