OCR Text |
Show MOMM fffi I on f & E.W.PICKABJJWV C- Lu I. . .'4: "V:W ;- Panama. R. P. It la not given to many men to destroy a city so utterly that It Is never rebuilt That Is what Capt. John Morgan, the master buccaneer, buc-caneer, did In 1671, when he led bis band of cutthroats down from the hills upon Panama. After he had finished fin-ished with that big, flourishing city there was so little left of It that the Spanish moved five miles west along the coast and there built a new Panamathe Pan-amathe Panama we know today. The story of Morgan's Justly famous exploit, often told, never grows stale. It is a wonderful story of desperate bravery, endursnce, suffering and ruthless ruth-less cruelty, and as John Esquemellng was the first to relate It In detail, so he bas been the best. Howard Pyl has well said: "In the case of the Esquemellng history. It should be decidedly de-cidedly hands off. One touch of the modern brush would destroy the whole tone ot dim colors of the past made misty by the lapse of time." So I wish I bad space to quote the entire en-tire story of Morgan and Panama as Esquemellng, who was one of the band, tells It Some of It, at least, must be given In his quaint language, beginning with the capture by a part of Morgan's Pact of Fort San Lorento at the mouth of the Chagres river. Bay Esquemellng: . "Captain Hrod?ly being made commander, com-mander, in three days after his departure de-parture (from St Catherine's) arrived ar-rived In sight of the said castle of Chagre, by the Spaniards called St. Lawrence. This caatle is built on a high mountain at the entry of the liver, surrounded by strong palllsades, or wooden walls, filled with earth, which secures them as well as the best wall of stone or brick. The top of this mountain Is, In a manner, divided di-vided Into two parts, between which Is a ditch thirty feet deep. The castle bath but one entry, and that by a drawbridge over this ditch. To the kBl"d it has four bastions, and to the two more. The south part is to- pi,y Inaccessible, through the crsggl-. crsggl-. is ol the , mountain, t The north Is Xiarrounded by the river, which here Is Very broad. At the foot of the castle, or rather mountain, is a strong fort, with Vlght great guns, commanding jthe entry of the river. Not much lower low-er are two other batteries, each of six pieces, to defend likewise the mouth of the river. . . . "No sooner had the Spaniards per celved the pirates, but they fired Incessantly In-cessantly at them wltb the biggest of their guns. They came to an anchor In a small port about a league from tha castle. Next morning, very early, they went ashore and marched through the woods to attack the castle on that side. This march lasted tilt two of the clock In tbe afternoon, before be-fore they could reach tbe castle, by reason of the difficulties of the way, anl Its mire and Clrt ; and though their guides served them "very exactly, exact-ly, yet tbey came so nigh the castle at first that they lost many of their men by Its shot, they being In an open place without covert" The pirates bravely assaulted the I castle, sword In one hand and fireball fire-ball In tbe other, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Renewing the attack at-tack under cover of darkness, "there happened a very remarkable accident which occasioned their victory. One of the pirates being wounded with an arrow In his back, which pierced his body through, he pulled it out boldly at the side of bis breast, and winding a little cotton about It, he put it Into bla musket, and shot It back to the castle, but the cotton being kindled by tbe powder, fired two or three houses In the castle, being thatched with palm leaves, which the Spaniards perceived not so soon aa was necessary; for this fire meeting with a parcel of powder, blew It up. thereby causing great ruin, and no less consternation to the Spaniards, who were not able to put a stop to It" Full advantsge was taken of this by the buccaneers, and they set fir to tbe palings and gained a foothold within them, despite "many flaming pots full of combustible matter, and sdtous smells, which destroyed many sf the English." .All next morning the fight raged, but about noon the English gained ' a breach through which they fought their way to the aeart or tbe castle. "Tbe Spaniards who remained alive cast themselves Iowa from the cast Into the sea, :booslng rather to die thus (few or sone surviving the fall) than to ask luarter fcr their Uvea. The governor ilmeelf retreated to the corps du ruard. before which were placed two pieces of cannon; here he still defended de-fended himself, not demanding any luarter. till he was killed with a mus-tet mus-tet shot la the heed." In a few days Captain Morgan ar ived with the rest of his fleet and or tanlsel the expedition against Pana-na. Pana-na. He took his men by boat up the Thagres aa far as Cracea, bow a vll-ag vll-ag not two miles from tha canal and her lande! them for the overland arch. Leaving 10 xnea with Um boats, be started through the Jungle with about a thousand. For days they struggled on, suffering intensely for lack of food, for the Spaniards and Indians had destroyed the villages and crops along the way. At one point they found a number of leathern bags, and "made a huge banquet" upon them. At another a few sacks ot meal, some plantains and several Jars cf wine were discovered In a cave. On tbe sixth day after leaving Cruces "ascending a high mountain, they discovered dis-covered the South sea. This happy sight as If It were tha end of tbelr labors, caused Inflnjte Joy among them." Then they came to a vale, where they found plenty of cattle, and their period of starvation came to ail end with a monstrous feast. "Cutting the flesh Into convenient pieces or gobbets, they threw them into the fire and, half carbonaded or roasted, they devoured them, with incredible haste and appetite; such waa their hunger, as they more resembled cannibals than Europeans; tbe blood many times running run-ning down their beards to their waists." That evening tbe pirate band came In sight of Panama, and pitched tbelr camp, which was ineffectually bombarded bom-barded all night by the guns of the elty. Next day Captain Morgan led bis thousand bold mm down tbe hillside and confronted tLe forces of the governor gov-ernor of Panama, consisting of two squadrons of horse, four regiments of foot and a huge number of wild bulls driven by Indians. The Spaniards began be-gan the battle, but their horse were useless, owing to the' softness of the ground. Tbe foot were held In check by tbe fire of the pirates, so the wild bulls were driven forward but, frightened fright-ened by the noise of the conflict, the animals ran away. After two hours of fighting the surviving Spaniards fled within the city walls. Six hundred hun-dred of their comrades lay dead upon the field. Morgan at once attacked r t '-i & ' 7V4 '.: A, L nj -rA'&P&rt VJ "Morgan's Tower," Old Panama. the city, and though the defense was desperate, many of the pirates being killed, Panama fell within three hours. What Morgan did to tbe devoted inhabitants in-habitants In tbe effort to find all their bidden treasure is too horrible to relate. re-late. Soon after tbe capture of the city fire broke out in many quartertJ and Esquemellng says the conflagrip tion was started by Morgan, though he laid the blame on tbe Spaniards. Anyway, as tbe bouses were almost all built of cedar, the entire city waa soon consumed by flames. Some three weeks later "Captain Morgan departed from Panama, or rather from the place where the city of Panama stood; ot the spoils whereof be carried away with him 17S beasts of carriage laden with silver, gold and other .precious things, besides about six hundred prisoners, pris-oners, men, women, children and slaves." Of old Panama naught remains but the ruins of the cathedral, the tower of St Stanislaus' church and the fragments frag-ments of a few other stone and brick structures. For more than two ceo-; ceo-; ies they have, been burled la the Jungle, but are now being brought to view by the e Torts of tbe Panama government, which la having the on-tfergrowth on-tfergrowth cleared away from the rulna ' The visitor to tha Isthmus should not fall to make the trip down tbe Chagres from Gatuo to the sea, reversing re-versing Morgan's route. The scenery alocg the river la beautiful, and the great stretch of ocean beach clean, bard, green and purple sand over which Immense breakers roll Is Ideal for bathing. The massive walls of Fort Saa Lorento Lor-ento still stand on tbe hill at tbe mouth of the Chagres. and the heaps of cannon balls left by the Spaniards are yet there. la tbe dungeons of tbe castle are piles of mated Irons the fetters which tbey hoped to fasten oa the bodies aad limb of Morgan aad his bBcca&sMsrm. |