Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-15
Germans Owned
Real Port Here
BY Frederic J. Hnskir

| intrigue in this country WAS revealed
when Saint Andre VS. Bay on the Cult
of Mexico recently fell into the honds Of
A Mitchell Palmer. United States Cu4-
| todian Of Alien Property For this
| harbor and the land surrounding II were
/ owned by the prince Of n small German
| State. it's affairs were managed by a
| German syndicate, and German ships
| entered and left the har bor nightly.
II is significant tn note that Saint
Andrews BAY Possesses all the poten-
| tialitles for thriving metropolis Of the
| Southeast II lies on the northwest
| coast of Florida a hundred and fifty miles
from Pensacola and forty-two miles from
Apalachcola II is said 10 possess a
! better harhnr Il an either II these, and lt
Ia in direct line with Havana and almost
i'm direct line with Colon Only a few
rods Of track are necessary 10 give It
railroad connection. lIv way of Atlanta
with tho Atlantic seaboard, the West and
Middle Wast With some essential mn
urovcments - might n'Itstrip any other
port Of Florida when the expansion of
South Amer ican trade beglns after the
war
Jusr LIKE GEpNtS cotJ*Y
Yet until less than wear ago this
potential CITY waa controlled by Germany
almost as completely "a a colony of that
Fmpire The syndicate pstenalbly op-
Grated small lumber mill cloer to the
water & edge II pnsscssed considerable
number If F.oata oatcnsibly fnr the pur-
pose of transporting tlmlrr 10 Atlantic
pnrts but Department of Justice officials
who are now completing very thor ough
| investigation of what the syndicate did
| and did not do, sav that the lumber
busire eag was uacd ~ a cloak fdr rnneh
| more sinister one
The land measures some HNWRl acres
most nf II vaualle timber property
| Nearly All of tho employees If the syndicate
wcrc Germans or naturalizod Americans
| born IN Germany The cnpioves had
| little to III with fhe dwclcrs m he sur
rounding country and spnrned whatever
| advances tho natives made he Af
! lanta and SAINT Androwz Bav railroad
| had terminus At Panama Cltv Ices than
! three quarters If mile from the herltor
and the offices ~ tho syndicate II IS SAID
| that officials ri tic railroad offered r.
| binid an extension 10 fhe mills hus
opening another avenue fcr the trans
partation nf tho timber The syndicate
| rcJcct 81 tins offer hlnntiY and. ~ -
| many wori. Informed the rfilrpad that
/ II could 10 very yell without lts hclp
| At The tlnlc of Tho first rad by the lle-
| parttnrnt ~ lustlcc the syndicate bed
| heen IN cststepco snme Fifteen voar~
| According to neighbonng residents. whose
! CURIOSITY had been set At high pitch from
| time ~ time hv the wall ~ exclusl vcness
With wloch the Germans surrounded
Themselves. not enough lumber was rnt
~ Ycar 70 pay the expenses of single
month
MYSTERIOUS sHtPe RFsY
/ Yet At regular intervals boat- glided
/ n and att If The llaraor dcposltina
! mysterious fargocs and carrs ing n8 large
/ stores of na one knew what Those
/ VisItcrs alNavs came aud went - night
| Far i long time thct came perhaps t"n
| nr three tunes a week hlIt after hc war
between Germany and the Entente. the
visits increased until ~ last they occurred
nightly
u hen he rand took place Iarg~ -rs of
I printed propaganda were for p nc
| Offices of the -vndicatc II u ochcvcd
| that part of the work Of these German
/ agents for such they undoubtedly were
was 20 prcpar" propaganda Tor dlstr1bu-
| ton throughout the nted states The
! president 1fcc president and a number
81 directors of the syndicate we're !nterned
/ II OFT tt2ltlItFilt
Whether Or not it Ras part oi her
+ purpose. thc Germans certainly pre-
vented SAINT Andrew from making -
/ deserved development ~ q port he
/ shipping board has temporarily taken It
over u fISe the timber IN ne construction
! of lie NJ" merchant feet. When the
tlutcr has been exhausted saint AndreW
Wlli l5e offered for sale al ) public auetloIt
Saint Andrew BAY Il >urr0unLed hN
a wealth of tradition and romance some
of IL Historically aut hentlc and Some OF It
doubtful /, was slightly out of he track
OF Ponce DE Leon and Tristan lie Luna,
the early Spanish explorers. and 40 perma-
nent settlements were made on ITS shores
until after Florida became 4 uchlher u
the [ mon
HAUNT OF OLD PIRATES.
Put. httie more than stone throw
from the Caribbean IN the DAYS when
rich galleons sailed the spanish main.
SAINT Andrew Pay wao n rendezvous
for At least 4 half dozen pirate crews The
notorious buccanccr. Teach, or Blue
beard used to seek It's snug obscurity
when the fleets OF France and England
became too nimblc The Ic>s celebrated
but equally picturesque Captain Jahcl Is
supposed to have hidden his loot hard by
one OF the banks during a fierce thunder
storm. and after killing the scanen who
helped to bury it, was Ailcd himself
by a bolt Of lightning
SAINT Andrew Pay Is bat an item.
however IN the list of unusual property
to be disposed oi by Mr. Palmer Though
some Of it is sire 10 find a ready market.
the Gust odIan IS puzzled rs 70 how to
reach buyers for great part Of It.
For example: large quantity of
pig intestines shipped from Shanghai
was seized in san Francisco under the
provisions of the Trading With the Enemy
Bill Four hundred dollars worth OF
proprietary medicines made III Leipsig
were seized in Phlladelphia. and in New
| York the depart ment took over 200 pounds
Of shooting gallery powder The IN
testines. which were imperTcctly packed
are unit for any use the custodian is
aware Of, and as for the medicines il il
hardly 10 be believed that there Is an
American who is foolhardy enough 10
take them with the knowledge that they
had teen manufactured III Germany.
However, such eases are not frequent
/ enough to be the rule -Four boxes of
Astronomical instruments of yerV rare
quality were purchased bv the United
States Geodetic Survey and a number of
. horses and mules have been requisitloned
by the army Az electric welding outfit
after being rejected ty the shipping board,
was purchased BY a manufacturer who
Was not 80 exacting
ART TREASURES CAPTURED
\ quantity Of rare and valuable art