Evening star., 1920-07-04

Augustine tFla.). with his mail-elad force. en-
barked. and the Spanish flag foated for the
last time over the land Of Axacan.
There are certain phases and phrases
in this narrative which the Rambler
does not altogether like In places it
has a melodramatic caste, and there
are too many commonplace remarks.
such as: Determined to trust them
selves entirely in the hands Of being
once more upon his native heath
reduced to great straits" "beguile
| them with promises" make last ap-
peal for assistance" they were de-
parting sadly" "horribly mutilated."
calmly awaited their fate" "arrayed
in the garb." weighed anchor and
sailed away" she would not harm the
hung at the yard arm" Summary
piece of justice" and 1.-The Spanish
| flag f1oated for the last time over the
land Of" etc. The Rambler has no
doubt of the main things set forth
| that a Jesuit mission was founded at
Occoquan, that the missionaries were
killed by Indians and that some Span
ish commander avenged the crime as
! best he could. The story of heavily
armed men. clad in metal armor, go
ing ashore and catching Indians who
certainly did not want to be caught.
puts quite a little strain upon the
| reader. 1t was not the practice of
Spanish commanders in dealing with
new world savages in the seventeenth
century to make speeches about II
come to spare the innocent. but please
let me have the guilty" Those eight
savages who were sent on board the
ship and hung at the yard arm were
most likely killed in the quickest and
bloodiest way on shore and without
any yard arm formalities But in
way those very things give strength
to the story. because that is the way
they would be presented in a formal
report to the authorities in Spain,
and it was in the Spanish archives
that Shea found the narrative and the
map of the River Espiritu Santo and
Axacan.
The main thing is to get hold of
these Spanish documents to determine
| their age and authenticity and then
to fortify them with records that are
probably in the archives of the So
ciety of Jesus at Rome. The Rambler
believes that Bishop O'Connell of the
diocese of Richmond and a number of
the fathers at Georgetown University
are interested in this.
+ x
Searching the statutes of Virginia.
the Rambler has recently come upon
many facts relating to Occoquan and
other places in the vicinity of Wash
ington. In an act of the Virginia as
sembly. passed in 1920 for settling
new ferries on the Pamunkey, Malta
pony and Patowmack rivers and for
ascertSining the rates of ferriage."
etc. the establishment of a public
ferry was directed from Col. Hoes
to Cedar point in Maryland" and the
rate of ferriage was two shillings for
a man. two shillings horse and two
shillings for a hogshead of tobacco.
In an act passed in May. 1892, for
settling new ferries upon the James.
Appomattox. Nottaway. Rappahan-
mock and Patowmack rivers, is this:
"And on the Patowmack river just
below the mouth of Quantico creek
over the river to the landing place
at Col. George Mason's in Maryland"
The price of passage was one shilling
six pence for man and the same for
a horse In August. 1886, the general
assembly directed that a public ferry
be established on the River Occoquan
in the county of Prince William" and
that the rate should be three pence
for a man and three pence for a
horse. That ferry crossed few yards
downstream from the site of the
present railroad bridge. There must
have been private ferry over the
! Occoouan good many years before
that date. because public ferries-that