The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-07-04


ing over the graves were then quite
small, and the trees furnish the only
contrast to the general surroundings,
fertilized, no doubt, by the blood and
bone Of the brave men sleeping be-
meath them.
Absolutely nothing remains to show
that this spot was the burying ground
of the. most important military base
of the almost ten years of warfare
waged by the Seminole Indians
against the whites, and the writer IS
probably the only one left living who
could, with any accuracy, trace it's
limits. The wreck and ruin wrought
by time on the old fort is quite rs
complete.
History should not hold blameless
those responsible for the Dissertation
Of these graves, for if such shameful
neglect could be traced to the deni-
zens of the devils den it would cause
blush of shame to mount the iron
cheek of Satan himself.
1t is more than probable that the
legislative department of the state
government is largely, if not wholly
to blame for the conditions at this
spot that shames the very name of
decency
During the time the carpet Dagger
held sway and spread moral and f.
nancial ruin all over the state nothing
could be expected, but long before
this dirty name disgraced a govern
ment of the people these graves had
fallen into decay.
Far different from "a legislature
composed of unscrapulous whites and
ignorant blacks, should be one of in
telligent whites without single op-
position vote to bafFthe way to all
that is good in Legislative life, but
Mr.. White Man, MraaDemocrat, Mr.
Legislator, you haEs FAILED for 10,
these many years to honor the names
of these brave defendsHss of this sun
ny land. Why did Ya4f do it?
You have enacted I8@s for the pro
lection of about evsi6 wild thing
that walks, runs, flies creeps or
crawls, except ratasBsnakes, and
these beasts and repS4les have. wan
dered unmolested over the graves
and tramped beneathfheir feet the
sacred soil baptized . the blood of
as brave men as eEN followed the
American flag.
Greater love hatM no man than
this, that man lay Own his life for
his friends" And these brave boys
at old Fort King, in Jhe early half of
the last century fille6Ap the limit the
Savior's standard offriendship. In
he very nature of Mings they were
your friends and nltne They were
friends of the FloridA Legislators in
their death they MADE the legislature
D .ss>hle, and its naRmbrs immulie
.lcm the tomahawl and ,csipine
knife, but it was net within their
power to make legislature with
sense enough to knDw it,
Some fifteen yearsaago represent
alive from Marion county introduced
a bill in the Legislature, which be-
came a law to prohfbH the shooting
of alligators and limpzins on the Ok
lawaha river, Dunn s. creek and other
tributarieA About three
miles from the Ok1awaha and tn.
same from Dunn's qseek, and Other
imaginary lnavtiganle tributar. $,
about three miles From the place
where limpkin LIMBS to the legal
notes of the turkey trot, and ALI,
gator draws his Shiny length across
the muck, and blinks his ugly eyes
in statutory safety lies the remains
of First Lieutenafit Constantine
Smith and thirty-thfeh other mar
tyrs to the cause LIBERALIZATION. To
reach the legal paradise of these leg
islative pets, the author must needs
pass over their graves.
Holding the mantle of the murder
ed Caesar before him, and pointing
to the wounds madesby the assassin's
knives, Mark Anthony declared: "IfI
these dumb mouths could speak they
would cause the stones of Rome to
rise in mutiny." BH the same token
if these dumb mouths could speak
from the graves, unmarked and un-
cared for in many3Iong years, they
would cause the people of Florida to
rise in mutiny. 2
1t may be said that the legislature