Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-10-27

The monumental fraud in the way of
sunken gold, writes Il correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press, is right in the harbor of
New York. and not more than eight miles
from the centre Of that great metropolis.
allude TO the British frigatc IIussar, which
ran into one Of the Hell Gate rocks late in the
Revolutionary war; was bulged in forward,
and sunk near the spot where the Morrisania
gas works are now situated, in about eighty
feet of water. She was Il first-cass frigatc,
and, according TO popular belief, carusd abou,
~ 100000 in gold for the payment of the
British army in America. Right where the
Hussar went down thcrc is II very strong tide
and an eddy tina, renders work very difficult
but not long after the close Of the war efforts
to get at her treasures were begud, and they
have been kept up, with occasional intermis-
sions, ever since. In 1862 first had the idea
of raising slrnlen ships that applied in 1857
in Sebastopol, and then thought of apply
ing it to the Ilussar; but in undertaking a
scheme of this sort always want to make
sure that the treasure | am looking for is
where have reason 10 think it is. So |
went to England and commenced thorough
search through the records with regard to the
irigatc llussnr. hired numbers of search.
ers and made II complete investigation
among the papers Of the admiralty and in
the pay department, and at length satisfied
myself that the $1,000, coo carried by the
Ilussar had been landed and duly distributed
to the paymasters. Whether it ever reached
the troops did not take the trouble to in
quirc. When | came back to New York |
was called upon by a friend who wanted me
TO go into the scheme Of raising the Hussar.
laughed at him and told him CT my search
among the records, but in spite of my warn-
ing he quit me and put $40, 900 in the scheme.
For thirty years the search after this treasure
(which does not exist has been unremit-
tlngly carried on, and to-day, if you walk
out lOslh street to the water front, in Nor
rissania Il won't be certain about the street,,
you will sec schooner mOored of the shore,
equipped with an engine and sending down
DIVES whenever the tide suits. The hackers
of the scheme are n lIostOnian company. |
never heard OF Their recovering anything eX-
ccpt few wooden cupsand platters and sun
dry guineas with the likeness of George III.
And Yet the search has been kept up for thirty
years, and good monty has been sank in the
wreck of ihe old linssar--thousand and
thousands of IT, My friend who invested the
> III, COO called osce me when returned from
Russia, and told me he was CORY he had no,
taken my warning, but ! could see that he
still hanker,d ter the supp )sed treasure,
and that he still had lingering belief II its
existence, despite his sad experience went
out to Morrisania and witnessed the diving
for the treasure. which was done without
conccament aud became more and more
convinced hal there was nothing worth div
ing for. The theory of the manager was that
the llussar's guincas had been packed in
iron boxes, and that the material In these
had been oXidi2ed by the influence of the
sea- that thus the divers were forced to work
slowly with drills and could accomplish no
satisfactory ssults. The fact is that certain
persons Interested III the scheme saw a chance
of making money without raising it from the
deep, and awaited themselves of 1t. One
man whose whsle life has bean devoted to
the HussaI and its supposed treasures, has
built row Of brick dwelling houses in Bos.
ton am told, aud Ia very wclsto-do, but
the money did not come from the Hussar.
need not say more This is one of tile
most persstently followed searches for sunk
en- treasure that ever heard of but then,
you see, there Were treasures that never had
been sunk that were available for its promo.
tiers