Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1898 — Another From Sergeant Tharp. [ARTICLE]

Another From Sergeant Tharp.

iHe Visits The Oldest City lit The Country. On the morning of Aug. 23rd handing in my morning report, I obtained a leave from camp until 9P. M. These passes are granted and signed by the captain and also signed by the regimental Adjutant. Jacksonville is seven miles from our camp and you have your choice of taking a train here and getting into the city’ too late to catch a train for St. Augustine or walking three aud one half miles to the street car line and being sure of your trip. I decided to walk and with the hot Florida sun boiling down on my head I walked to the car line got my car and reached the depot in ample time to catch the train I must tell you that when I climbed bn the street car I found three more of our boys already there. They had started before I did but turned off at a different plfjce than I to catch the car. We made the remainder of the trip together. The United States dispatch Boat ! Suwanee which took quite a noted part in the late trouble is anchored in the river at Jacksonville but we strained our eyes in vain to catch a glimpse of it jas we pulled out across the bridge. The scenery between Jacksonville and St. Augustine is some improvement over that in Ala. aud Ga. We reached our destination about 10:30 A. M. and soon procured us the services of a young negro and his pony and phaeton. He is known as the yallow Boy and drives a yellow pony, the phaeton has yellow running gears and the boy wore yellow shoes but I think he was black. He is intelligent and a good guide. We had scarcely started until he began to point out points of interest and describe them. I will name the points but can only speak of a very few. The characteristic of the city is its narrow streets. On an average they are about twenty feet. The narrowest being but seven feet. Most of them have Spanish names. The first we camo to were Flagler’s palatial hotels, aud they are palaces, especially’ the Ponce | De Leon. It contains 700 rooms, cost seven I million dollars and two years labor to build it. It is the finest house and is surrounded by the finest grounds I ever saw. It is closed now and will be until January. Near it is the Alcazar and Cordova. two more fine hotels which he owns. His winter residence is near the Ponce hotel. We took a hurried view es the I old Spanish cemetery and the old Hugenot cemetery. Next we saw the oldest house in America which is surelj’ quite a novelty. It is built of a material called cocana and inlaid with many beautiful shells. All of the old Spanish houses are built of this material. The material is quarried near the city. It seems to be pulverized ' shells and resembles cement when ' hard. We next visited the old slave I market and then old Fort Marion. | It contains a few prisoners and is I guarded by two companies of vol- . unteers. By getting the consent of the captain we were allowed to look through the fort. It is still in a verj’ good state of preservation. It contains dungeons and machines of torture. One is not allowed to take a sin- > gle thing from the fort but we all | procured something. I obtained a I part of an old rusty nail and two i pieces of the wall itself. The- other boys climbed up in 1 the lookout but I felt too tired and

weak. I had‘been sick a few days’ and had eaten np breakfast. But from the fort we walked on the sea wall back to our carriage. This wall is built of the corana and is about 10 feet high and 3 feet thick. We next went and ate our dinner. That is the first real meal I had eaten since leaving Rensselaer July sth. We were seated at a table where the sea breezes fanned us as we ate. After dinner we were driven to the south beach. To reach there we crossed the Matanzas river over a toll bridge. I felt so much better that I climbed to the top of Antassia light house. It is 165 feet high and contains 230 steps- We got a splendid view from its top. We had a good view of a modern battery containing two 8 inch guns and some-smaller ones. It was here where we visited the quarries and here we gathered our shells by the sea shore. On the way to the depot we visited several curiosity stores aud we had much trouble to keep from spending all our money. We had a short rest before our train came and whirled us into Jacksonville. We were just in time to catch our train to camp and in a few minutes were answering questions for our comrades. Very Respectfully, Wilbur Tharp,