The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-09
THAT BURIED TREASURE.
No Probability of its Being a Very
Big Find.
Prom the Balijlnore .4mericun.


ONANCoCK, VA, Feb 27.--ihe 4mericun
correspondent has visited the Hack farm,
on Nandua creek, where, according to re-
port Lorenzo Dow Maars recently found a
large amount Of buried treasure This
yoUng man, VINO, with his aged father and
a younger brother, resides as a tenant on
the farm, sUlll denies that any considerable
amount of money has been found, but says
that the fad consisted of few old Spanish
CONS, which We're picked up i'll the freshly
piowed garden, near the bouSe. One OF
these old coins was seen by the correSpon-
dent, and though it was somewhat detaCed
by age Il. corroding rust, it still bears in
legible characters the following Latin in
scripuon: "Cdr0lus ecHnduS, Del CRATIC
HiSDdniCl Re.cn The date, though lndis-
tinct, is probably 1864.
The finding of these old coins has broug'
to light the remarkable history of the old
place, which, with ali the land Tor several
miles around, was taken up about the mid
die of the seventeenth century by DeVereuX
Browne. under a grant from Charles |. of
England. Browne owned large number
OF African slaves and was thought to have
possessed an immense treasure in money,
which, according to local custom then
prevalent here he concealed in tie earth.
His negroes thinking they knew where
the treasure was buried, killed their
master and hid his body in the
dense forest that then bordere1 the
picturesque Naudua creek. Their crime
was detected and all the guilty parties were
duly executed, being the first persons ever
hanged on the ca tern shore OF Virginia.
Browne immense estate then passed to his
legal heirs, the Hack family, from whom all
the land living between Pungoteague and
Nandua creeks was called Hacks Neck
The estate remained III the hands of the
Hack family for five successive generations.
Mr. Peter Hack who still lives at Pungo-
league, was the last one OF that name to
own the old homestead.
Devereux Brownies bur ed treasure was
never found, thuugd the traditions about 1t
descended from generation to generation.
Shortly after the close of the late civil war,
Mr.. Z, ter Hack, who thep owned the place,
discovered two strange neg oes one night IN
the yard sticEing sharp iron spikes III the
ground, as If searching for trea> ure. He
drove them off, but soon thereafter two
white RAJ gers arrived there, and offered
Mr.. Hack s., 900 for the privilege If search
ing the farm for buried treasure. He de-
clined to do his, but agreed to accept $3.50
for the injury that would be done to his
farm by having it defaced and dug up,
with the provso that he was to receive
one-half OF all the treasure that might
be discovered AS soon as the agree
went out in the yard and sho k a white
handkerchief, whereupon three strange
negroes emerged from neghboring wool,
came up to the house, and bega to dig up
the yard. They soon struck brick founda-
ton, and when the dirt was cleared away
there was seen to be a circular brick in the
center OF square, at each corner of which
was crescent-shaped brick. This was sup
posel to be the resting place of the hidden
f,.aa hut no
cavatlo were continued III other parts of
the yard and along the winding shores of
the neighboring creek, which almost encir-
cles the beautiful little peninsula on which
the old mansion stands. After search
ing for more than month
the strangers gave up the vain quest
and went away. One of them proved
te be Welsh tue famous -four manufacturer,
of Alexandria, and one of the LegIoeS ac-
companying him had once been a servant
of the II icks, but had drifted to Washing
ton, where he told the tales about the hid
den treasure on the old Hack farm which
he had heard when boy. One of the 9th
er negroes is said to have been PRESIDENT
Lincoln's coachman. The strangers came
provided Wi an accurate chart of the
place, and the excavations they conducted
showed they possessed an intimate acquain-
tance with the former history of the place,
and these excavations, Of which visible
signs still remain, resembling earth
works on an old battlefield, were
carried on in places where the
earth was lined with bricks for Or feet
below the surface of the ground, and in
some of them were drched vaults which
might well have served in former times for
conceaing valuable treasures. Some say
that tGat locality was once the rendezvous
of Blackboard, the noted pirate who in
fes ed the waters of the Chesapeake in the
early part of the eighteent century, and
who was captured and killed during Gov.
Spotswoods administration, and others CON
tend tat Preason Richards the notorious
highwa5 man who once terroriZsd this
region, and was captured and hung
he shortly after the Revolutionary
war, had one of his dens on Nandua creek
/ has alrea ~ been stated that ON this farm
once lived the famous Queen of the Pungo-
league Indians, who were said b. Capt
John Smith, the founder Of the Virginia
colony, TO be the stou est and handso uest
savage he had seen in North America.
w ther the treasure recently reported TO
have been found there be great or small, 1T
is cert in that the Old place has very re-
markable and int resting history, which
might furnish the groundwork for u thrill
Jag romantic story.
MEDICAL.