White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-12-03

! and regain some prestige by Selling
the more defenseless colony OF
| Jamaica
Battle of the Crabs"
According to legend, the defenders
Of Santo Domingo were aided by
strange allies, and along the beach
near Jaina the site Of the traditional
battle of crabs" is still pointed out.
The story runs that the invading
forces encamped here one night. With
their nerves on edge from constant
ambuscades and surprise attacks, they
mistook the Gathering of the large
number of land crabs hereabout for
the hoof-beats Of charging cavalry, and
they were soon retreating pell-mell.
Between 1880 and 174O the popu.
latfon Of the capital fell to about five
hundred, but fifty years later it was
again riding on one Of its high tides
of greatness as Spanish colonial
city, only to be overtaken within a
decade by another period of adver-
sity.
Now, after more than four CEN
turtles Of varying fortunes and despite
siege, earthquake, and tropical hur-
ricane, the brave old city stands de-
family at the mouth Of the Ozama-
little bewildered, perhaps, as If I'M
decided whether definitely to capitu-
late to the march of modern progress
or wait patiently little longer for
galleons long overdue.
In the last thirty years the capital
city has spread far beyond the limits
of the old town.
One with romantic turn of mind
could wish that the streets in the old
part of the city had been allowed to
retain their original names, but these
have nearly all been rechristened in
honor Of men and dates prominent in
the history of the Republic OF the
old names, only the "Street of Isabel
the Catholic" remains, and much of it's
romance is dispelled by the traffic pc.
licemen who briskly "shoo" autono-
biles along the narrow thoroughfares.
Visitors may hunt long time for
horse-drawn coche in which to drive
about and view the city, but when one
of the few left in commission finally
is tracked down, they lack the moral
courage to charter it for fear of being
thought eccentric-or worse. 1t just
isn't done any more.
Ashes of Columbus There.
The chief pride of the Dominicans
is their faith that the ashes of Chris.
topher Columbus rest within their
cathedral at Santo Domingo. In 1895
Spain, having ceded Santo Domingo
to the French removed what it's Off
Gals believed to be the ashes of the
Great Discoverer to Havana. Upon
the evacuation of Cuba by Spain in
1898, the Spanish government moved
the Havana remains to Seville. Spain
But in 1877, while the Santo Domin.
go cathedral was being remodeled,
another vault containing a leaden
casket was found. AS soon as the
casket surface appeared everything
was sealed, and in the afternoon the
president and his cabinet, the mem.
bers of the diplomatic corps, the bishops
and Apostolic delegate, and many
others assembled to witness the com.
pletion of the excavation and the
opening of the casket.
Outside and inside were found in
scriptions which bear alike the name
and the titles Of Christopher Column
Spanish consul, joined in notarial
affidavit Of the circumstances of the
opening of the vault and casket and
the description of their contents.
The late American minister, Thomas
O. Dawson, pronounced the evidence
complete, and the late American secre.
tary of state, Philander @. Knox, on
his visit to Santo Domingo in 1912
declared that any impartial court
would sustain the contention that all
that is mortal of the Founder of the
New World rests within the Cathedral
at Santo Domingo. Charles G. Dawes
United States ambassador to Great
Britain, while in Santo Domingo in
1920 as the head Of a commission to
work out a budget system for the
Dominican government, made study
of the evidence and reached the same
conclusion as Minister Dawson and
Secretary Knox.
One of the most tragic experiences
in the history Of Santo Domingo oc
Cured in the afternoon of September
3, 1880, when hurricane swept over
the capital. Outside the walls of the |
stricken city the devastation was prac.
tically complete inside the walls 70
per cent Of the buildings were dam.
aged and practically all Of the 1000
smaller homes were destroyed. Up
wards Of two thousand people were