HellPriest [3172068] Level 23
From the 21 newest archived posts.
Likes as archived at fetch time, adjusted for how long each post had been up. Scored posts only; the full score pass runs after the import.
Ever wanted to know the history of Torn? It's pretty colorful, pirates, privateers, underground railroad (and that's just the stuff from the founding up to the Civil war too!)
It's being posted on the Fun and Games board, just for fun
Enjoy!
PS: This is Torn, snark is a love language over here, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Torn City Desk (editorial queue)
After my call from Mr. Z ended I was ecstatic! I'd spoken with 2 founding families from Torn (which is extremely tough to do by itself), and a third one called and wanted to talk as well, in exchange for a job, of course! Wow! The founding families expected people to reach out to them, that was normal and a part of their life, but having one of them reach out to you?! That meant you had respect within the oldest families of Torn. For those new to Torn, respect is literally it's own currency. Valuable beyond measure and literally protected with life and limb. Unlike any other currency, once it was lost, it was lost forever, never to gained again no matter what!
So, when Mr. Z called and offered me assistance, I didn't care what the job was, he could ask me to shave my [Editors note: Don't EVER try to slide stuff like that past me again, or George's gonna have a job with YOU as the intended target, CAPISCE!!], I'd do it in a heartbeat! Needless to say, I did what he wanted me to do! Once Mr. Z. got word that the job was done, he called me again and advised that he was sending a driver for me, said driver would be there in 10 minutes.
Mr. Z's driver arrived and asked to do what I expected, get in and wear a blind fold. I did both and the car started up. I car drove for what seemed like hours, finally, the engine stopped and I was pulled out and walked inside (I could tell because the temperature went from hot and steamy (typical Torn weather) to cool and dry. I was sat down and the blindfold was removed. I was sitting in front of Mr. Z, who was sitting behind an executive's desk.
"So", he began, taking a drag of his genuine Cohiba "Mr X. told you about the founding of Torn, Mr. Y told you about privateering and the underground railroad, huh?" Without waiting , or really even asking for me to respond, he continued "Yep, they're right, it happened just that way!" He then stood up "I'm gonna tell you about the history after the Civil war." He beckoned me to follow him.
"Before I tell ya that, I got rules. One, you can't use my name, don't even describe me. You can't describe any part of this house. I get to read the article first, and anything I strike out can't be printed, got it?" he advised me. Of course I agreed!. He then brought me into a second room and began to tell me (and show me, where possible) what he knew.
Civil war and Beyond
While the Civil war was on-going, the underground railroad would send people their way. Once that war ended and Abraham Lincoln made his "emancipation proclamation" outlawing slavery, slavery ended, however, because of how slow communication was in that day and age, some towns got the news late, some people decided to recognize this as law and still tried to hold slaves, so the Underground railroad still operated, but it was more a trickle. Most wanted to stay in Torn, sure, but there were one or two that wanted to go back to
Africa and did sail back.
Eventually, the railroad ended and Torn went back to business as usual, as best it could (Editor's note: Nothing is ever 'business as usual' in Torn, but it gets close sometimes!).That's not to say that Torn did have somethings happen within it's borders, though. As more people came to call Torn home, there were disagreements, some of which got bloody or involved someone "disappearing suddenly, never to be seen or heard from again".
The town got together in a town meeting and decided that we needed to have laws to help settle disputes, not because we saw ourselves as law-abiding, heaven forbid! It was because we wanted to keep Torn out of the eyes of everyone else, and the best way to do this was to stop disputes before they got violent or bloody or both. We already had issues Mexico and Spain, whom we had to pay off well , to keep
their war out of our land. Spain and Mexico had been in conflict in one way or another since 1808 and all in Torn knew that Spain would loose as it was hard to govern anything that you that distant from.
So it was decided that we were going to have laws, and fortunately for us, we had two citizens that were well educated in the laws of their lands who decided to put their heads together and come up with laws for Torn. 11 months later Torn had it's laws. A set of courses was added to our school house to teach the laws to every citizen of Torn, again, not because we're good guys, but rather so that we wouldn't have
problems with people trying to get around them with claims that they were a "Sovereign citizen of _________ country" and because of that "the laws of Torn don't apply to me". Trust me, we had a few!
Also, it was decided that if a dispute needed to be settled, it would be in court. That court was a three-roomed courthouse , a court, a set of cells and a separate room for the sheriff and his deputies to watch over the prisoners. Believe it or not, this courtroom still exists in our jail, preserved as a museum! Also, it was decided that a judge would make the decision of guilt or innocence, and that judge was to speak with the lawyers only (those that went through the course had the right to apply as lawyers, and believe me, they grill the heck out of you during the examination, those that make it can be lawyers). Neither person on trial would be named or in any way identified to the judge, to assure the ruling was made because the judge had a grudge. The Judge would only be identified after the trial to make sure no one tried to pay them off. Also, they only were a judge for that case only. The next case went to another judge (Judge's , at least at that time, were randomly selected from the lawyers, and if their name was pulled and they agreed, their name would be out of the pool for the next case!).
That kept us out of view from the known world at the time. Mexico, more or less, knew about us but we paid them well, and occasionally, they would reach out to us with jobs that were a bit "too sensitive" for them to handle personally, but they were happy to tell us which ships, what needed to be raided and false flags for us to adorn our ships with. We would agree on a spit, in writing , and once that was done, do it for them. In fact, Torn history records just such a raid , in fact, Mr. Z had a record of this in the form of a letter written at the time
by the man who stated he was the captain of the ship that this occurred on.
"On Christmas morning, we departed at first light with a Spanish flag on our vessel (and an American flag, that we were to plant on the Vessel were headed to, to make it appear that America took it down). Just about all of my crew was selected for their ability to speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Our mission was to head to Cuba and raid the "Vizcaya", but not sink it, it was important that the American flag be easily seen by anyone.
We found her in Santiago de Cuba. She'd just docked and delivered coal and was looking to set out towards open sea. Remember, the United States has blocked one port and was steaming to this location so they needed to get out quick. We docked behind her and caught her captain enjoying a drink on the dock. We slit his throat, and tossed him into the bay for the sharks, then we undocked and started out to sea, but as we passed the Vizcaya, we shouted out in Spanish "El americano acaba de matar a tu capitán, ¡CORRE!" ("The American's just killed your captain, RUN!!").
They ran around like chickens with their head cut off, the first mate was inept and couldn't given them any kind of good instruction. It was like watching a comedy show, but in real life! Any rate, we took pity on the bastards and told 'em we had guns if they wanted (we knew they had one or two, and they didn't work). They wanted those! We gave 'em too, but ours were deliberately set to backfire. They'd kill whoever tried to fire them, and most of the people around them!
They took 'em , loaded 'em up and started to steam towards open sea. They encountered "The Brooklyn" from the United States and tried to fire on her, only to kill off a good 10 percent of the crew. The rest of them pretty much did likewise, in battle, you get "tunnel vision" and don't really pay attention to what's happening away from you, and by then, 80 percent of the crew were gone. At about 11:00 it looks like something from inside the ship blew the bow off (maybe a torpedo?) and this cause her to turn towards the shore and beach herself.
We switched our flag to a United States flag and came ashore and placed our flag on the ship and left traces that would implicate a United States Navy vessel called "The Brooklyn".
We looted anything of value and went back to the ship and went back home, the Mexican government got it's agreed upon cut and we got ours. first round was on Mexico! Ole!"
He also had letters from the first mate of that same ship as well as a few other members of his crew that back up this story.
After this, that war ran for about 8 months, then the war ended. For the next 21 years Torn citizen's lived their version of normal, fishing, the food and good markets, repairs and the occasional side jobs. However, right as the year 1900 hit, we began to hear about an opportunity in the United States. The "Anti-Saloon league".
To be sure, Torn had heard about the Anti-Saloon league, it had started in 1893, but we didn't think anything of it ,heck, alcohol was just about a way of life in Torn, we didn't think it would ever grow. However, it did and in 1900 it started to gain power, and towns started to
"dry up". There was some talk in Torn about supplying alcohol and making money off of it, but we had a problem, no way to get it to those towns without exposing Torn. The answer would come in the form of a certain "business man" on the run from the law.
In the winter on 1920, a certain "business man" found Torn, by pure chance, while running from the law in the United States. He actually told us that his organization has a "place he could go to for safety" but that he'd turned too soon and wound up in Torn. He told us he'd keep our location quiet, then he walked around just to see what the town had to offer. It just so happened that we were having our town hall meeting (at this point, it had moved into the auditorium of the school).
He said he had contacts in the states and he'd be happy to help us get liquor into the states as well. A couple of days later, he was pulled into a meeting with our mayor who had him agree to keep Torn a secret and had him agree to a certain cut from any booze we had him to the states. He agreed with both. He was then told that no one could come to Torn, they'd meet us in the Gulf of Mexico and the transfer of booze and money would take place there.
He told us that was fine, they could literally go from the Gulf to a big river that would just about take them to their doorstep.
From that moment on, while the rest of the world was sucking bath tub gin, he and his people would get the real stuff straight from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, even Mexico got in on the act as well (for a price, of course).
Mr. Z stopped for a moment and sighed, "That" he said "Would turn into a double-edged sword. Yes, Torn made huge amounts of money and couldn't be touched by the United States, but we almost lost our way of life." He lead me out of the room and back into the first room we met in. "I'm gonna make a call for you so you can get that story, but I can't make any guarantees." I told him I understood totally.
He told me I could head back home, and he advised I'd go back the same way I arrived, blind fold and all. I was blindfolded, lead out to the car and was brought back in front of Torn City Times. When I arrived, a limo was parked in front of the office, a tall man in Ray Ban's in a chauffer suit was standing outside the car. He stepped up to me as soon as I exited the car "You _________?" he asked. I told him I was. "Get in, the man wants to talk to you." There was no hint that this was anything other than a command, so I followed his directions (In Torn, you learn very quickly that if you're supposed to know, you're told, otherwise, don't ask!).
Inside the car was a blindfold, he told me to put it on. Then he put a drink in my hand "Drink" he commanded. So I did. I went out like a light and was on my way.
NEXT: Torn History, Part IV "Who am I meeting this time?"
NOTE: This is just in fun and is not intended to be a real history of Torn
TORN CITY TIMES (editorial queue)
If you happened to have read part one of my history of Torn , you'll be happy to know there's a part 2. As you know, Mr. X offered to introduce me to another founding family in exchange for a job, of course. I did the job he asked me to do This one had information that covered the further history, beyond the Pirate founder of Torn. When he asked if I was still interested in meeting them, Of course I told him I'd be interested! "Alright, I'll ask and I'll be in touch if they say yes."
We ended the call and I waited with baited breath. I got the call I was waiting for 5 days later "He'll talk to you, IF you'll do something for him first." He told me what he needed (and again, I can't tell you what he needed) I agreed and he said he'd call me again in one week to confirm. I got that job done and as agreed, he called me 1 week later "Ok, he'll talk to you, you can't take any pictures or video and you can't bring any audio equipment. Just like with me, pen, pencil or paper, that's it. Someone will be by in 10 minutes."
True to his word, someone DID come by in 10 minutes and once again, I got in the car and was blind folded. I was given a drink and told to drink it. I did and I was out in a minute.
When I came to, I was already inside a building and seated before Mr. Y (I was told explicitly not to use his name, describe him or give any hints as to where I was during this time.). "I apologize for the drink, but I need to keep my location a secret" I nodded, this IS Torn after all, who the hell DOESN'T have a secret or two! "So, you're interested in the history of this place?" he asked. "Yep". He then asked me to follow him.
I followed him into a temperature and humidity controlled room, this one MUCH larger than Mr. X's room. "Mr. X has history, but not a lot of it survived. We made sure to keep and preserve just about everything we had from the beginning." He said with a slight smile "We thought it might go big someday."
The End of Piracy, the beginning of Privateering
Piracy has started to die out, most of the people that called our city their home knew this as fact. However, Privateering, which had started
in piracy's shadow had started to become just as, if not even more, profitable AND there was less risk of arrest. With that in mind, the Pirates of Torn turned to Privateering. Our host, himself, traces his lineage to Amaro Rodriguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado aka "Pargo", a famous Privateer of that time.
This necessitated a change for Torn. Where Piracy was illegal and therefore there weren't rules (per se) to follow, Privateering was legal, and for the protection of the nascent city of Torn, formal rules had to be put into place to protect it. The first and most important rule was that you took only what was on your Privateer commission and nothing else or else! The second rule was just as important, no slaves, ever! (Not telling people about Torn was an unofficial rule since the beginning, and people followed it without question!) Since Torn was founded by Pirates, slavery was an anathema to them, therefore it was an anathema to the city as well!
That didn't mean it wasn't tried. According to the letters Mr. Y had, "Pargo" had an encounter with someone he would only name as
"Ese hijo de puta frances" ("That French Son of a bitch") who tried to get him to help bring a few slaves into Torn in exchange for coin.
He writes:
Ese francés hijo de puta tuvo la desfachatez de pedirme que traficara con esclavos en nuestra ciudad. Quise
degollarlo en el acto, pero decidí que nuestra ciudad era demasiado buena para que su sangre la manchara. En
cambio, fingí querer ayudarlo y le pedí que se reuniera conmigo más tarde en el Golfo de México con su barco
(que estaba anclado cerca de la costa) y que yo transportaría su "carga" en mi barco. Una vez que su "carga" estuvo a bordo de mi barco y me pagó, le corté el cuello a ese francés hijo de puta y
lo arrojé al golfo. ¡Buen viaje! La "carga" fue liberada y llevada a nuestra ciudad como hombre libre.
Me dio las gracias y, en señal de gratitud, ¡se ofreció a unirse a mi tripulación!
(Translation:
That French son of a bitch had some gall to try to ask me to smuggle slaves into our city. I wanted to slit his throat on the spot, but decided that our city was too good for his blood. I instead pretended to want to help and asked that he meet me later in the Gulf of Mexico with his ship (which was anchored off shore) and I would smuggle his "cargo" on my ship.
Once his "cargo" was aboard my ship and he gave me my coin, I slit that French son of a bitches throat and threw him into the gulf. Good riddance! The "cargo" was released and brought into our city a free man. He thanked me and offered to join my crew in gratitude!
)
By the way, this same individual, "Pargo" was our very first merchant , selling his own wine and brandy. He not only sold it here, but he also sold it (via his fleet of ships) to Havana and Guyana. He imported various textiles and nuts as well! He was also declared a "Caballero hijodalgo", a member of Spanish Royalty! So we can brag about having Royalty in Torn! I asked if the rumor of "Pargo" hiding a treasure in the Cave of San Mateo was true, my host just smiled "Possibly" was all he would say on that.
"Pargo" isn't the only Privateer to set foot on Torn. Don Miguel Enriquez also called Torn home. Though he was rejected in Puerto Rico because he was a mulatto, Torn accepted him with open arms. When Francisco Danio Granados, then the governor of Puerto Rico wrote to Phillip V ask for the Medal of the Royal Effigy for Don Miguel , only to have the "higher classes" reject that because he was a mulatto,
Torn awarded him our cities highest medal instead!
Sadly, Don Miguel would later die in a Dominican Monastery in Avila Span, where he hid from Spanish authorities that wanted to jail him on, basically trumped up charges. We do have a letter to him from Phillip V of Spain, actually a royal decree which states:
"I find myself informed on several occasions [and] by reliable people of the particular love and zeal with which you have dedicated yourself to my royal service, always maintaining ten or twelve corsair vessels in your coast, well armed and staffed with the finality of cleaning the coasts of this island and of those of Windward of the pirate enemies, that infest them and having attended many other assignments in my service, such as transporting my royal orders and documents to different ports of this America as well as other supplementary work that you have done on your own and by your own wealth with no charge to my royal fortune. Having just learned how governor don Juan de Ribera has stripped you violently, taking away the corsair vessels and other effects, I have ordered a prosecution against him, by law, due to this and other charges and the entire restitution [of your wealth] so you can carry on as you were with your loyal privateering, zeal and disinterest, which would be of my royal satisfaction."
— Royal Decree from Philip V to Enríquez informing him of the destitution of Juan de Ribera, February 10, 1716
This is literally the King of Spain writing to Don Miguel!
Privateering continued to be a very profitable enterprise for citizens of Torn up to an including The American Civil war. Interestingly, Torn played a part in the American "Underground Railroad". I found letters in Mr. Y's collection that hinted at groups of people, specifically " coloreds traveling together, that were 'heading south for freedom'". In these same letters, there were indications to only identify themselves as "friends of Abraham" or state they were "heading south for the winter". In fact, in one letter, a man identifying himself as "William Still" who called himself "a free black man" wrote that he had "come to his home in the South". Torn city records record a privateer, about the same time this letter was written, also by the name of "William Still" who was also said to be a man of color. (As you know, Torn doesn't care where you're from, who your parents are or what color you are. Bring your coin, follow our rules and we're good!)
The records I obtained showed that some of the people risked an overseas journey to travel back to their place of origin, but most elected to stay in our city due to our rule of "No slaves, ever!" and that our city was not on any map , anywhere and safely in Mexican territory.
With the influx of goods and money, due to privateering, more shops were opened, and a small one-room building was opened up where the pirates could show budding privateers and those wanting to make their living on the water in other ways, tricks of the trade. This building would become our current college!
Right about that time, Mr. Y advised that he had to meet with Ched. "When Ched asks, you don't say no!" How true! He lead me out of that room, gave me a handshake and an authentic Cohiba "Direct from Cuba, for later!" he said with a wink. "For now, you have to go back, it'll be the same way as you got here, so enjoy that when you get back."
At that moment, his driver entered the room and brought me to the car, sat me down and handed me a drink. I knew the drill, I drank it. Once I woke up, I was back at my desk in the Torn City Times with that Cohiba still in my shirt pocket. Once I cleared the cobwebs from my head, I pulled it out, cut the tip, toasted the foot and reviewed my notes while enjoying a good cigar!
Later that day, I got a call from Mr Y. , I told him I was enjoying the cigar he gave me. He told me he was enjoying an ice pack as Ched had chewed his ass out! "Hey" he said "At least I'm alive to tell the tale, so there's that!" He chuckled a bit then changed the subject. "I want you to send me your notes before you publish, anything I cross out, you don't print, got it ?" I told him I understood and would be sending them to him in 3 hours. After I sent him the notes and he sent back a response with nothing crossed out. I submitted the story.
A week later, I got a call, this time it was Mr. Z, who I knew from a past interview "I saw your story with Mr. Y, spoke with him too, he says you were a class act. He doesn't say that about a lot of people. So , since you like history so much, and I HAVE history about Torn, later than what Mr. Y has, how about you do a little job for me. George has been on my ass about doing a job for him, but you can do it, I'll pay you and he'll think I finally got around to it. In exchange, I'll let you check my records, they go from about the end of the Civil war to just after the 1920's. Whadyya say?".
Of course I said yes!!
COMING SOON: History of Torn, Part III , from the Civil war to the Prohibition
(DISCLAIMER: This is just for fun and does not attempt to be a real history of Torn)
Torn City Times: (In the editorial queue)
City Hall's Archives are full of stories and I went there looking for the history of Torn, from it's beginnings to right now. Sadly I thought I'd have nothing to report despite looking into every dark corner (and there are many) in the archives. I was actually about ready to leave and find some other story to report on when an clerk in the archives, one that I'd seen pretty much every day I entered the archives and exchanged "hello's" with, walked up to me.
"You're obviously looking for something, what is it?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
I told him I was looking for the founding history of Torn. "Yeah, ya ain't gonna find that here. You're gonna have to talk to a founding family," He then stopped and thought for a second. "Ya know, I could introduce ya....for a price...".
He then asked me if I'd be willing to do a "service" for him in exchange for an introduction, that was his "price". I had to agree not to use his name, nor describe what that "service" was. I agreed to do it. This was the first lead I had, so why not! I did what he asked of me, once that job was done and he was able to confirm it he asked me to wait while he ducked into the back to make a phone call. He returned pretty quickly. "They're gonna send someone to pick you up. They told me no pictures, no video, no taping. Pen, pencil and paper only. Oh, and they're gonna blindfold you before you travel. Don't resist them." He was absolutely serious when he advised me of that.
Within 5 minutes of that conversation, someone was outside waiting for me. When I went outside, I was patted down, told to get in and blindfolded. I could feel the car start to move and after a long time, stop. I was told get out of the car, and while still blindfolded, I was lead into a room. Once in, the blindfold was removed and I was seated in front of Mr. X (I was told not to publish his name at all!).
"_____ over at City Hall's archive's told me you were looking for Torn City's history. I can tell you about the founding of it, BUT, I have conditions" he said, absolutely deadpan "One, I can read shorthand, so I'll be reading your notes before you leave. Anything I cross out stays out. Two, you don't publish my name, describe me or this house in any way. Understand?"
I agreed to his conditions. "I'll be watching the paper and I'll for sure be looking for this story." He added. With that said, he asked me to follow him into a different room of his house. This room was temperature and humidity controlled. At first I thought this was a walk-in humidor (a large one at that, since a lot of us like a good cigar at the end of the day) but it wasn't, it had a different purpose.
He then pulled out a very old rutter. "This is a rutter from the pirate __________ ." (I'm not allowed to publish his name) he said.
"He's the founder of what we now call Torn." He then allowed me to look at the Rutter and ______'s diary, only in this room....
The Founding of Torn
This pirate was active during the days of the Spanish Main (what we now call the Gulf of Mexico, The Caribbean and Sargasso Seas) and sailed near Havana Cuba as at least 5 Galleons sailed past that area either coming from or going to their destination, always with treasure.
He'd set his eyes on a Galleon returning from Manilla, he knew it would dock at Acapulco, travel overland to Veracruz and set sail in the
Gulf of Mexico. He knew this ship, in particular, would follow the coast, and thus would swing up to towards Barataria Bay (it would leave Veracruz and swing towards the Mississippi Delta and curve back to Havana from there), he planned to take that Galleon right at the top
of it's swing, near what we now call the Mississippi Delta.
This pirate was able to meet the ship right at the top of it's swing, just as he'd planned, where it was isolated and far away from any other Galleons. He and his crew easily captured that Galleon and it's crew. Sadly for that crew and it's captain, they were flying the "Red Jack" , (a red skull and cross bones flag, this literally means "No Quarter", no mercy would be given and everyone aboard would die.) True to that, they "disposed" of the captain and crew of that Galleon and took the it for themselves.
The plan was to head to Nassau, get the loot from the Galleon, scuttle it then lay low for a while. However, a storm was spotted by his mate on the poop deck. The storm was said to be dark and fast moving and coming from the east. The captain ordered the crew to head west, away from the storm. They sailed along the coast and found an, as of that time, undiscovered port.
Once they got boat ships inside, they saw that it had many islands inside and beyond that a large island. The pirate anchored there to wait out the storm. According to his log, the storm raged for the entire day, tore down trees and even widened the entrance to the port. Considering this was in the summer and due to the severity of the storm, it's believed this was a hurricane rather than just a storm.
After the storm (or hurricane) cleared and the captain was able to get a good look at where he was at and he was absolutely delighted! It had multiple exits, multiple islands which were great for hiding his ships. The Big island was big enough to dock and shelter and was hidden as well. It was right off the Gulf of Mexico so at least 3 Galleons would be close by for conquest, AND it was inside the Viceroyalty of New Spain, so England wouldn't even think of looking for them there! (Editor's note: The port is believed to be what we now call Malecon Puerto Matamoros.)
He immediately swore his crew and himself to secrecy about this location. It would appear on no map, no rutter and no man's lips. It was not to be spoken of or to anyone. Only the captain, himself, could invite on those he trusted, to this location. He envisioned his own version of Barataria Bay (he couldn't go there, since he'd been kicked out after getting into a fight with Pierre Lafitte over slave labor. Lafitte favored it, our pirate and city founder, opposed it. Our founder won, but since Lafitte was the brother of the Barataria bay's founder, Jean Lafitte, our founder got kicked out anyway.)
Our founder still had supporters in Barataria Bay, however, and if they received news that there was something to be hidden, an arrangement would be made where it would be handed over in Barataria Bay to those supporters and those supporters would transport it to their "undisclosed and otherwise hidden location", for a fee, of course, of which our founder got his cut too!. For those pirates trusted by our founder, it became a place for them to lay low, trade, barter and learn skills from other pirates. No mention of this place ever left Barataria Bay, by agreement, so when other pirates were being hunted over in Nassau, our founder and his trusted pirates were hidden away.
They got to live to see the end of piracy.
After the age of piracy had passed, some became merchants, others became privateers. All of them called this city, which at that time had no name and , by agreement, appeared on no map, their home.
Back at my desk at the Torn City Times
I'd just finished reading my story on the founding of Torn when my phone rang. It was Mr. X "Saw the story" he said "You printed just what you were told to print, I like it." he said, still deadpan. He paused for a second "Ya know, I could use you for a job I need doing. How would you feel about doing some work for me, in exchange for an introduction to another founding family. This one knows about the privateer stuff and a bit beyond that. I can't guarantee they'll talk, but I can at least introduce ya. Whaddya say?".
Coming soon...... The history of Torn, privateer and beyond!
Thanks, Lady_Face, I might just do that.
Torn City Desk (editorial queue)
After my call from Mr. Z ended I was ecstatic! I'd spoken with 2 founding families from Torn (which is extremely tough to do by itself), and a third one called and wanted to talk as well, in exchange for a job, of course! Wow! The founding families expected people to reach out to them, that was normal and a part of their life, but having one of them reach out to you?! That meant you had respect within the oldest families of Torn. For those new to Torn, respect is literally it's own currency. Valuable beyond measure and literally protected with life and limb. Unlike any other currency, once it was lost, it was lost forever, never to gained again no matter what!
So, when Mr. Z called and offered me assistance, I didn't care what the job was, he could ask me to shave my [Editors note: Don't EVER try to slide stuff like that past me again, or George's gonna have a job with YOU as the intended target, CAPISCE!!], I'd do it in a heartbeat! Needless to say, I did what he wanted me to do! Once Mr. Z. got word that the job was done, he called me again and advised that he was sending a driver for me, said driver would be there in 10 minutes.
Mr. Z's driver arrived and asked to do what I expected, get in and wear a blind fold. I did both and the car started up. I car drove for what seemed like hours, finally, the engine stopped and I was pulled out and walked inside (I could tell because the temperature went from hot and steamy (typical Torn weather) to cool and dry. I was sat down and the blindfold was removed. I was sitting in front of Mr. Z, who was sitting behind an executive's desk.
"So", he began, taking a drag of his genuine Cohiba "Mr X. told you about the founding of Torn, Mr. Y told you about privateering and the underground railroad, huh?" Without waiting , or really even asking for me to respond, he continued "Yep, they're right, it happened just that way!" He then stood up "I'm gonna tell you about the history after the Civil war." He beckoned me to follow him.
"Before I tell ya that, I got rules. One, you can't use my name, don't even describe me. You can't describe any part of this house. I get to read the article first, and anything I strike out can't be printed, got it?" he advised me. Of course I agreed!. He then brought me into a second room and began to tell me (and show me, where possible) what he knew.
Civil war and Beyond
While the Civil war was on-going, the underground railroad would send people their way. Once that war ended and Abraham Lincoln made his "emancipation proclamation" outlawing slavery, slavery ended, however, because of how slow communication was in that day and age, some towns got the news late, some people decided to recognize this as law and still tried to hold slaves, so the Underground railroad still operated, but it was more a trickle. Most wanted to stay in Torn, sure, but there were one or two that wanted to go back to
Africa and did sail back.
Eventually, the railroad ended and Torn went back to business as usual, as best it could (Editor's note: Nothing is ever 'business as usual' in Torn, but it gets close sometimes!).That's not to say that Torn did have somethings happen within it's borders, though. As more people came to call Torn home, there were disagreements, some of which got bloody or involved someone "disappearing suddenly, never to be seen or heard from again".
The town got together in a town meeting and decided that we needed to have laws to help settle disputes, not because we saw ourselves as law-abiding, heaven forbid! It was because we wanted to keep Torn out of the eyes of everyone else, and the best way to do this was to stop disputes before they got violent or bloody or both. We already had issues Mexico and Spain, whom we had to pay off well , to keep
their war out of our land. Spain and Mexico had been in conflict in one way or another since 1808 and all in Torn knew that Spain would loose as it was hard to govern anything that you that distant from.
So it was decided that we were going to have laws, and fortunately for us, we had two citizens that were well educated in the laws of their lands who decided to put their heads together and come up with laws for Torn. 11 months later Torn had it's laws. A set of courses was added to our school house to teach the laws to every citizen of Torn, again, not because we're good guys, but rather so that we wouldn't have
problems with people trying to get around them with claims that they were a "Sovereign citizen of _________ country" and because of that "the laws of Torn don't apply to me". Trust me, we had a few!
Also, it was decided that if a dispute needed to be settled, it would be in court. That court was a three-roomed courthouse , a court, a set of cells and a separate room for the sheriff and his deputies to watch over the prisoners. Believe it or not, this courtroom still exists in our jail, preserved as a museum! Also, it was decided that a judge would make the decision of guilt or innocence, and that judge was to speak with the lawyers only (those that went through the course had the right to apply as lawyers, and believe me, they grill the heck out of you during the examination, those that make it can be lawyers). Neither person on trial would be named or in any way identified to the judge, to assure the ruling was made because the judge had a grudge. The Judge would only be identified after the trial to make sure no one tried to pay them off. Also, they only were a judge for that case only. The next case went to another judge (Judge's , at least at that time, were randomly selected from the lawyers, and if their name was pulled and they agreed, their name would be out of the pool for the next case!).
That kept us out of view from the known world at the time. Mexico, more or less, knew about us but we paid them well, and occasionally, they would reach out to us with jobs that were a bit "too sensitive" for them to handle personally, but they were happy to tell us which ships, what needed to be raided and false flags for us to adorn our ships with. We would agree on a spit, in writing , and once that was done, do it for them. In fact, Torn history records just such a raid , in fact, Mr. Z had a record of this in the form of a letter written at the time
by the man who stated he was the captain of the ship that this occurred on.
"On Christmas morning, we departed at first light with a Spanish flag on our vessel (and an American flag, that we were to plant on the Vessel were headed to, to make it appear that America took it down). Just about all of my crew was selected for their ability to speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Our mission was to head to Cuba and raid the "Vizcaya", but not sink it, it was important that the American flag be easily seen by anyone.
We found her in Santiago de Cuba. She'd just docked and delivered coal and was looking to set out towards open sea. Remember, the United States has blocked one port and was steaming to this location so they needed to get out quick. We docked behind her and caught her captain enjoying a drink on the dock. We slit his throat, and tossed him into the bay for the sharks, then we undocked and started out to sea, but as we passed the Vizcaya, we shouted out in Spanish "El americano acaba de matar a tu capitán, ¡CORRE!" ("The American's just killed your captain, RUN!!").
They ran around like chickens with their head cut off, the first mate was inept and couldn't given them any kind of good instruction. It was like watching a comedy show, but in real life! Any rate, we took pity on the bastards and told 'em we had guns if they wanted (we knew they had one or two, and they didn't work). They wanted those! We gave 'em too, but ours were deliberately set to backfire. They'd kill whoever tried to fire them, and most of the people around them!
They took 'em , loaded 'em up and started to steam towards open sea. They encountered "The Brooklyn" from the United States and tried to fire on her, only to kill off a good 10 percent of the crew. The rest of them pretty much did likewise, in battle, you get "tunnel vision" and don't really pay attention to what's happening away from you, and by then, 80 percent of the crew were gone. At about 11:00 it looks like something from inside the ship blew the bow off (maybe a torpedo?) and this cause her to turn towards the shore and beach herself.
We switched our flag to a United States flag and came ashore and placed our flag on the ship and left traces that would implicate a United States Navy vessel called "The Brooklyn".
We looted anything of value and went back to the ship and went back home, the Mexican government got it's agreed upon cut and we got ours. first round was on Mexico! Ole!"
He also had letters from the first mate of that same ship as well as a few other members of his crew that back up this story.
After this, that war ran for about 8 months, then the war ended. For the next 21 years Torn citizen's lived their version of normal, fishing, the food and good markets, repairs and the occasional side jobs. However, right as the year 1900 hit, we began to hear about an opportunity in the United States. The "Anti-Saloon league".
To be sure, Torn had heard about the Anti-Saloon league, it had started in 1893, but we didn't think anything of it ,heck, alcohol was just about a way of life in Torn, we didn't think it would ever grow. However, it did and in 1900 it started to gain power, and towns started to
"dry up". There was some talk in Torn about supplying alcohol and making money off of it, but we had a problem, no way to get it to those towns without exposing Torn. The answer would come in the form of a certain "business man" on the run from the law.
In the winter on 1920, a certain "business man" found Torn, by pure chance, while running from the law in the United States. He actually told us that his organization has a "place he could go to for safety" but that he'd turned too soon and wound up in Torn. He told us he'd keep our location quiet, then he walked around just to see what the town had to offer. It just so happened that we were having our town hall meeting (at this point, it had moved into the auditorium of the school).
He said he had contacts in the states and he'd be happy to help us get liquor into the states as well. A couple of days later, he was pulled into a meeting with our mayor who had him agree to keep Torn a secret and had him agree to a certain cut from any booze we had him to the states. He agreed with both. He was then told that no one could come to Torn, they'd meet us in the Gulf of Mexico and the transfer of booze and money would take place there.
He told us that was fine, they could literally go from the Gulf to a big river that would just about take them to their doorstep.
From that moment on, while the rest of the world was sucking bath tub gin, he and his people would get the real stuff straight from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, even Mexico got in on the act as well (for a price, of course).
Mr. Z stopped for a moment and sighed, "That" he said "Would turn into a double-edged sword. Yes, Torn made huge amounts of money and couldn't be touched by the United States, but we almost lost our way of life." He lead me out of the room and back into the first room we met in. "I'm gonna make a call for you so you can get that story, but I can't make any guarantees." I told him I understood totally.
He told me I could head back home, and he advised I'd go back the same way I arrived, blind fold and all. I was blindfolded, lead out to the car and was brought back in front of Torn City Times. When I arrived, a limo was parked in front of the office, a tall man in Ray Ban's in a chauffer suit was standing outside the car. He stepped up to me as soon as I exited the car "You _________?" he asked. I told him I was. "Get in, the man wants to talk to you." There was no hint that this was anything other than a command, so I followed his directions (In Torn, you learn very quickly that if you're supposed to know, you're told, otherwise, don't ask!).
Inside the car was a blindfold, he told me to put it on. Then he put a drink in my hand "Drink" he commanded. So I did. I went out like a light and was on my way.
NEXT: Torn History, Part IV "Who am I meeting this time?"
Ever wanted to know the history of Torn? It's pretty colorful, pirates, privateers, underground railroad (and that's just the stuff from the founding up to the Civil war too!)
It's being posted on the Fun and Games board, just for fun
Enjoy!
PS: This is Torn, snark is a love language over here, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest.
If you want me, just say so, I have at least 2 or three more in the planning stages! Again, this is just in fun, however, the the names and places I've mentioned in both parts are real! Feel free to look them up if you'd like !
NOTE: This is just in fun and is not intended to be a real history of Torn
TORN CITY TIMES (editorial queue)
If you happened to have read part one of my history of Torn , you'll be happy to know there's a part 2. As you know, Mr. X offered to introduce me to another founding family in exchange for a job, of course. I did the job he asked me to do This one had information that covered the further history, beyond the Pirate founder of Torn. When he asked if I was still interested in meeting them, Of course I told him I'd be interested! "Alright, I'll ask and I'll be in touch if they say yes."
We ended the call and I waited with baited breath. I got the call I was waiting for 5 days later "He'll talk to you, IF you'll do something for him first." He told me what he needed (and again, I can't tell you what he needed) I agreed and he said he'd call me again in one week to confirm. I got that job done and as agreed, he called me 1 week later "Ok, he'll talk to you, you can't take any pictures or video and you can't bring any audio equipment. Just like with me, pen, pencil or paper, that's it. Someone will be by in 10 minutes."
True to his word, someone DID come by in 10 minutes and once again, I got in the car and was blind folded. I was given a drink and told to drink it. I did and I was out in a minute.
When I came to, I was already inside a building and seated before Mr. Y (I was told explicitly not to use his name, describe him or give any hints as to where I was during this time.). "I apologize for the drink, but I need to keep my location a secret" I nodded, this IS Torn after all, who the hell DOESN'T have a secret or two! "So, you're interested in the history of this place?" he asked. "Yep". He then asked me to follow him.
I followed him into a temperature and humidity controlled room, this one MUCH larger than Mr. X's room. "Mr. X has history, but not a lot of it survived. We made sure to keep and preserve just about everything we had from the beginning." He said with a slight smile "We thought it might go big someday."
The End of Piracy, the beginning of Privateering
Piracy has started to die out, most of the people that called our city their home knew this as fact. However, Privateering, which had started
in piracy's shadow had started to become just as, if not even more, profitable AND there was less risk of arrest. With that in mind, the Pirates of Torn turned to Privateering. Our host, himself, traces his lineage to Amaro Rodriguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado aka "Pargo", a famous Privateer of that time.
This necessitated a change for Torn. Where Piracy was illegal and therefore there weren't rules (per se) to follow, Privateering was legal, and for the protection of the nascent city of Torn, formal rules had to be put into place to protect it. The first and most important rule was that you took only what was on your Privateer commission and nothing else or else! The second rule was just as important, no slaves, ever! (Not telling people about Torn was an unofficial rule since the beginning, and people followed it without question!) Since Torn was founded by Pirates, slavery was an anathema to them, therefore it was an anathema to the city as well!
That didn't mean it wasn't tried. According to the letters Mr. Y had, "Pargo" had an encounter with someone he would only name as
"Ese hijo de puta frances" ("That French Son of a bitch") who tried to get him to help bring a few slaves into Torn in exchange for coin.
He writes:
Ese francés hijo de puta tuvo la desfachatez de pedirme que traficara con esclavos en nuestra ciudad. Quise
degollarlo en el acto, pero decidí que nuestra ciudad era demasiado buena para que su sangre la manchara. En
cambio, fingí querer ayudarlo y le pedí que se reuniera conmigo más tarde en el Golfo de México con su barco
(que estaba anclado cerca de la costa) y que yo transportaría su "carga" en mi barco. Una vez que su "carga" estuvo a bordo de mi barco y me pagó, le corté el cuello a ese francés hijo de puta y
lo arrojé al golfo. ¡Buen viaje! La "carga" fue liberada y llevada a nuestra ciudad como hombre libre.
Me dio las gracias y, en señal de gratitud, ¡se ofreció a unirse a mi tripulación!
(Translation:
That French son of a bitch had some gall to try to ask me to smuggle slaves into our city. I wanted to slit his throat on the spot, but decided that our city was too good for his blood. I instead pretended to want to help and asked that he meet me later in the Gulf of Mexico with his ship (which was anchored off shore) and I would smuggle his "cargo" on my ship.
Once his "cargo" was aboard my ship and he gave me my coin, I slit that French son of a bitches throat and threw him into the gulf. Good riddance! The "cargo" was released and brought into our city a free man. He thanked me and offered to join my crew in gratitude!
)
By the way, this same individual, "Pargo" was our very first merchant , selling his own wine and brandy. He not only sold it here, but he also sold it (via his fleet of ships) to Havana and Guyana. He imported various textiles and nuts as well! He was also declared a "Caballero hijodalgo", a member of Spanish Royalty! So we can brag about having Royalty in Torn! I asked if the rumor of "Pargo" hiding a treasure in the Cave of San Mateo was true, my host just smiled "Possibly" was all he would say on that.
"Pargo" isn't the only Privateer to set foot on Torn. Don Miguel Enriquez also called Torn home. Though he was rejected in Puerto Rico because he was a mulatto, Torn accepted him with open arms. When Francisco Danio Granados, then the governor of Puerto Rico wrote to Phillip V ask for the Medal of the Royal Effigy for Don Miguel , only to have the "higher classes" reject that because he was a mulatto,
Torn awarded him our cities highest medal instead!
Sadly, Don Miguel would later die in a Dominican Monastery in Avila Span, where he hid from Spanish authorities that wanted to jail him on, basically trumped up charges. We do have a letter to him from Phillip V of Spain, actually a royal decree which states:
"I find myself informed on several occasions [and] by reliable people of the particular love and zeal with which you have dedicated yourself to my royal service, always maintaining ten or twelve corsair vessels in your coast, well armed and staffed with the finality of cleaning the coasts of this island and of those of Windward of the pirate enemies, that infest them and having attended many other assignments in my service, such as transporting my royal orders and documents to different ports of this America as well as other supplementary work that you have done on your own and by your own wealth with no charge to my royal fortune. Having just learned how governor don Juan de Ribera has stripped you violently, taking away the corsair vessels and other effects, I have ordered a prosecution against him, by law, due to this and other charges and the entire restitution [of your wealth] so you can carry on as you were with your loyal privateering, zeal and disinterest, which would be of my royal satisfaction."
— Royal Decree from Philip V to Enríquez informing him of the destitution of Juan de Ribera, February 10, 1716
This is literally the King of Spain writing to Don Miguel!
Privateering continued to be a very profitable enterprise for citizens of Torn up to an including The American Civil war. Interestingly, Torn played a part in the American "Underground Railroad". I found letters in Mr. Y's collection that hinted at groups of people, specifically " coloreds traveling together, that were 'heading south for freedom'". In these same letters, there were indications to only identify themselves as "friends of Abraham" or state they were "heading south for the winter". In fact, in one letter, a man identifying himself as "William Still" who called himself "a free black man" wrote that he had "come to his home in the South". Torn city records record a privateer, about the same time this letter was written, also by the name of "William Still" who was also said to be a man of color. (As you know, Torn doesn't care where you're from, who your parents are or what color you are. Bring your coin, follow our rules and we're good!)
The records I obtained showed that some of the people risked an overseas journey to travel back to their place of origin, but most elected to stay in our city due to our rule of "No slaves, ever!" and that our city was not on any map , anywhere and safely in Mexican territory.
With the influx of goods and money, due to privateering, more shops were opened, and a small one-room building was opened up where the pirates could show budding privateers and those wanting to make their living on the water in other ways, tricks of the trade. This building would become our current college!
Right about that time, Mr. Y advised that he had to meet with Ched. "When Ched asks, you don't say no!" How true! He lead me out of that room, gave me a handshake and an authentic Cohiba "Direct from Cuba, for later!" he said with a wink. "For now, you have to go back, it'll be the same way as you got here, so enjoy that when you get back."
At that moment, his driver entered the room and brought me to the car, sat me down and handed me a drink. I knew the drill, I drank it. Once I woke up, I was back at my desk in the Torn City Times with that Cohiba still in my shirt pocket. Once I cleared the cobwebs from my head, I pulled it out, cut the tip, toasted the foot and reviewed my notes while enjoying a good cigar!
Later that day, I got a call from Mr Y. , I told him I was enjoying the cigar he gave me. He told me he was enjoying an ice pack as Ched had chewed his ass out! "Hey" he said "At least I'm alive to tell the tale, so there's that!" He chuckled a bit then changed the subject. "I want you to send me your notes before you publish, anything I cross out, you don't print, got it ?" I told him I understood and would be sending them to him in 3 hours. After I sent him the notes and he sent back a response with nothing crossed out. I submitted the story.
A week later, I got a call, this time it was Mr. Z, who I knew from a past interview "I saw your story with Mr. Y, spoke with him too, he says you were a class act. He doesn't say that about a lot of people. So , since you like history so much, and I HAVE history about Torn, later than what Mr. Y has, how about you do a little job for me. George has been on my ass about doing a job for him, but you can do it, I'll pay you and he'll think I finally got around to it. In exchange, I'll let you check my records, they go from about the end of the Civil war to just after the 1920's. Whadyya say?".
Of course I said yes!!
COMING SOON: History of Torn, Part III , from the Civil war to the Prohibition
(DISCLAIMER: This is just for fun and does not attempt to be a real history of Torn)
Torn City Times: (In the editorial queue)
City Hall's Archives are full of stories and I went there looking for the history of Torn, from it's beginnings to right now. Sadly I thought I'd have nothing to report despite looking into every dark corner (and there are many) in the archives. I was actually about ready to leave and find some other story to report on when an clerk in the archives, one that I'd seen pretty much every day I entered the archives and exchanged "hello's" with, walked up to me.
"You're obviously looking for something, what is it?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
I told him I was looking for the founding history of Torn. "Yeah, ya ain't gonna find that here. You're gonna have to talk to a founding family," He then stopped and thought for a second. "Ya know, I could introduce ya....for a price...".
He then asked me if I'd be willing to do a "service" for him in exchange for an introduction, that was his "price". I had to agree not to use his name, nor describe what that "service" was. I agreed to do it. This was the first lead I had, so why not! I did what he asked of me, once that job was done and he was able to confirm it he asked me to wait while he ducked into the back to make a phone call. He returned pretty quickly. "They're gonna send someone to pick you up. They told me no pictures, no video, no taping. Pen, pencil and paper only. Oh, and they're gonna blindfold you before you travel. Don't resist them." He was absolutely serious when he advised me of that.
Within 5 minutes of that conversation, someone was outside waiting for me. When I went outside, I was patted down, told to get in and blindfolded. I could feel the car start to move and after a long time, stop. I was told get out of the car, and while still blindfolded, I was lead into a room. Once in, the blindfold was removed and I was seated in front of Mr. X (I was told not to publish his name at all!).
"_____ over at City Hall's archive's told me you were looking for Torn City's history. I can tell you about the founding of it, BUT, I have conditions" he said, absolutely deadpan "One, I can read shorthand, so I'll be reading your notes before you leave. Anything I cross out stays out. Two, you don't publish my name, describe me or this house in any way. Understand?"
I agreed to his conditions. "I'll be watching the paper and I'll for sure be looking for this story." He added. With that said, he asked me to follow him into a different room of his house. This room was temperature and humidity controlled. At first I thought this was a walk-in humidor (a large one at that, since a lot of us like a good cigar at the end of the day) but it wasn't, it had a different purpose.
He then pulled out a very old rutter. "This is a rutter from the pirate __________ ." (I'm not allowed to publish his name) he said.
"He's the founder of what we now call Torn." He then allowed me to look at the Rutter and ______'s diary, only in this room....
The Founding of Torn
This pirate was active during the days of the Spanish Main (what we now call the Gulf of Mexico, The Caribbean and Sargasso Seas) and sailed near Havana Cuba as at least 5 Galleons sailed past that area either coming from or going to their destination, always with treasure.
He'd set his eyes on a Galleon returning from Manilla, he knew it would dock at Acapulco, travel overland to Veracruz and set sail in the
Gulf of Mexico. He knew this ship, in particular, would follow the coast, and thus would swing up to towards Barataria Bay (it would leave Veracruz and swing towards the Mississippi Delta and curve back to Havana from there), he planned to take that Galleon right at the top
of it's swing, near what we now call the Mississippi Delta.
This pirate was able to meet the ship right at the top of it's swing, just as he'd planned, where it was isolated and far away from any other Galleons. He and his crew easily captured that Galleon and it's crew. Sadly for that crew and it's captain, they were flying the "Red Jack" , (a red skull and cross bones flag, this literally means "No Quarter", no mercy would be given and everyone aboard would die.) True to that, they "disposed" of the captain and crew of that Galleon and took the it for themselves.
The plan was to head to Nassau, get the loot from the Galleon, scuttle it then lay low for a while. However, a storm was spotted by his mate on the poop deck. The storm was said to be dark and fast moving and coming from the east. The captain ordered the crew to head west, away from the storm. They sailed along the coast and found an, as of that time, undiscovered port.
Once they got boat ships inside, they saw that it had many islands inside and beyond that a large island. The pirate anchored there to wait out the storm. According to his log, the storm raged for the entire day, tore down trees and even widened the entrance to the port. Considering this was in the summer and due to the severity of the storm, it's believed this was a hurricane rather than just a storm.
After the storm (or hurricane) cleared and the captain was able to get a good look at where he was at and he was absolutely delighted! It had multiple exits, multiple islands which were great for hiding his ships. The Big island was big enough to dock and shelter and was hidden as well. It was right off the Gulf of Mexico so at least 3 Galleons would be close by for conquest, AND it was inside the Viceroyalty of New Spain, so England wouldn't even think of looking for them there! (Editor's note: The port is believed to be what we now call Malecon Puerto Matamoros.)
He immediately swore his crew and himself to secrecy about this location. It would appear on no map, no rutter and no man's lips. It was not to be spoken of or to anyone. Only the captain, himself, could invite on those he trusted, to this location. He envisioned his own version of Barataria Bay (he couldn't go there, since he'd been kicked out after getting into a fight with Pierre Lafitte over slave labor. Lafitte favored it, our pirate and city founder, opposed it. Our founder won, but since Lafitte was the brother of the Barataria bay's founder, Jean Lafitte, our founder got kicked out anyway.)
Our founder still had supporters in Barataria Bay, however, and if they received news that there was something to be hidden, an arrangement would be made where it would be handed over in Barataria Bay to those supporters and those supporters would transport it to their "undisclosed and otherwise hidden location", for a fee, of course, of which our founder got his cut too!. For those pirates trusted by our founder, it became a place for them to lay low, trade, barter and learn skills from other pirates. No mention of this place ever left Barataria Bay, by agreement, so when other pirates were being hunted over in Nassau, our founder and his trusted pirates were hidden away.
They got to live to see the end of piracy.
After the age of piracy had passed, some became merchants, others became privateers. All of them called this city, which at that time had no name and , by agreement, appeared on no map, their home.
Back at my desk at the Torn City Times
I'd just finished reading my story on the founding of Torn when my phone rang. It was Mr. X "Saw the story" he said "You printed just what you were told to print, I like it." he said, still deadpan. He paused for a second "Ya know, I could use you for a job I need doing. How would you feel about doing some work for me, in exchange for an introduction to another founding family. This one knows about the privateer stuff and a bit beyond that. I can't guarantee they'll talk, but I can at least introduce ya. Whaddya say?".
Coming soon...... The history of Torn, privateer and beyond!
Just updated it (resized it)
Great job on this!!
Oh, is that why you've been running around asking the ladies to "Say hello to my little friend!"
My suggestion for Torn would be to allow us to take more than one class at a time. In pretty much any school, you do take multiple classes. Why not here too?