| Show j Mystery of Lost Colony Recalled by Ancient Puzzle Touched by Fetes in North Carolina Manteo N. N C. C C.-As C. As a fitting tribute r I to the first English settlement in inthis inthis inthis this country on Roanoke island North Carolina in the year 1587 under the sponsorship of Sir Walter Raleigh a series of celebrations was held on the island this summer The idea is to commemorate the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary anniversary sary of the founding of the colony On August 17 was observed the three hundred and fiftieth I which letters presently we knew to signify the place where I should find the planters colonists seated according to a secret token agreed upon between them and me at my departure from them which was that in any way they should not fall fail fail to write or carve on a tree or posts posts of the doors the name of the place where they should be seated for forat forat forat at my coming they were prepared to remove from Roanoke 50 miles into the main mainland Found No Signs Therefore at my departure from them Anno Anna 1587 I willed them that if they should happen to be dis dis- distressed distressed dis- dis distressed in any of those places they should carve over the letters or name across in this form But we found no sign of distress And having well considered of this we passed toward the place where they were left in in sundry houses but we found the houses tak tak- taken taken taken en down and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisade of great trees with curtains and flankers Hankers and very and one of the chief trees or posts at the th right side of the entrance had the th bark taken off oil and five feet from the ground in fair capital letters was graven without any cross or sign of distress A growth of ot weeds indicated that two taro seasons had passed since the departure of the colonists Sir Walter Waller Raleigh dispatched five rescue expeditions but none was successful sary of ot the birthday of ot Virginia Dare the first child born of Eng Eng- English English lish parents in hi America three Thirty-three years before the Pil Pil- Pilgrims Pilgrims Pilgrims grims landed on Plymouth rock and 20 years before Jamestown was settled the men 12 women and I 9 children who formed the first Eng Eng- English lish colony in America settled on Roanoke island This was in July 1587 Colony Disappears On August 27 1587 Gov John White who headed the expedition bade farewell to his companions and to his old nine-day-old granddaughter ter Virginia Dare and sailed to England for supplies Upon his re re- return re- re return turn four years later the colony had completely disappeared the only traces left being a few broken pieces of ot armor and the word carved on a tree What happened to Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony is a mystery which for centuries has baffled historians Many explanations and legends have risen Did the colonists intermarry with the Indians and are their descend descend- descendants descendants ants living in North Carolina to to- today today day Was the colony exterminated by the Spaniards Were the settlers set set- settlers massacred by the Indians No None Noone one ene ne knows for sure Governor White himself told the story of his return to the island in 1591 Upon this story are based all accounts of ot what happened We returned he said round roundabout roundabout roundabout about the north point of the island until we came to the place where I left our colony In all this way we saw in the sand the print of the savages savage's feet leet of two or three sorts trodden in the night and as we entered upon the sandy banks upon a tree the very brow thereof were curiously carved t I these fair Roman letters C. C R. R O. O 3 |
