He Mapped Success for Georgia

--Real estate developers have always had a reputation for trying to put the best possible face on a land deal, so it may come as no surprise to learn that James Edward Oglethorpe, who founded the colony of Georgia in 1733, may have deliberately doctored early maps of the region to enhance its attractiveness to settlers and investors. According to Louis DeVorsey, a University of Georgia geographer who analyzed the 250-year-old maps, Oglethorpe moved towns and rerouted rivers to extend the colony’s boundaries and minimize the threat posed by neighboring Indians and French and Spanish settlers. The original map of Georgia, drawn by Oglethorpe and Benjamin Martyn, was “the product of a careful and perhaps even painstaking effort” to make the colony seem bigger and safer than it was, DeVorsey said in the current issue of the British journal Imago Mundi. DeVorsey compared Oglethorpe’s map to a relatively accurate one prepared by Indian trader Thomas Nairne in 1708 and found that Oglethorpe moved the line of French settlement west to the Mississippi River, moved the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine 100 miles south, and deleted other French, Spanish and Indian settlements altogether.

--Actor James Cagney spent the last 25 years of his life playing the role of gentleman farmer raising Scottish highland cattle on his farm in Milbrook, N.Y. When he died last March 30 at age 86, he willed the property to his widow, Billie. Now his beloved 487-acre retreat is up for sale. The entire estate, save for the house and a bit of property being retained by Billie Cagney, can be had for about $5.1 million, according to Mark Reinhardt, spokesman for the property owners who bought the land from Billie Cagney for an undisclosed sum. Parcels range in price from $9,000 to $15,000 an acre.

--A four-day state visit to Britain by Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd got off to a belated start when security forces halted a train carrying the king, his royal entourage and Prince Charles and Princess Diana for about 20 minutes when an unidentified object was discovered on a railroad bridge over the Thames River. The delay forced a visibly annoyed Queen Elizabeth II to cool her heels on a red-carpeted platform at London’s Victoria Station. She was all smiles, however, when the king, clad in gold-trimmed black robes, finally stepped off the train, and they soon sped away in the gold-gilt 1902 Irish State Coach for the half-mile procession to Buckingham Palace. A palace spokeswoman declined to say what the object on the railroad bridge was. British Rail officials refused comment.