The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-01-30
GASPAR|LLA WAS
PIRATE CA|EFTA|N
RAVAGED COAST OF FLORIDA IN
EARLY DAYS.
Exploits Are Bound Up With the Ira
ditions of the Land of Sunshine.
His Story.

They say there's nothing in name,
| but that's not true.
Could any better name have been
chosen for South Florida festival
than the Gasparilla Carnival?
Think of the legends that gather
like mist over bay head about the
name and fame of Gasparilla
Think of the possibilities for the BIZ
zarre and the unusual that the old pi-
rates history gives!
Think of the advertising value for
South Florida there is in the name
Gasparilla!
Who or what is Gasparilla? asks
the stranger within onr gates.
Is it a Pullman car or a breakfast
| food or cigar or race horse? they
ask. ~
Listen, gentle stranger
Gasparilla was pirate, and it is his
exploits and history that furnish the
| theme for the Carnival Tampa is 10
give ON February 81 to "a.
Gasparilla was the name chosen for
! the pirate king and crew. The fam
GUS sea rovers name has been made
more famous by the band of Tampans
and their celebration, and now, with
all Florida joining in the celebration,
and all the world contributing visit
ors, Gasparilla will become symbolic
of the truly gallant cut-throat. Each
year the members Of the Gasparilia
crew elect their king and queen, and
the maids of honor, keeping secret
their choice until the night of the cor
onation ball.
Then, amid the exclamation of their
| loyal subjects, pirates and honor guard,
the king and queen are crowned, at
the greatest social event Of the year.
Seven kings and queens have occupied
the Gasparilla throne-ever since 1905,
when that feature of the fete was hit
upon by the Gasparilla crew.
On the shoulders of the captain and
that of a number of the "old guard"
"the inner circle" of Ye Mystic Krewe,
the brunt Of the work has fallen. Each
year headquarters are opened and the
plans for the pageant worked out to
the minutest detail. Costumes are spe-
cially ordered-this year each pirate
will have two-and special floor
built for the one ball at the Tampa
Bay Casino.
At the outset of the plan the Gas
parillas engaged in tournament at
the Tampa Bay track, the members of
the crew, astride of trusty steeds.
striving to Guido each other with lance
and shield, as the knights of old. The
pirate ship early became one of the
permanent features of the Gaspar1lla
coming, the pirates sailing up the har-
Dor, landing in the city and taking
possession of it and its fair maids.
Gasparlla Gay Dog.
Gasparilla was one of the buccaneers
who made the gulf a terror to hon
est seamen in the troubled days at
the close of the eighteenth century
and the beginning of the nineteenth.
Spain's power was fast disintegrating
Great Britain, France, Spain and the
United States each flew it's flag over
the shores washed by the gulf stream.
1t was No Mans Land and the
might of the strong hand made right.
On the shores of Louisiana and In
the bayous of Plaquemine and Atcha.
falayala, were the headquarters of the
ravager Laffite. One of the bloodies;
of pirates, he gathered together hun
dreds OF violent men and a dozen or
so vessels and ruled as a king. II
such a kingdom there is always dis,
sension and Gasparilla, after dis
agreement with Laffite over some of
the loot, broke away from the band,
took the ship he commanded and the
bloody crew who did his bidding and
sailed across the gulf to the coast OF
Florida.
Pensacola was a settlement even
then, but down the long stretch of the
Florida coast there was hardly anotn-
er bay that had even fisherman's
hut along the shore. Hiding places
there were in plenty among the keys
and bays of the coast.
Found Haven on GaspariIIa Isle.
On the island where the phosphate
port of Boca Grande is now located,
Gasparilla found the haven he was
seeking. 1t blocked one of the en-
frances of Charlotte Harbor in any
one of a dozen of whose smaller bays
and creek mouths there was plenty or
chance for him to escape prying eyes.
This must have been about the year
1900. Gasparilla built mansion on
the isle and here he lived like Il
king with his bloodthirsty pirates as
the courtiers.
There was not wanting ladies in this
court.