Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-08-27

hoars Of a passage over the very seas which
we're once lit up with the flames Of the de.
voted vessels which Blackboard had captur-
ed - = 's-' w - - ...,5,-,..
It seems that his favorite haunt, or rem.
dezvous,s: was that part of North Carolina
to which We have saboye referred: In his
time, it was an ;unexplored wilderness; ap-
Eproachable from the ocean by navigation
made dangerous by the shifting sands,
which have since accumulated so as to form
the narrow strip which now divide the wa
ters of the sounds from those of the ocean
and on the land side, protected by the mi
asmas, the fens, the realities and the super
fstitions Of that uupenetrated and seemingly
limpenetrable morass-the Great Dismal.
The traditions which exist.in this neighbor-
hood of the pirate captain are too we'll au-
thenticatedsby the history of the times in
which he lived to be denied. One belief
has fastened itself upon the entire popula-
tion of the vicinity, which is, that immense
treasures lie buried in the earth around the
cove in which he used to rendezvous.
The gentlemen, who were in town on
Saturday, give the best corroboration of
this tradition, by stating that they have
discovered large iron chest buried in the
earth, and which they have no doubt con-
tains some of Blackbeards silver. It was
for the purpose of obtaining possession of
the chest that they purchased the lodestone.
They, in common with most Of the in
habitants of that section, are very super
stitious as their statement of the'results of
the many efforts which they have made to
get possession Of the chest, fully show
Yet, 'sthere being more things in heaven
and earth, than ever were dreamt of in our
philosophy" who is ready to discredit their
story, merely because it is marvellous p
They say that at almost any time they can
dig down to the chest, and obtain sight
of it, but 80 soon as they touch it, it is a.
gain covered by the sand. On one occa-
sion one of them struck it with his spade,
when blue smoke ascended from it toward
the sky, and an eagle, which had hitherto
been soaring aloft at a distance, suddenly
swept toward the smoke, circled around it
there, and then disappeared, screaming
loudly. ...
On another. occasion, when they had
came in yieH,of the chest, after q long dig
ging, and were concerting the means of
getting it out, they heard a cracking in the
leaves behind them, and upon looking round,
beheld Blackboard himself advancing to-
wards them. They shrank back terrified,
and the figure continued to advance to the
chest without seeming to notice them. He
folded his arms and stood motionless, ga
zing at the chest for some time, then turn
ed and walked off, without having noticed
the men in any way. When they repaired
to the spot after his departure, they found
the sand again over the chest, and the pit
which they had dug filed up even with the
earth's surface.
On several occasions they have been star
tied from their labors by the sound of sew
eral seemingly fully manned boats coming
up the creek with the long regular sweep
of well trained oarsmen.
They can hear the orders passed as the
boats come to the shore, the clang of the
cutlasses being drawn as the band forms on
the beach; the steady tramp of the sturdy
warriors as they get the order to advance;
and then when they appear to the awestruck
lockers on, their gaze seems to turn neither
to the right nor to the left until their arri.
val at the chest, when they open ranks and
form circle around it, each looking fixed.
ly ut it. After standing thus short while
they reform, and retrace their way to the
shore, and again comes the sounds of the
cutlasses being sheathed, of the orders to
re-embark, and of the same long stroke Of
the ghostly oars gradually fading away in
to silence. Again is the pit filled up, the
chest lost to view, and all their labor to be
again gone over. ,
Thisis the story of these men, and mark
you, fully credited by themselves, whatever
the reader may think of it. Hearing that
the lodestone would be available in draw
ing the chest from the pit when once open
they came down here to procure it.
May untold riches reward them, and may
the ghost of Blackboard and his horde be
banished from the habitations of men, into
the deep fastness of the Dismal, where civ
ilization is hot likely to annoy them for
another generation.-NoJolk Journal