Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-06-14
Laftte's Lucre

Lafitte's Lucre
A New Orleans paper says: Again "
have the periodical excitement about III
hidden treasure, which, 1t has alway
been Z profound and mystic belief c
many people, was buried on some of til
sand slips or islands in the Adjacert bay
and lakes, by that renowned pirate, Jea
LATTE. 1t is customary every summe
for some poor, deluded fellow to fit ont
small smack and embark on an expedition
to search for this long-concealed wealth
He is ono of q large number who hav
been innoculated at some period of hi
life with the Lahtte fever. Some old
cas.away. broken down sailor has bull
dozcd him for drink, with yarn abou
IN old sailor, who had led very mys.er
ious early life, and became lcgetee of {
valuable secret indicating the exact spo
On "isle des pois," the Chandeliers, Of
in Barataria Bay, where he had helped
Lafitte to dig deep grave, IN which were
deposited mnny thousand doubloons
Warmed up by repeated drains and other
Testimonials of affection, the mysterious
stranger finally seals his profession OF
friendship to his new friend by transferr-
ing the legacy to him, and placing in his
possession an ancient and tarry paper,
wbereon is drawn q rough draft Of the
place in which this valuable deposit has
been made. This transferee of this in
valuable secret takes 1t home with him,
thinks and dreams of it, talks about it to
his friends, ELECTS their sympathy and
excites their avarice, and then they all SET
TO work to lay by small stipcnds to dtfrsy
the expenses of expeditions to search for
this treasure. Thus, these periodical
ylsitations to the desola.c Islands, and the
furtive movements Of the individuals en-.
gagged in them, their careful avoidance of
oil observation of prying and suspicious
persons, their nightly digging in the sof,
sand, and their large imbibatons Of
whisky and deep slumbers in the day.
After few weeks of this sort of work
and enjoyment, the whisky and salt pork
having given out, the expeditions con-
cIude to return home, a little dscourag ed,
but not hopeless, and agree to renew their
search the next summer; anyhow, they
had refreshed their minds aud bodies, andl
could afford to wait year more to realize
their golden joys.
The last of these expeditions was made
to the Temple, q shell mound In Barataria,
where it had been most conclusiyely
proved that the secretivc pirate had buried
his dOubl0ons. Four or five ambitious
young men proceeded In a boat to a Ger
tain spot, and set to work with picks and
spades and dug away for days and weeks
in pursuit of the aforesaid doub!oons
They did an amount of work which,,
would have produced a crop of potatoes
enough TO feed them all the year; but
nary . dsubloon ever gladdened their
sight, They went away iu disgust, lcav.
ing deep hole in the ground, which will /.
no doubt set the imagination of future :,
generations to work to invent some wild !.
romance as to its origin and purpose. 4.
Poor John Newell, the infatuate | vic.
tim of this LATTE dcluson, brought his .
annual expeditions, prosecuted alone for :
many successive summers in pursuit of :,
Lafitte's treasure, to sad and melan-
choly close three or four years ago. John o
was Woodworking printer. a silent,
Mysterious man, who seemed always bur. y
dened with some weighty and grave Sc.
cret.
He worked all the winter through at his
case with wonderful diligence, saving and ii
laying by Of bis weekly earnings a small 81
Ium, with which, at the beginning of the a.
or June-he would proceed
10 equip his smack. and laying up pro- Il.
Visions and tools, would silently and uu-
beknown to all of his faiends slip out of h
The New Canal, and, giving his sail to the le
wind, would glide over the smooth sur h
face OF Lake Pontchartrain, heading to- "
ward the Risolets and threading that "
'trait,, would launch boldly on the rougher G,
bosom Of Lake Borgne, which, by the by, Il
IS no lake at all, but simply an inlet OF the d.
Gulf. and pointing toward a little sand f.
island, would sail therefor, and arriving Ia
It a anchor, would wade ashore and re- b,
'nme the digging which lie had abandoned b.
he year before, and had silently pursued :
Tor many years, in strict conformity to
very exact chart which had been given to
him by . grateful old fellow, pirate and
trusted friend of Lafi,te, TO whom John . Sc
'ather had given shelter and food for R
many years preceding his death. p'
Alas In the last of John Newell's ex- OF
his little Sack was struck by er
tornado, and come days afterwards 1t N
vas discovered afloat, bottom upwards, OF
Ind the body of the unfortunate but ia
;rcduious mar was found near. He had fe
,een washed or blown from the deck ofa
'is smack before he reached the place of 81
,is annual search for Lafitte's doubloons ht
ais fate was exactly similar to that of the OF
'omance which filled his mind and colored gi
NJ his thoughts for many years. tv
We tried once, by reference to the facts IN
II JEAN Latitte's disappearance from this :