Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
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vVilkinson deserves to go down in the history of America in close com- pany with such famous prevaricators as Hennepin and La Hontan," 17 and he could have added the unfortunate Indian guide of Coronado, the Turk, who paid with his life for his many lies regarding Quivira. Wilkinson, who appears to have been a natural-born inventor of tales and who could have written perhaps interesting stories, was examined first in Havana and then in Veracruz by Admiral Navarro, who sent him on to Mexico to be further questioned by the viceroy. On November 21 , 1687, before a group of distinguished officials, among them Pez and Barroto, he was carefully interrogated. His story had so many discrep- ancies with his former declarations, that the Spaniards were truly con- fused. The prisoner was urged to tell the whole truth, being assured that he had nothing to fear. Feeling more at ease, he proceeded to give the 11ost minute details concerning an imaginary French settlement, as was ·1own later. Briefly, his story was that he was a native of Newcastle, England; .hat during the last twenty-five years he had resided in Jamaica; that in June, 1685, he had sailed on a French vessel from one of the islands of the West Indies that put in at Jamaica; that while there he had learned the ship had been sent by the governor of Petit Gouave to warn a French settlement called St. Jean, located near the Bay of Espiritu Santo, that the Spaniards were planning an attack upon it. After staying in port for a few days, the ship had sailed into the Gulf of Mexico until it came to latitude 30°, where it had anchored at the mouth of a large river. Here a canoe drew near with three Indians and a Frenchman, who came on board and proved to be an old friend of Wilkinson called La Fleur. In company with the Frenchman, the captain of the ship and Wilkinson had then gone up the river in the canoe for about thirty leagues until they came to a strongly fortified town. He described the fortifications in detail, saying that there was a fort of twenty-two guns, garrisoned by fifty or sixty men; that a short distance from the fort was a redoubt of eleven guns; and that the wharf was protected by nine cannons. About four hundred persons lived in the town, but in its vicinity there were many plantations, and he estimated the total number of settlers at one thousand souls. He then declared that he had remained in the place for six months. ·During his stay he had met a comely young widow, and falling in love with her, he had married her. Having decided to settle down after his
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17 Dunn, Spanisli and French Rivalry, 81.
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