Island gossip was not unlike the game of “Chinese Whisper” and it could spread like wild-fire. If something of interest happened in Port Elizabeth, by the time word of it reached Paget Farm the facts bore no resemblance at all to what had really occurred. I was always amazed, on an Island with very few telephones, how quickly gossip traveled!
Before my Mother and Father (Ron and June Armstrong} bought a house on the Island they stayed at the Frangipani Hotel while on Bequia. One night they had dinner with two friends in the hotel’s dining room, and at the end of the evening the couple decided to walk to where they were staying in Friendship instead of trying to find a taxi. They bid my parents good evening and left.
Mom and Dad’s friends got as far as the gap to Princess Margaret Beach when out of the bushes jumped two men with knives. The man was ordered to hand over his wallet, the lady her purse, then the thieves scampered down the rugged road to the beach. Luckily the police were hunting manicou that night, and a passing vehicle got them to the scene of the crime almost immediately. The police went down to the beach and apprehended the two thieves trying to hide themselves in the sand. It was said that they were from Grenada, and a search of their boat uncovered many stolen travelers’ cheques, foreign currency, wallets and purses.
That was the REAL story but it quickly became distorted as word spread throughout the Island. My parents were already peacefully sleeping in their hotel room, unaware that they had suddenly become victims of a terrible crime.
The robbery was big news, such crimes were unheard of on Bequia! By the time word of the incident got to Friendship (which was almost immediately) it wasn’t Mom and Dad’s friends who had been robbed, rather Mom and Dad themselves. In La Pompe Father Armstrong and his wife had been beaten and robbed. It was much worse by the time news of the crime got to Paget farm, by then Father and Mrs. Armstrong had been beaten, tied up, robbed and then stabbed to death with knives!
I learned very quickly not to believe anything unless I saw it happen with my own eyes, and even THEN I would have my doubts!