The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1909-02-27
Legend of Ship Island.

Possibly the most interesting ISL
and is Ship Island. 1t has pecul-
iarity that is possessed by no other
island along the coast No vulture
has ever been seen to light on this
Island no matter how toothsome
morsal the sea might cast upon the
sands. The story goes that Fran
: ciscian priest of great piety who
| came over with De Iberville was TAX
en- sick on the voyage, and while he
feared not to die yet he had hor-
ror of having his body consumed by
! the sharks He also feared that II
/ he was buried on the island which
they then sighted that his body
would be consumed by the vultures
that thronged the air above the ISL
! and. He asked, however, that ne be
buried i'll the white sands of the ISL
and and then he prayed the Lord OF
Hosts to keep his body from this
grewsome fate and that no bird of
p;ey be allowed to come near his
burial place. From that day to this
no vuIture or other scavenger has
ever been seen to light upon this
island.
During the Civil War Benjamin
Butler was stationed at the fort at
| UQc SDUln Su'l Ot Tie loldIu, cIAI''
while he was in charge many New
Orleans people, men and women, were
imprisoned in the old fort. The time
they spent there was anything but
pleasant, for Ben Butler succeeded
in making himself despised by all
who came in contact with him. The
prisoners and soldiers Of the Federal
army were buried, so it is related,
in the sands of the sea, without cof-
Gin, casket, box or winding sheet.
To this day the bones wash out and
are carried away by the tides. The
old fort yet stands, and is an OBJ
Ject of interest to all visitors. There
is a lighthouse there, too close to
the fort, and on the remote eastern
part of the island is the quarantine
station.
OF the towns along the coast BIZ
loxi has the reputation of being the
oldest History records it that in
February, 1869, NJ. de 1berVille, a
French explorer, landed at Biloxi.
The expedition was fitted out by
Louis XVI, king of France, who furn-
lished the necessary means, ships,
priests and soldiers and adventures.
1t is suggested that the rich treas
ures that were being gathered in the
Inew world by Spain in that century
was the incentive that led the king
of France to send out this and SINH
lar expeditions. Not finding the
ltreasurers they expected, De Iberville
decided to stay. Some went eXplor-
ing and others built a fort on the
| back bay of Biloxi which they named
Fort Marepas. This was the first
whita settIament in the state' Of
Mississippi The site where the old
| -ort stood is yet there, but the tort
was moved in 1901 to Dauphine Isl
and. and after eighteen years moved
back to point where Biloxi now
| stands. For a while Biloxi was the
capital of the province OF LOUISIANA
but in 1922 the capital was moved
to New Orleans. For more than a
century and a half the embyro city
was at a standstill, and then it be-
gan to grow and thrive until now it
is one of the most important towns
in the State. Men have grown
| wealthy there in the oyster business.
lin passing it may be said that the
finest oysters in the world grow IN
Mississippi sound. Many who have
homes on the beach have their own
private oyster beds, where the oys-
tres grow to the size of beefSteak
larger than the average restaurant
plain steak. The finest salt water
Msh to be had in the whole WoHid
are caught here in the sound and the
shrimp are superb, to say nothing OF
the crabs. There is a woman at
Biloxi who has made fortune catch
ing and shipping crabs. Then there
are sea turtle farms on the island
Just outside of Biloxi. All these in
dustries are interesting to the vlsl-
, tor.
There is Pascagoula, with its ship
yards and its wide-aWake citizens,
who nave compelled Congress to give
ear to their wants, which are first,
last and all the time deep water that
the largest ships may come up into
Its natural harbor They are get
ting the deep water, too, and now
vessels OF good deep draft enter
and load at It's saw mills, 1t, too,
tnas It's pretty legends of the In
; dians A specially pretty one is
concerning the mysterious music OF
the sea, to which science has failed
: to assign a cause. At certain sea
: sons of the year there is strange
lsweet melody of the waves heard
. more distinctly at Pascagoula than al
:, any other point. The sounds are not
unlike the notes of the eolian harI
!, when the wind plays gently upon the
: strings.
: The Beauvoir Home.
S Beauvoir, the last home of Jeffer
= con Doxic and now the Confederate