THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: FEBRUARY 17, 1907.
Carpenter Describes Odd Convict Settlement on Coast of Morocco
'.""V-:.
" it
0 it mc:,
MB
....... ... - . . .
w I1
liiJ
mm-
MR. CARPENTE1R AND A MELIL.LA JEW.
M
(Copyright. 1307, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
iBLILLtA, Spanish North Africa,
Feb. 14. (Special Ctirepondenoo
of Tlie Be.) I ani In what 1
about the last of Bpaln'a colonial
poBsemilona. In the sixteenth
aim evonteenth centurlea It owned the beat
part of the new world. It had the cream
of North America, If we Include the Ixiuls-'
lana purchase, which we got by way of
France, and It had almost the whole of
Bouth America excepting Brazil. The beat
of the West Indiea waa Its. Cortei poured
the treasurea of Montezuma Into lta royal
coffers, and Plzarro, shoeing his horaea
with solid silver, robbed the Incaa of
Peru of their gold by the ahlploud. The
Philippines added to these sources of
wealth, and for a Jong time two great
golden streams rolled across the Atlantlo
and Pacific to benefit the Spaniards. Spain
waa then the richest of all the powers in
Its colonial possessions. Today by mis
management and oppression It has become
the poorest, and since Us war with us,
'when It lost Cuba, Porto Rioo and the
Philippines, there have been none so poor
to do It reverence.
Spanish Africa.
Indeed, all tne land which Spain has left
outside Its own boundaries is In Africa,
and even here its possessions are the rag
tag and bob-tall of the continent. They
may cover perhaps ttAi.Uu) or 300.W0 square
miles, but they are all desert, sand or
fever swamps, and the tillable lands suit
able for white men which they contain
are not as big as an Ohio county, and
their total population - will hardly equal
that of Washington city.
In contrast with this the other great
powers of Kurope have been quietly gob
bling up tho fat things of this mighty con
tinent. France has the biggest shore, if we
Include the Island of Madagascar. It has
almost 4,000 square miles, or more than
one-third of ail Africa. A vat deal of its
tsrrltory, however, is in the Desert of
Sahara; It is made up of stone and sand
which might form good building materials,
but which ore of no value where they lie.
Great Britain comes next among the na
tional land owners. . It has close to an
other third of. the continent. If WA Mil:
convicts. They contain murderera, burglars
and political exiles.
Spanish Military Prison.
Melllla itself is a Spanish military prison.
There are 8.000 soldiers stationed here, and
large number of them have come aa pun
ishment for desertion, crime and for vari
oua transgressions of military discipline. I
cannot Imagine a worse place. It makea
one think of the Inscription over the door
of Dante's hell, which reads:
"All hope abandon ye who enter here."
The town is built lipon a great bluff
Which runs out Into the sea. There are
thirsty hills all about, each with a great
white round fort upon it, and large iron
barred barracks In and about the city.
Outside these large buildings the houses
are one and two-story structures of brick
and stucco, painted all colors of the rain
bow. They are built Spanish fashion in
blocks, and the Iron-barred windows are
as prison-like as their surroundings.
The Inhabitants are chiefly Spanish Jews
and motley Moors. The Jews have little
tores In the town, and the Moors have
bncArs Just Inside the walls, where ech
turbaned merchant stands In a sort of a
hole, with his goods piled around him.
There is a Moorish encampment nearby,
and there Is quite a caravan trade with all
western and southern Morocco.
Stoned by the Spaniards.
I have not foilnd the natives here any
too friendly, and I am clad to be back on
the little steamship Emir, far out in the
harbor, where I am writing this letter.
When we landed and showed our passports
describing us as Americans the soldiers
scowled and were none too. pleasant, al
though I succeeded In getting some excel
lent photographs of them during my stay.
In the town it became known that we were
Americans and the boys and men gath
ered around us with no friendly air. One
of them threw a rock and narrowly escaped
hitting me. As It was, It struck the door
handle and bent It. Our coachman Jumped
down and ran after the boy. but we con
cluded not to give the offender over to the
police, and Indeed were rather glad when
we were safe out of the town.
A Land of Pirates.
It seems odd to think of pirates carrying
on their trade in this twentieth century,
but that Is a regular business with certain
STREET SCENE IN MKI.ILtA.
of the tribes of the Rift mountains near
here. They do not go out with large ships
and attack the vessels of the Mediter
ranean, as they did at the beginning of
the last century, but they rob and some
times kill the sailors of the smaller craft
when tho bad seas drive them upon the
shore. Not long ago the whole of Morocco
whs filled with pirates, and there were
pirates all the way from the Strait of
Gibraltar to Tripoli. Just before entering
the strait one sees on the north coast the
town of Tarlfa, with its old Moorish forts,
from where the Moors swooped down upbn
all vesrels going through the strait and
made them nay tribute. From that town
and custom came our word "tariff." ,
About that same time the Moors of Mo
rocco and Algeria were preying on all the
commerce of the Mediterranean, and nearly
every great nation submitted to their ex
actions. We did so for a time, but In ISIS
we declared war upon these pirates and
were the first to bring them to time. We
had trouble with the dey of Algiers, and
sent Commodore Decatur over to tell him
that Americans would, pay him tribute jio
longer. Tho dey insisted until Decatur
.pointed his guns at the city . of Algiers,
when he began to weaken. lie' then sent
out word to our commodore suggesting that
if he would pretend to storm the town,
using powder only, the tribute might be
omitted. Commodore Decatur replied that
cannon bulls always went With American
powder and that if the dey received th
one he must take the other. Soon after
ward Decatur captured some of the Al-
gerijn ships, and the dey finally had to
pay him damages to the amount of about
WO.ono and to conclude a treaty which re
nounced all tribute from Americans for the
future.
At this time they not only seized the
shlf. but they enslaved their ' captives.
Captain John Smith served as such a slave,
Shortly after our refusal to pay tribute
the EnRlish did likewise and bombarded
Algiers. Tho French followed In a war
with the pirates, and In 1830 they threw
the dey from his throne and captured
110,000.000 of gold and silver which Ihey
found in his treasury.
Blinded for stealing;.
I saw a blind beggar golna- through the
streets here this morning. His eyes had
been burned out with red hot pokers by one
of the Berber chiefs of the mountains near
by, and he presented a horrible sight. 1
am told that this was done as a punish
ment for stealing, and that it is not un
common in certain parts cf Morocco. At
the first theft the man's hand is cut off
and at the second his eyes are burned out.
Sometimes' a foot is also cut oft, after
which the thief must move about upon
crutches with a boy to lead him.
1 During my stay in Tangier I rode one
day (Out into the country and made some
photographs of a villnge which hud taken
summary vengeance upon an under official
'Who had been unjust and oppressive in
collecting taxes for the basha who htlJ
office prior to the present governor. This
official was caught as he passed through
, . . i ' if.-,-' 1 '
SPANISH CUSTOMS OFFICETt.
the village and his eyes were burned out.
That was not long ago, and it shows that
such crimes are still possible In this land
of Morocco.
Salted to Death.
About the only reason why things are not
In a worse condition than they are now Is
the mildness of the present sultan. He is
more of a boy than anything else, and he
tends to western ways in that he Is not at
all bloodthirsty. His father, Mulol Harsan,
was Just the reverse, and he had seme pun
ishments which were horrible to an extreme.
One of these might be called "salting to
death." It consisted of cutting four great
gashes out of the palms of the hands of the
offender and of filling them with salt The
fingers were then bent Inward and fitted
tightly into the holes or cuts. After that
each hand waa sewed up in green raw-
Features of Abraham Lincoln's Life in Indiana
B
iOONVILOJS, Ind., Feb. 16.-Ths
ninety-eighth anniversary of
Abraham Lincoln's birth occurred
on February 12. To the people ot
Kentucky, Indiana and 'Illinois
t....w uite Is of special significance, for each
of these states waa In turn Lincoln's home.
It Is often stated that Lincoln was born
In Hardin county, Kentucky. In fact, he
was born in Larue county, which, however,
Is a subdivision of Hardin county. It Is
also stated commonly that the family, in
cluding bis father, his mother and a sister,
came to Indiana and entered claim to a
piece of land In Spencef county. The fact
is that the piece of land, then in Warrick
county, is Included In the region whlon has
since been set aside and named Spenoer
county.
It was in 18111 that the family came to
the Indiana side, the same yesr that In
diana was admitted to the union aa a
state. The family entered a quarter sec
tion of land and built a log cabin, and
Lincoln lived there until 1830.
Thomas Lincoln, father of Abraham Lin-
slder Egypt and its Soudan as a part of Its co,n w" m poor "cumstances. He was
possessions. Germany has not aulte one-
eleventh of the whole, and Portugal al
most one-thirteenth, while Turkey itself.
In Tripoli, has about aa much land aa
Spain.
What Rpalns Owns..
Before I describe this God-forsaken spot
where I now am I would like to tell you
Just what Spam has in Africa. It owns
the island of Fernando Po and a small
tract on the mainland on the Gulf of
Guinea. Its country there contains, I be
lieve, about 9,000 square miles, or a little
more than the state if Massachusetts. The
land Is swampy and so unhealthful that it
has become known as the. "White Man's
Grave." It Is covered with a luxuriant veg
etation and produces some India rubber
and palm oil. The only foreigners there
are a few Spanish, French and English
merchants. The natives are among the
most degraded of the Africans. They are
negroes of the lowest type, and slavery is
common. Fernando Po itself has convict
settlements, and the criminals sent there
seldom return.
North of the Gulf of Guinea, between Mo
rocco and the French Soudan, Spain has a
wide strip of land which is ruled by the
governor of the Canary Islands. It stretches
for several hundred miles along the At
lantic coast, but It is one of the worst parts
of the whole desert ot Sahara. It has no
rivers nor any oases cf value, and Is very
thinly populated. It begins in the neigh
borhood of Cape Blanco, and its chief town
Is Puo de Oro, which is golden only In name.
Convict Colonies of Mediterranean.
In addition to these possession, Spain has
several convict colonlea on the Morocean
coast of the Mediterranean aea. The first
Is Ceuta, Just across the way from Gibral
tar. I passed It on my way to Tangier. It
can be reached from Algeclras by a gov
ernment steamer which takes over dis
patches and mall every day. It consists of
a rock on which the town stands and where
the fortifications and prisons are. It now
has about 1. 000 convicts, who are poorly
fed and hadly treated.
Ceuta is one of the oldest towns In his
tory. It is the Heptadelphl of Ptolemy and
Is supposed to ba one of the first three
cities of the world. The others were Saler
num In Italy and Salem In Judea.
This place was where the Moor em
barked when tbey first crossed over from
Africa to Invade Spain, many . centuries
ago- They hold all the country about it
' today, and they still so dislike the Span
lards that It is Impossible for the Ceuta
people to go bark Into the country unless
accompanied by soldiers. The mountains
a carpenter and farmer. When Lincoln
very limited, though he borrowed every
book he could get. The list is a short one,
and the following books Include most of
those available: "Robinson Crusoe,"
Aesop's Fables, Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress," Weems' "Lit of Washington"
and a history of the United States. Dur
ing his life in Indiana he read and reread
these books over and over again.
Having read all the books in and around
Boonville, Lincoln heard ot the court at
Boonvlllt. He resolved to go to that place,
twenty miles distant, and learn what he
could ot law practice. The court house in
Boonville, then a village of less than 300
Inhabitants, stood on the site of the present
building.
It was a frame building. A ditch two
feet wide and two feet deep waa filled
with smoothly hewn logs, on which was
built a stone wall eighteen Inches high.
Thla constituted the foundation upon which
the building rested.
The building was never completed. It
waa weatherboarded, but neither lathed nor
plastered. It remained In this condition
until 1S36, after the Lincoln family had
moved to Illinois. It waa capable Of hold-
In the summer. At night cattle would seek Boonville on a farm. His homestead still room rose to congratulate him and Lin-
shelter under the structure. ' ,v $ stands, and though a century old has been coin was among the number.
came to Indiana he waa Juat 7, and, re- lag only 100 people and could not be used
Such waa the structure where Lincoln
received his first practice In law. i
It waa to attend court In thia building
that he walked twenty miles through a
wilderness between Lincoln City and Boon
ville. From this fact the little town of
Boonville claims the distinction of fur
nishing to him material that aided in bis
after suocess.
John A. Brackenridge, then the ablest
lawyer In southern Indiana and a prac
titioner In the court of Boonville, noticed
the eagerness and the earnestness of this
young man In the Boonville court room.
He Inquired into his purposes and from
what part ot the country ha hailed.
He found by conversing with him that
he wss a reader of books, was interested In
law and even had dome hankering to study
It some day.
Accordingly Mr. Brackenridge Invited the
young man to hla home to stay all night.
He also told film that be had aome booka
of Interest to beginners, and that he would
only be too glad to lend them to him to
read.
Brackenridge lived three miles west ot
used as a tenant's house until very re
cently.
In his office he bad what was at that
time the best library in southern Indiana.
The room la but eight by ten feet, and
being pressed for room, Mr. Brackenridge
had bis books placed upon shelves above
two window ot his room. When Lincoln
first saw the library he was astonished at
so great a collection of books, for nowhere
In southern Indiana waa there a almllar
library. The first night he spent In thla
houae Lincoln aat up till midnight before
the open fireplace reading by the glare of
the burning log.
Many daya after thla found Lincoln at
tending court at Boonville. He spent many
nights reading books In the library of
Lincoln pushed his long,' slender frame
through the crowd up to the speaker, who
was being congratulated upon all sides by
the prominent men present. Lincoln
stretched out his hand as a token of. bis
appreciation of the lawyer's effort before
the Jury only to have It brushed aside by
Mr. Brackenridge.
Lincoln was hurt by this and always re
membered the name Brackenridge. Sev
eral years afterward at the Inauguration
of Lincoln Mr. Brackenridge was among
those who came 'to congratulate him.
Recognising the man who snuffed him at
the Boonville court several years before,
Lincoln grasped the man's hand with' a
hearty shake and said:
"I am more glad to see you than any
other man I know of. I have always
Brackenridge. The latter showed deep In- wanted to congratulate you on that speeoh
terest In htm and did all ha could to fur
ther the education ot Mr. Lincoln as a
lawyer.
The greater part ot the Brackenridge
library is still In existence. The books are
owned by various lawyers In Boonville and
are valued highly. Some of them have
you made at Boonville several years ago.
Shortly after the aasasinatlon of Abra
ham Lincoln a pionlc party from the little
town of Dale went up to Lincoln City and
to the Lincoln farm and spent the day
there. The Lincoln cabin was still stand
ing, and but a short distance up the hill
side was a small marble slab that marked
the spot where the mother of Abraham
Lincoln was burled.
While there the picnickers went through
the house where Lincoln saw his mother
pass away and from which he returned to
Kentucky to get a minister to bury his
mother. A few relica were found, among
them being an old knot maul and an old
fashioned mouldboard plow, both of which
bad been left there when the Lincoln
moved to Illinois.
The old plow was brought outside and
an old man named Gabriel Medcalf stood
between the handles while one of the party
made a sketch of the cabin. The sketch
Is here reproduced. The old man carrying
the pole was Joseph P. Haines, better
known as Un;le Porter Haines.
Emma T. Williams of Dale, Ind.,' a grand
daughter of Dave Tumlhan, the old con
stable of Lincoln City, who permitted Abra-
port. Its county seat, a publlo library of
nearby are controlled now, I believe, by several hundred volumes of the standard
the bands of RaisoulL works of thst day. ' Thomas Lincoln and
Mell'.'a. where I write this letter. Is an- Abraham Lincoln were in Rockpnrt at
other of Spain's convict settlements. It least twice during the year, but the name
lies on the Mediterranean several hundred
miles east ot Ceuta and about thirty-six
hours by steamer across the way from
Malaga. There are also several Islands
ear bare whkxh are used to cagw Spanish
f : v IV r.. itvt-- i
f if -' :v " -rive--i a vtr?'- v.".v.
" V i v. - - , , - j
; y vtrT:."," - ::.r-r-i', Tg", :.'A aw wiRtttcrc Covtcrr Covr House ff iz.ee rv yo,,
cot Sr&fJV &fHovrtS r?GtxiA
malnlng tn Indiana until 1830. ho spent
fourteen years of his life In this state.
Lincoln in Indiana saw hardships, had
meager clothing, coarse food and no ad
vantages in tbs way of securing an educa
tion. All that knew him agreed that he
waa unlike other boys. He was not fully
understood.
He was not fond of work, but whether
from lasiness or because lie was fonder ot
mental exercise in reading or otherwise is
not clear. He enjoyed books and Is known
to have borrowed much of the reading
matter of the neighborhood.
After 1KM Spencer county had, at Rock-
ot Abraham Lincoln does not appear on
record as a borrower ot books at the
library. (
The field from which Abraban. could
glctio knowledg la that nelgtbcrhood waa
markings supposed to have bet-n made by ham Lincoln to read his copy of the re-
Llncoln. Among those which have mark
ings and were read by him are ths follow
ing: Locke's "ISesays," Brackenrldge's
"Law Miscellanies," containing an intro
duction to the study of law; Coke's "In
stitutes Abridged," Blackstone's "Commen
taries." Upon ne occasion Lincoln attended a
murder trial at Boonville and beard the
case from beginning to end. The trial
seemed interesting to him, but the niofct
exciting feature of the case wss the argu
ment before the Jury.
The most eloquent plea was made by a
Kentucky lawyer named Brackenridge, a
relative of John A. Brackenridge of In
61aua Aits hla argument the whola oourt
vised statutes, has the original picture ot
this cabin. The cabin was torn down some
months ago, but the old cedar tree still
stands, ard Is ths only landmark that
locates definitely the exact place where the
Lincoln cabin stood.
The Nancy Hanks Lincoln monument,
erected to the memory ot ths mother of
Abraham Lincoln. Is near this place. The
school house of Lincoln City stands upon
the epot where the cabin stood, but every
boy knows the tree.
So fat ss Is known there still remains
in Spencer county but one man who knew
Abraham Lincoln when he was a boy.
This Is Redmond Griggsby, who Uvea In
Cbnsney. Ha la now Wk
hide, which shrank as It dried, causing ter
rible pain. In some cases the rawhide waa
sprinkled with lemon Juloe, which It Is said,
rapidly accelerated the . shrinking of the
hide, often forcing the finger nials clear
through the palm and out of the back ot
the hand. After thla the criminal was
taken to Jail and left without water. Tho
torturo was such that he usually died with
in a few daya
1
Knarllsh Tired of Gibraltar.
Speaking of Spain, I understand that
there la a bare possibility that it may
some day again have possesssion of Gibral
tar, and thus regain its old stepping stone
to Africa. The English are said to be tired
of spending money upon the fortifications
there and that especially since a commis
sion of Parliament has reported that the
place, as far as the Atlantic side is con
cerned, is practically defenseless as a naval
base, and that it would not be of great
good In time of war. England has already
spent upon these fortifications about JS0,
000,000, which is almost as much as we will
spend upon the Panama canaL In 1804 tho
military expenses of Gibraltar amounted
to more than $2,000,000, and costly Improve
ments in tfte way of new docks and
large coaling Island are now being made.
These new works are all on tho side of tba
rock facing tho Atlantlo ooean. It Is there
that ths town of Gibraltar lies and there
also are the bay and the landing places for
ships. .
I spent some time at Gibraltar on my
way to Morocco, and had a good chancsj to
Inspect the outside ot the fortifications and
the new improvements. A deep harbor ot
280 acres is being formed and about M
acres of wster area has been real aimed fos
a new dock yard. The largest of the naval
war vessels can be dry docked there and
the harbor is big enough for tho whose
British Atlantic fleet.
Eighty Miles of Tnnnela.
The rock of Gibraltar lies at the end of
a narrow neck of land which connects' 11
with the Spanish peninsula. One could
walk across this neck in a few minutes.
The town of Gibraltar, which contains
aomethlng like 30,000 people, la situated upon
it, and its houses extend from It along
the lower sides of the rock Itself.
This rock Is a glirantlc piece of solid lime
stone, which risei almost straight from tho
water on the side facing the Mediterranean
sea to a height almost as great as that of
the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. If
you could put two Washington monuments,
one on the top of the other, and on the '
top of these a spire as tall as the domo of
- the capltol, you have Just about the height
of Gibraltar. The rock Is about three miles
long and less than a mile wide at lta widest
part.
As one approaches it from the sea on
sees many port holes here and there along
the sides. They come from the tunnels
within. The whole rock has been tunneled.
It has eighty milus of gallflies burrowed
through it and It is a honeycomb of cham
bers. The fortifications have, of course,
the finest of modern guns and other war
machinery. Only a few parts of them are
shown to visitors, and only the British sol
diers and War office know Just how the
works are constructed and defended. There
are undoubtedly some big twelve-Inch guns
and some which could probably land shot
In Africa across the way. The strait Is
something like twelve miles wide at that
point, and there are modern guns which
will shoot twelve or thirteen miles. Among
the guns known to be at Gibraltar are two
of loO tons each, so heavy that It would
take about 200 horses to haul one of them.
Those guns are each thirty-two feet long,
and each will throw a shot weighing a ton
a distance of eight miles.
Dogs as moaarlers.
Gibraltar is practically a free port, and
tobacco and everything else la cheaper
there than In Spain, which is only two milea
away across the Isthmus. The land be
tween Is called "the neutral ground," and
there Is now a high woven-wlre fence
across It, which Is guarded day and sight
by the Spanish custom officers. Tha fenct
was put up in order to prevent tobacc
being carried across without paying duty,
The smugglers had trained dogs to carry
parcels from one side to the other. The pup
soon learned that all men in uniform were
his enemies and he naturally gave them
a wide berth. The dogs were brought from
the Spanish side of Gibraltar and there
loaded with tobacco. They would start
boine on the run and no customs official
could get within a mile of them until this
fence was erected.
Hlh-Prlera Officials.
The British have now 6.000 soldier at
Gibraltar. The place la a crown colony
and it has a governor general, who Is also
commander-in-chief. In proportion to the
area which be rules the governor of
Olbraltar Is one of the best paid officials 00
earth. Hla principality covers about two
squars miles and his salary Is KS.G00 a
year. That Is half as much as President
Roosevelt gets, and he governs about
t.SoO.OOO square miles. If our preside t, waa
paid at the sums rate per squara tolls ha
would be receiving M6.CW0, 000,000 a yeac
V
1