The Roanoke Times

Relics of Lafitte, the Famous Buccaneer.

Fishermen in Galveston bay, near Virginia point, recently discovered at low tide two old cannons, which were found to be made of copper mixed with small quantities of silver. The two pieces are of same make and weigh about 750 pounds each, and both bear the inscription, "Santa Fe Bogota, June 13, 1788." One is stamped "El Cruel" and the other "El Fuerte." There seems to be no doubt that these guns once formed a portion of the armament of one of Lafitte's vessels, for it is a well known fact that in 1818, while that pirate chief held possession of Galveston island, a terrible hurricane swept over the place, driving four of his schooners ashore on Virginia point, where they were afterward burned by savages, and drowning the greater portion of their crews. During Lafitte's occupation the island was a regular slave mart, thousands of Africans being taken from Spanish slavers by the privateers of the freebooter. The average price of a healthy negro was $1 a pound. These negroes were run into Louisiana by land, where they were sold to planters, the celebrated Bowie family being engaged in this business, by which they amassed thousands of dollars.