Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-05-03
CAPTAIN KIDD's TREASURE.

PANAMA, May 1.-Soveral stories are
told OF the revelations OF the secret local.
ties and the recovery OF the buried trea-
sures OF Captain Kidd, but few Of them
are really authentic. can, however, tell
OF the truth OF which am convinced.
One morning about thirty years ago, or
probably earlier, 0 fisherman OF one Of
the Virgin Islands, In the West Indies,
arrived at Road Town Tortola, the capt.
tai, with a story that q large schooner
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 60 extraordinary
that an expedition was at once organized
to investigate. My father, who at that
time held an official appointment on the
island, headed the party.
On arrival of the point indicated by
the fisherman, the schooner described
was, sure enough, In sight, but was al
ready lar of IN the olllng, making all sail
TO the westward. A dim suspicion of the
real factb OF the case Induced the party
now to extend their investigations into
the bat Hole" q deep, sea-tunDeled
cavern extending far into the bowels of
the leland, and that bore the reputation
Of having been The treasure vault Of
pirates In olden days. Tradition peepled
the place with ghosts and other undosir-
able inhabitants, and 80 nothing could
induce the fishermen to COLOMBO tho
island, despite its excellent fisberIes
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 narrow sandy beach s'oped from
the perpendicular walls, leaving chan
mel of more or less uniform width in
which the boat could with difficulty be
turned.
After a search OF half an hour or 80
the explorers came upon = spot where
the solid wall of the cavern had only
recently been attacked with q 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 masonwork and to have
formed the waliing up OF a vaulted
chamber sunk into the r, ek, about four
tee. square.
Scattered about among the fragments
OF masonry were found few pieces OF
old Spanish gold and silver coin and a
jeweled sword hilt, together with u sheet
of paper, on which were written explicit
instructions for the finding Of the vault,
in which II was stated that vast guam
tity of treasure had been stored away by
Captain Kid and some OF his com
pAuinns.
II may be added that there was nothing
mysterious about the PAPER" 1t was
simply memorandum, far more exact
than grammatical In the Instructions II
contained, written on an ordinary fools
cap paper. Attact ed was said TO be
chart OF the island, but this was not
found.
As there were no means of ascertain.
ing the identity Of the schooner, of course
no acttcu Gu Il be taken In the IN after
by the local government. But that q
long hidden plratlcal treasure had been
carried oil there was no room to doubt,
In face OF the discoveries made. As TO
It's having been Captain Kidd's may, of
course, be questioned but there does not
appear to be any reason to doubt the as
s,rtlon OF the memorandum that had so
truthfully guided the treasure hunters to
the goal OF their desires