Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1914 — BLOODY DEEDS DONE [ARTICLE]

BLOODY DEEDS DONE

Pirates, Pestilence and Storm Have Scarred Vera Cruz.

Buccaneers of the Spanish Main Have Plundered and Burned and Committed Other Atrocities Repeatedly in Ancient Port.

New Orleans. —Bloodshed 18 not new In Vera Cruz. In fact, no city on the continent has witnessed such devilish cruelty, such plundering, burning and ravishing, as has this place of the “True Cross.” Since Cortez landed, In 1518, there has been a succession of strife and pestilence which can be paralleled In few cities in the world. Beplstoled buccaneers, in all their awful glory, have raided the port time and again; It has been a point of vantage which has called forth the lustiest fighting in the many civil wars that have swept Mexico and it has always been selected as the landing point for foreign foes, writes Paul Norton in the New Orleans Times-Democrat-Picayune.

Whenever any of the numerous pirates who preyed on the rich shipping of the Spanish main wanted to “singe the beard of the king of Spain” they would attack Vera Cruz. Lorenclllo, a famous pirate of the early days, with 800 of his cutthroats, slipped by the sleeping cannoneers at the fort, surprised the town, killed thousands, outraged its women and stripped the city of its valuables. Hundreds of persons were driven into the cathedral, men, women and children, black and white, and held prisoners. When the doors were opened four days later most of the inmates were dead from suffocation.

As the gateway through which all the commerce with Spain was conducted, there always were great stores of valuable property on hand. This was true particularly just before the sailing of the galleons, which usually traveled In fleets owing to the menace of pirates. By learning of the schedule of the galleons the buccaneers generally dropped in when the Supply of treasure was great. Nicolas de Agrlamonte, another highwayman of the deep, pillaged the town some years after the visit of Lorenclllo. He enriched himself with 17,000,000 In silver awaiting transportation to Spain. By way of appreciation he took prisoners 300 of the citizens of the town and marooned them on the Sacrifice islands, patches of sand not far from the coast, where they died of starvation. The' anniversary of this calamity is observed by memorial services to this day. While the blood of thousands has flowed through the streets of this illfated port, the toll of war and violence Is insignificant In comparison with the deaths that have come from pestilence.

Until 1850 the city was surrounded by a mighty wall. This great bulwark may have saved the city on a few occasions from attack, but cutting out the healthful sea breeze made it a pest hole compared to which Guayaquil is a health resort. Yellow jack in all Its terrors was never absenL Smallpox, bubonic plague and the other offspring of the dirt and squalor of the middle ages were always present. It was only In recent years that modern sewer and drainage systems were Installed, which, with other sanitary precautions, has changed the place from a death-dealing focus to a health resort. The harbor at Vera Cruz has little natural protection. Before the building of the present breakwaters the northers which characterize the Mosquito coast dealt the struggling city almost 'as severe blows as did the pirates and the diseases. Modern engineering now protects the city and gives a limited area In which the ships can anchor behind the seawall. Due to the hatred of the Spaniards, Vera Crus once wm ground to powder. At the,close of Mexico’s war for Independence, in 1821, the Spaniards •till held the fort of San Juan de

Ulua in the harbor. Learning that he soon was to be ordered to evacuate, the commander hauled his heavy guns to the city side of the fortress and fired into the town until all his ammunition was expended. No building In the place was undamaged. So great was the havoc that It was with difficulty that the lines of the streets were re-established. As there was no warning of such action, the Inhabitants were forced to flee to the sand dunes which surround the city, after the hail of solid shot had begun. Trails of blood led from the choked gates of the ill-starred town. In 1838 the French bombarded the place. In 1847 General Scott favored the Veracrusanos with a terrible bombardment. ’ In 1859 Benito Juarez was besieged In Vera Cruz by the troops of Maximilian. In 1861 the French fleet again took the place. During the revolutionary period, which was almost continuous previous to the opening of the regime of Porflrlo Diaz, this port and its revenue always were objectives. During the Madero revolution, for the first time, a period of civil strife passed, during which Vera Cruz was unmolested.