| TRAVELS OF DURSMIRG VOLUME IV THE ROGUES OF ST. AUGUSTINE AND OTHER SOCIAL MISFITS Chapter 4 |
Chapter 4 MY CYNICAL VIEW
My cynical view of what happened to the “Sunshine State”.
I present my slanted and skewed view of St. Augustine history here beginning with the indigenous population that
over several millenniums virtually had a near zero impact upon the ecology and lived in balanced harmony with
nature.
Next I bring the reader into the fanatical world of the Spanish Inquisition that forever after altered all of the Americas.
European colonization dealt America a heavy hand bent on the annihilation of the indigenous and plunder of all its
resources under the yoke of slavery.
The 20th century and the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were slow to impact Florida but Henry Flagler opened the
flood gate that brought the first inundation of flimflam skim-scam land grabbing shysters to hype speculation fever
into the 1920s land-bubble that blew up and busted two years ahead of the Great Depression of 1929.
Just like osmosis, Ed Ball backed by the DuPont family fortune stepped in like a Florida vulture to pick the bones of
dying enterprises.
Political push and shove played big-stakes power grabbing to the hilt with Claude Pepper and Ed Ball going for the
juggler in a real life Monopoly game using railroads, banks, hotels and land-grabs.
Little old St. Augustine was caught in the cross-hairs of time and became collateral damage to it all.
Bloody race riots, war protesters, Arab oil embargos and drop-out spaced-out, pot-smoking free-loving peace-nicks
were all part of St. Augustine’s rogues and social misfits.
go to chapter 5
My cynical view of what happened to the “Sunshine State”.
I present my slanted and skewed view of St. Augustine history here beginning with the indigenous population that
over several millenniums virtually had a near zero impact upon the ecology and lived in balanced harmony with
nature.
Next I bring the reader into the fanatical world of the Spanish Inquisition that forever after altered all of the Americas.
European colonization dealt America a heavy hand bent on the annihilation of the indigenous and plunder of all its
resources under the yoke of slavery.
The 20th century and the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were slow to impact Florida but Henry Flagler opened the
flood gate that brought the first inundation of flimflam skim-scam land grabbing shysters to hype speculation fever
into the 1920s land-bubble that blew up and busted two years ahead of the Great Depression of 1929.
Just like osmosis, Ed Ball backed by the DuPont family fortune stepped in like a Florida vulture to pick the bones of
dying enterprises.
Political push and shove played big-stakes power grabbing to the hilt with Claude Pepper and Ed Ball going for the
juggler in a real life Monopoly game using railroads, banks, hotels and land-grabs.
Little old St. Augustine was caught in the cross-hairs of time and became collateral damage to it all.
Bloody race riots, war protesters, Arab oil embargos and drop-out spaced-out, pot-smoking free-loving peace-nicks
were all part of St. Augustine’s rogues and social misfits.
go to chapter 5
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