Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-06-07
A PIRATES TREASURE.
Wealth Supposed to Have Been Hiddel
in Cave on Norman's Island,

Wealth Supposed to Have Been Hidden
in Cave on Norman's Island.
One morning about thirty years ago a fish
ernan of one of the Virgin Islands in the
West Indies arrived at Road Town, Tortola,
the capital, with story that a large schoon-
er was anchored off the coast of Norman's
island, one of the group, and that her boats
were moving along the shore. The island
being uninhabited there could be no question
of smuggling; nevertheless, the circumstance
was SO extraordinary that an expedition was
at once organized to investigate.
On arrival off the point indicated by the
fisherman, the schooner was, sure enough, in
sight, but was already far off in the offing,
making all sail to the westward. A dim sus-
picion of the real facts of the case induced
the party now to extend their Investigations
INTO the ''Bat Hole" deep sea tunneled cav
ern extending far into the bowels OF the
island, and that bore the reputation of hay
ing been the treasure vault of pirates in
olden days. Tradition peopled the place with
ghosts and other undesirable inhabitants, and
so nothing could induce the fishermen to col
onize the island despite its excellent fisheries.
The old fisherman took the exploring party
TO his own settlement near by, and there they
were furnished with boats torches, ETC., and
thus equipped they made sail once more for
Norman's island. They entered the cavern
despite the protests of thousands of bats that
rushed around the torches. On either side a
narrow sandy beach sloped from the perpen-
dicular walls, leaving channel of more or
less uniform width, in which the boat could
with difficulty be turned. After a search of
half an hour or so the explorers came to a
spot where the solid wall of the cavern had
only recently been attacked with pick The
pick itself lay prone on the pile of debris that
Uttered the beach below.
On closer investigation the debris was
found to consist of mason work, and to have
formed the walling up of a vaulted chamber
sunk into the rock, about four feet square.
Scattered about among the fragments of
masonry were found a few pieces of old Span
ish gold and silver coin and a jeweled sword
hilt, together with a sheet of paper, on which
were written explicit instructions for the find
ing of the vault, in which it was stated that
vast quantity of treasure had been stored
away by Capt. Kidd and some of his COM
panions.
There was nothing mysterious about the
paper. 1t was simply memorandum, far
more exact than grammatical in the instruc-
lions it contained, written on an ordinary
sheet of foolscap paper. Attached was said
to be chart of the island, but this was not
found. As there were no means of obtain
ing the identity of the schooner no action
could be taken in the matter by the local gov
eminent But that long hidden piratical
treasure had been carried off there was no
room to doubt, in the face of the discoveries
made. AS to its having been Capt. Kidd's
may of course be questioned, but there does
not appear to be any reason to doubt the as
sertion of the memorandum that had SO
truthfully guided the treasure hunters to the
goal of their desires -Nashville American.