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St. Lucie Tape ##4
Banty Saunders
March 12, 1968
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I don't know whether how many of you know Fuller Warren when he was
governor but when he was governor he got pretty much confused over
there and one Saturday afternoon he went over to Blountstown, his old
home and he somehow or other picked up a piece of walking down
the road and passed by an old farmer house there that knew him and he said,
"Fuller, what's the matter?" He says, "I'm confused, that's what's the
matter with me." He says, "What's the matter.?" He says, "Well, I'm
confused." He says, "Well, what's the trouble?" He says,"Well, I don't
know whether I lost a mule or found a piece of ." So I
brought the same piece because I'll tell you what my problem is. Accidently
I have applied today some of the oldest picture in St. Lucie County and
they're really worthwhile, and when U say it I mean it, because I thought
I spent some time picking up some picture I was going to bring
down and show you on the side, but I left mine at home. Now it's up
to you whether you want to see those pictures or listen to me because
I really can't tell you much more that Mr. Healy told you, but only that
you're going to have to make a decision because there's a whole lot of
them and they're going to have to be identified. That's the sad part
about it. I told, when I was picking up picture of my own to come down
here with I definitely made up my mind that I never want to go back to
the legislature again. But after I spent, pretty near a day looking
at pictures trying to find out who they were and when they were taken
I made a vow that if I get a chance to go to the legislature I want to
go there and pass just one bill. And that's that if anybody hands you
a picture, as a present or any other way and it isn't identified
you can just pull out your pistol and shoot them and nothing will
St. Lucie Tape t (if
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ever happen to him. Now here's all these pictures that I have here
tonight. I could hand them to you and when you would be through with them
you would know just as much about them as I had and ----------- put
the name and the date and the place. But they're not, so there, I want
you to decide, you're going to have to decide because I don't think you
could possibly stay here long enough or want to stay here long enough
to look at those pictures but if you don't want to go without
which ever you say. Talk. Well, that's that then. If you
want to stay after the, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll trot right
along with this and when I get through, those of you who want to stay
why, I'll be glad to show you the pictures 'cause I know you're really
expecting to stay tonight to see the pictures because it would be much
better. St. Lucie Coutny was created in 1905 and from St. Lucie County
since then has created Martin County, Ockeechobee County and Indian
River County. One of our oldest settlers is Alexander Bell, who was
born in Jasper Florida in 1827. He moved to Fort Pierce in 1872, homed
on Taylor Creek where now Fort Pierce Supply Company is. He had two
boys and four girls. He was very active in politics even in the old
days. He was a signer of the State Constitution the one we're working
under right now. He bought a store from Frank Smith in Old Fort Pierce
and his granddaughter told me about that the other day and I was very
anxious to hear that because I've been trying to find out where old
Fort Pierce is. Well,I wrote to historical commissions and societies
trying to find out the location of old Fort Pierce so they can make
some effort and have a museum putthere some day. But of all books I've
run up against is that some how or another they have never found out the
location of old Fort Pierce. I think there's about as many people in Fort
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Pierce that are here tonight that know who it is, but that don't show
you a _. I've asked our congressman to look it up and
put somebody to work and see if there's any way in the world that we can
find out where it is. But he Mrs. Frank Smith and he
and one of his sons was one our first county
commissioners. But there's a problem with beihg old and being a pioneer
because as I located tonight, it used ot be that I would call you the
names of the pioneers but there was only two people that I know of in
this county that are any older than I am and have been in this county
longer than I have, but then that means that I was awful young when
I came here and I could pull the roll pretty easy and I'm just going
to pull two of them unless they're absent and then we'll go on with
our meeting. As I said before and it's not that you have to say it but
pioneers are really rugged. And especially men and I've been trying to find
all my life to find out why my parents came down here. They came from the
upper peninsula of Michigan. Now I get very good at procrastinating so
I took the putting off for seventy five years to go back to where I was
born. And my advice to you. Don't ever do that,XTry to go back to where
you were born as soon as you can. When I went up there I knew I was
born there because I sent ahead and got a birth certicifate. I found out
I was born in wedlock at a certain time, so that fixed that, but that's
all that I had to do with Michigan. I roamed around there and I thought
that I could go out there and ask if anybody knew Banty SAunders and
they didn't know the name. I looked in the and no name in the
world you could. find but I did find out that my father had better
judgement than I thought he did because I'm glad he picked up and took
off from Michigan and come back where we are because it doesn't brag
St. Lucie Tape \\0
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about where I was. And I found out, too, why he came down here. That he
and his brother were doing pretty well in the wholesale fish business, and
it gave out and the said to me that they found out the fish business
as going out, why, they loaded the family in a boat and took off for
Florida. That's all the information you can get about it, but when he
got down here to Florida I found out why they came downthen and I've been
trying to find out ever since I've been here why people come to Florida.
There's generally three reasons. Some of them are really, in the old
days it was a health problem. My uncle had asthma and my sister had
asthma and they came down on that. That was the excuse, see. My uncle
died of acute appendicitis and my sister died because of the affects of
asthma because she never did get over it. Some, in the old days, they came
down here getting away from the law. They don't, there not doing, I
don't think there are too many coming down here now but the old
days you hear some of them talking he's saying. You say,
well, he says I'm out of state, too, but I can go back home. My witnesses
are dead. I've been talking to this club here and I made a vow, last
time I talked here that I would never talk again because I donft like
to make a vow because I can't get back in the response again, but I've
been having, the thing that I have been having to tell the people here,
what happened to the steam boats, did they get here ahead of the trade
boats, what happened to the pineapples, and what happened to the fishing
industry and what happened to the mosquitoes? Well, the mosquo'itoes
and the railroad are pretty well kept. Well, they're here but there's
not really as much of them as there used to be. And the next question
they ask me is, what did I find when I came down here? What was my most,
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first observation and how was I impressed with Fort Pierce. Well,
you know a little lad of three years should be very observant and learn
a whole lot. But when I got my eyes opened and found out, looked around,
I just saw three things. There was wood and plenty of wood, plenty of water
and there was plenty of mosquitoes. I could've sold the blood I donated
to the mosquitoes, I wouldn't be talking to you hear tonight. That's the
truth, but in the old days it was hard. You picture me, I'll show
you a picture after a while if you want to. When we were up a mile
north of here, we, father bought a mile north of the courthouse
if you remember where is. That's the
part of it and the other side across the railroad track is
So when they _. But there
were no roads here. There's nothing but woods and before the railroad
when we lived up there a mile north of town we could get home by sailboat,
or rowJoat or walk down the river bank. When they put the railroad in
why we could walk down the railroad. And now you can imagine what that
was to do Now I happened to be, the railroad happened to be at that time
I went to school. Tht 's where I got most of my education, walking down
the railroad tracks. But it was, i can tell you it was a lot of fun here.
We lived it up the hard way. The things I had never been able to find
out, never been able to forget, but it's really a fact. All the families
here were large families. They were supposed to have five or better. We
beat them because we had seven and until
and gotten broken hearted or something_ took a notion
to commit suicide. During that time we had no doctors or drug stores. There
weren't no and no sanity. And after that the Englishman committed
suicide. He broke the spell and you can see from that he
St. Lucie Tape #f \\'
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did a good job when he broke the spell. I want some of you to try to
figure that out.They get all Ithe modern medicine and there's plenty of
babies born and no doctors, no drug stores. There it is. We moved down
and I Mr. Healy said, I took a part in everything that was going on
The most important thing I did was I played on the baseball
team. We had a very rich land owner here a home owner named Col. Buzzee.
The jersips were manufactured at Bud's Baby Shoes.
Well he told us that if we let us call ourselves, that was his advertising
trademark and everything was three little pink-baby-boots. So he made
us, he told us if we would advertise, let, wear, he'd buy uniforms, bats,
and he had a by that time and he would take us where we
wanted to go He would just as soon daddy us if we could call ourselves
the Rosebuds. And you know, it would be a hard thing to get a team
like that, boys fiteen, sixteen years old to, about to take up with
a name like that. Well, what I used to do when I was out there, and I was
the Pepper Mattin of the team. I was jumping up and sown and letting him
have it. The Col. was over there leaning up against another one of his
buddies,kind of batting his eyes, and I look at him. I look at him and
he's just like a bound bandy rooster. Well, that was when I was fifteen
years old, and I couldn't get away from it, but I advise any of you,if
you had, well I don't guess there's too many children from this place, but
if you do have any children and do have a chance to naem them, if you give
them a nickname of Banty, it's really worth money because I tell you right
now, any of you who are in here tonight, regardless if you this is the
first time you've met me or not you will never forget if you come back
here in one year or three years or five years you'll say I know of some
St. Lucie Tape V ^\
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down there is Fort Pierce aamed Banty something. Well, that's
all you have to have. But it's really worthwhile b-ecause when you do that
you're a part of it. We have the, and the next thing I joined was the
Fort Piercband said. I had a lot of fun with that, We
played for, believe it or not, way back, way back, in 1902 we played for
auctions. We played for the first auction in Palm Beach. If I had sense
enough to bought a lot for what I could have bought it for back then I
wouldn't be talking to you bere tonight. I'd be just fooling around.
But the part that Fort Pierce started, of course, was fishing. It went good
for a while and pineapples was good for a while and then it was really
worthwhile. But the people of Fort Pierce, in this community seemed to be
able to play ahead of the game. When they saw that fishing was getting
out and pineapples were giving out they started planting 'igoves. And
of course they went from groves to tomatoes and from then on we've been
doing all right. And I think that one of the things, I had a very
I've been very disturbed about the world affairs. And I've been very
unhappy about it, but I've been thinking about what I could do about it.
And I realize that I certainly couldn't do very much. But then I thought
I would do a little thinking about St. Lucie County. You'd be surprised
When I analyzed St. Lucie County, the condition they're in now, with their
city commissioners and county commissioners in this county, I believe this
county is being better run, better managed in every way than any place
that I would ever want to be. I watched it. I know that they're doing
such a good job that I wouldn't want to take over. I would like to have
the job in the summers, but I certainly wouldn't want the worries and
troubles they have. And I wouldn't want to try to get elected again.
You know, I want to tell you that's probably what you think I've been doing
St. Lucie Tape #l I
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but this city and county affairs and with all of it and I've observed the
way the people live and how much time they've been on somebody else.
All the different organizations tonight. There's not people here
tonight because they're all off doing something. Girl:Scouts, the Boy
Scouts, YMCA, and one thing aftekanother. The people lived here
apparently for someone else and it makes it a mighty nice place to live
because I, I started to cut the headlines out of the paper this morning
but when you come to Fort Pierce, the only thing that happens bad in
Fort Pierce is I saw a sing if we stand on, we crawl, united we crawl.
I never knew that was right thing to say but I guess you got a picture of
it and that was it. Now to make this more interesting you can either
go now or I could keep on with all this, but would you rather have me,
ask me some questions and I'll try and answer you. If I can't answer
you I will tell you and if you don't why, we'll see how we could get this
table up and see what we can do with those pictures. What do you want
to do? Do you have any questions? Well it looks like we elected.
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