Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-06-26
treasure from the peep.

The Washington Republican has the
following further account Of matter
alluded to in our telegraphic dispatches.
The iron safe lately taken from the
wreck of the ill-fated United States ship.
of-war Cumberland, run into and sunk
by the Confederate ram Merrimac, in
Hampton Roads, in 1862, is now on ex-
hibition In this city. 1t is an old.fash-
Toned concern, square, about the size Of
common size iea-chest, and built of
cast iron. When found it was lying on
its side, buried in about four feet of mud
on deck next to the one where it stood
when the ship went down. Rust has
eaten through it in several places, and
there is an opening Oh its side about
three inches wide, caused, it is supposed,
by the explosion Of a torpedo. 1t is
said that, through this opening a shower
of nearly $4,000 in gold coin marked the
track OF its ascent from the wreck to the
schooner None of it, of course, can
ever be recovered, as the water there is
nearly one hundred feet deep and the
tide very swift The parties who have
the safe are silent in regard to its con.
tents, and are not likely to tell the
amount of its treasure, but it is conf.
IDENTIFY believed that their banking ac-
count has been increased about SIS 900
in gold. Fully this amount has been
expended in various vain endeavors to
find it before these parties undertook
the job, One company alone, at the
head of which was Ex-Governor Gilbert
Q. Walker, is known to have sunk $25,-
600 in the fruitless enterprise. 1t is
known now that those who formerly
searched for this money were many
times either standing on the very spot or
very near it, and had they known vt
could have easily put their hands on il
The deck around it had been shattered
and the safe itself been partly blown
open by torpedoes being exploded beside
it. While. Captain Brown was searching
for the spot where he supposed the safe
to be he stumbled against what he sup.
posed to be log OF wood, but what he
subsequently was horrifed to find was
the ghastly remains of man, hardened
and petri6ed into stone, standing solid
and erect lone sentinel, watching. .as
it were, the treasures Of the deep sur
rounded BY the bones of his lost COM
rades wLo died with him whilst vainly
and nobly battling Tor the preservation
Of their good and beloved old ship. 1t
was when endeavoring to raise this
strange object out of its grave of mud
he found the safe, which was Immediately
taken up and broughtto Norfolk. Brown
has been most successful diver, having
performed many dangerous and difficult
operations of the kind, both here and in
England O. &c. Maltby, who employs
him, and who gets the bulk of his money,
is merchant of this city, and is largely
engaged in wrecking operations in all
parts of the United States. He will
doubtless put the gold where it will dc
the most good Several suspicious char
acters, attracted here, it is supposed, by
the announcement that the safe would
not be opened until the arrival of certain
interested Detroit parties, have been put
under the surveillance of the police
Three Of them, two nights before the
safe was opened, we're found secreted il
the back yard of the Atlantic Hotel
where the safe was kept, but made theii
escape before they could be arrested"