The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-02-09
GASPAR|LLA WAS
PIRATE CH|EFTA|N
RAvAGED COAST OF FLORIDA IN
EARLY DAYS.
ditions of the Land of Sunshine.
His Story.

They say there's nothing in a 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 a 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!
South Florida there is in the name
Gasparilla!
Who or what is Gasparilla? asks
the stranger within our gates.
Is it a Pullman car or a breakfast
food or cigar or a race horse? they
ask.
Listen, gentle stranger
Gasparilla was a pirate, and it is his
exploits and history that furnish the
theme for the Carnival Tampa is TO
give on February 81 to "a.
GaSparilla was the name chosen for
the pirate king and crew. The fam
Gus sea rover's 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 Gaspar1lia
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 reclamation 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
1.-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 a special floor
built for the one ball at the Tampa
Bay Casino.
At the outset of the plan the Gas
parillas engaged in a tournament at
the Tampa Bay track, the members of
striving to outdo each other with lance
and shield, as the knights of old. The
pirate ship early became one Of the
permanent features of the GasparilIa
coming, the pirates sailing up the har-
Dor. landing in the city and taking
possession of it and its fair maids.
GaspariIIa Gay Deg.
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 its flag over
the shores washed by the gulf stream
II 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
talayala, were the headquarters of the
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 GaspaTiila, after a dis
agreement with Lafite 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 a fisherman