The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-19
KING PATRICK
 OF GA[AP PAG0S Wild Man Once Ruled the
 Islands HE CAPTURED SAILORS And Made Them Slaves-In Quest of Queen He Lost and Died in Prison-Home of Giant
 Tortoise

From the New York Sun.
 In looking around for a site for a naval
 station which would be of strategic im- portance in the protection of the Panama canal the United States government, ac- cording to a dispatch from Washington, has entered into negotiations with Ecua- dor for lease of the Galapagos islands. in the Pacific, off the coast of South | America. Should this report be true and | the negotiations be carried through, Uncle Sam would come into the possession Tor
 one thing, of the only giant tortoises | known to exist.
 | For years the Galapagos have been not | ed for these strange creatures, and for
 little else except, possibly, the curious
 sea postoffice established there 100 years ago by whaers. Callers at the sea post
 office, after depositng mail there, have had chance to disport themselves by
 taking ride on the back of giant tor
 toise, pleasant way to break the monot-
 ony of long voyage.
 The tortoises of the Galapagos are said
 to be the last survivors of the reptilian
 age, to which belonged the huge dinosaurs and other creatures of which only fossils
 remain. According to visitors to the
 islands these tortoises have sometimes
 reached a length of seven or eight feet. | Tie tortoises have a very shiny neck
 and aO cruel looking head, and are of
 dull, earthly color. It Is said to be com
 paratively easy to mount the back of one
 of them and with the aid of a stick to I ha
 ride. The tortoises have made deep paths 1 all over the islands. They do not appear | to be dying off.
 | Walter Rothschild, one of the London
 family of bankers, who owns a private | geological park near London, heard of | these creatures about ten years ago. and | decided that specimens of them would
 make welcome addition to his collec- | tion. He serft out an expedition and brought some of them to London, where
 they excited much curiosity.
 Perhaps because there are E little Js-
 lands in the Galapagos group. they have | been unlucky for some folks who have | been marooned on them. They lie 73O miles southwest of Ecuador and about | 1500 miles from Panama, occupying rela- | lively the same position in respect to the traffic approaching the canal from South | America as Hawaii does to trade from | the north.
 l The largest island is about twice the | size of Staten Island From time to time attempts have been made to colonize them, but without other results than to add to their curious fauna and flora, so | that today, in addition to the tortoises, some of them are overrun with wild veg
 etables and also with wild horses, wild
 dogs and wild pigs No native popula- I ton was ever discovered in the group
 but a.-hundred years ago there was
 real wild man there.
 | Wild Man Was King | The wild man of the Galapagos was a
 red7headed Irishman and his name was | Patrick Watkins. King Patrick he called | himself and for several years he ruled the islands and made slaves of some | sailormen who landed there. He is said | to have been responsible for the first sea- | postoffce established there, that being the way devised by one sea captain to warn others of the presence on the is- lands of King Patrick
 | The Irish king of the Galapagos was
 deserter from an English whaler. | which made a landing for water ani | fresh vegetables at Charles Island. one of the group. The place where he landed
 and where he issued forth a wild-looking object to terrorize sailormen has since
 been called Pats Passage Pat built a hut
 In valley,about two acres in extent back in the interior. It was the only place susceptible of culture in his kingdom,
 Here he cultivated potatoes in great
 abundance and sold them to the ships that touched his shores.
 Dressed In rags, his red hair and beard
 tangled and filled with briars his appear
 ance was that of the primitive man and so wild as to cause those who visited his
 dominions never to forget it. His one de-
 sire. according to some chroniclers of his | region, was for brandy, for which he would exchange his vegetables. He had an old musket and some bullets and lived
 alone in state among the tortoises. Finally he decided to become a slave owner. One day an American whaler put in for water and left a negro in charge of the ships boat drawn up on the beach King Pat sallied forth from a def1le, cap- tured the negro and started to drag him 10 his hut in the valley. He hadn't gone far before the negro turned the tables
 and captured King Pat, the result being that he was taken aboard ship for trial An English vessel happened to come in just then and Pats centence was that he
 should be fiogged first on the American vessel and then on the English vessel After this sentence had been executed the Irish King of the Galapagos was taken ashore, handcuffed and left in that fash ion. while his captors ruthlessly tore up his garden, destroyed his hut and sailed away.
 Escaped With Slaves How fong Pat remained in that plight was never known but 1t seems that in some way he eventually freed himself, rebuilt his hut cultivated his garden again and set out anew upon his plans. He watch ed different land ing parties and captured in all four
 sailors, making them his slaves He
 became the most absolute of tyrants,
 according to the accounts of his reign. At length he conceived a plan of mas
 sacreing some boats crew, capturing
 the vessel and sailing away as a pirate.
 He was surprised in tRs act of wreck