Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-13

soon had the satisfaction of seeing 1T
gradually rise to the surface. We pre-
sently had it high and dry ON the sandy
shore, and estimated it to weigh about
two hundred weight. Next we dragged
it to the boat, and taking it to the
schooner, rugged our 1mpromptu der
rick, and soon hoisted it on deck. The
men then returned to the shore for
water, in which quest they were entirely
successful, filling our barrels with an
article of the purest and best quality.
| A close examination of our discovery
satisfied me that, in it's present shape,
it was the work of human hands, though
for what purpose it had been formed
could not conjecture. The sides were
evidently cemented together with some
composition, which time had rendered
as solid as the stone itself; and as felt
certain there must have been some rea-
son, whose secret was perhaps conceal
ed within it, Coz the construction of
such an adamantine strong box, pro-
ceeded at once to break it open-not
an easy task by any means, as soon
discovered.
After many efforts with everything
hard and heavy that there was ct hand,
I at length succeeded In separating One
of the sides from the others, when ]
found that the article was in reality a
stone box, whose cavity, however, was
only about six inches square. In it
there was q small roll of parchment,
tied around with silver wire. On open
ing the parchment I found it to be a
single sheet, measuring ten inches in
length by four in width, anu covered
on the inside with strange characters,
bearing no similarity to the alphabet of
any language with which / was &C.
quainted. Some of the characters, to
be sure, resembled the cuneiform, or
arrow headed inscriptions of the East,
but as these we're mingled with others,
apparently Hebrew, and still others that
might be Turkish or Arabic, / could
not form any reasonable theory as yet.
So finally concluded to keep box
and parchment until my return to New
York, and there submit them to some
erudite scholar who would perhaps be
able to decipher them. Having formed
this decision, I locked the parchment
up in my desk, and as we had obtained
all the water we needed, ordered the
anchor to be hauled up, and sail being
made, we started again ON our cruise,
intending to continue to the western
most end of the Keys, and then to re-
turn to the st. Mary's.
We anchored that evening in little
inlet about twenty miles from the spot
where we had found the stone chest,
and, as was my usual custom, sat In
the cabin reading and smoking by the
light of the swinging lamp overhead,
until Is was near my bedtime. had
taken the precaution, before leaving
New York, to lay III q good stock of
books of an entertaining character, and
at this time was deeply interested in
Poe's tales, which / had never before
read. Somehow. az :. would seem, prov
=. .~...r...y, Judging from after events in
fuenced by the fact, I happened to light
that evening on his story OF the So Gold
Bug" and thej idea struck me at once,
in peruslng it, that the characters on my
parchment might not be those of any
4aIIyy usTg1,y-..~-.
cypher, easily discoverable if one could
obtain, the key. Thus thinking, drew
the parchment from my desk, and sp.
piled myself to its study with deter
mined curiosity.
The processes of deciphering what is
commonly called "cypher- writing" had
been familiar to me from previous stud
les. I knew the letters and words that
most frequently made theirappearance;
understood the various tests used for
proving the validity of guesses or dis
coveries, and in ordinary cases should
have had little difficulty with the pres
emit writing. But, unfortunately, [ did
not know the language in which it was
originally written, and until that were
| discovered it must remain sealed book
to me.
Presently I began to imagine the
reasons that could induce any
one to deposit with such secrecy
and care CIPHER inscription. It was
evidently intended to be found by some
body, or it could not have been written
and buried. It must be of importance
and Their at once returned to me all the
stories had heard and read of buried
treasures. The names of all the pirates
came to nay memory OF once; Kidd
Blackboard, Spriggs, Edwards, Anne
Bonny,-then I turned to the MS
again, and, concluding that the lower
short line might be signature, tried i
by eli nv names. It fitted Edwards
but in this signature there was evident
" a double letter, SO [ gave tina
| up. While I was bordering. an6
endeavoring to remember another
name, the captain came into thu
cabin, and [ asked his assistance-tell
ing the names of which I had alread,
thought; he at once reminded me O
LATHE! LATTE! the Pirate Of thu
Gulf How could I have forgotten
him? I tried it with my CIPHER sigma
ture, and it fitted exactly-the double
being the precise letter I wanted. Find
ing the name, as he was a Frenchman
I of course had the language, and th'
labor was simple after that. Withou
bothering my readers with all the de
tails, which were slow and tedious,
will at once place before them the re
suit of my Investigation.
at the northeast of the first high tree aaed
the point, seventeen feet, note q little rock, O
fraqnaens of coral the treasure IS under tn
| FRAGMENT /; aoho finds 1t can haze 1t. For me
I am going to dse-,oittout pity-'ostho'tt re
morse for my aoretched life. For The treasure
[ eciA a6dssdo~ 1t. LAFITTE.
10 r1ako