The evening world., 1889-01-08
BURIED GOLD.
Another Expedition for the Treasure
at Turneffe Gay.
Inside Facts Of the Cruise Of
the Inflated Yacht Maria.
Casks of a Pirates Money Guarded by
Skeleton Sentrics.
si,5oc.ooo In the ouicksands Of the
Caribbean Sea.

despite the unsuccessful voyage of the Ill
fated yacht Maria on a similar errand III tie
Winter of 1878.
The new undertaking is under the direction
of Mr.. Alfred A. Horne, who was one OF the
original party which sailed on the Marin and
who is undeterred by the fate of the late John
Is. Peck, who recently died at his home in
Mount Holly, N. j., from the effects of the
exposure and hardships incidental to the
Maria expedition.
MI. Horne is n practical civil engineer and
has assisted in building a great many lines of
railroad in the United States and Mexico.
He was at one time City Surveyor of the city
of Auburn, in this State, and again nh as
sistant engineer in the construction of the
new Croton Aqueduct.
Mr.. Horne has never borne the reputation
of q visionary. and it is evident from his con-
yersation that he thoroughly and honestly
believes that the treasure which the unfor-
tunate Peck vainly tried to unearth is actually
buried on Turnefie Cay in the Caribbean Sea
and will be recovered.
The story of this wonderful treasure island
and the nttempt of the Maria party under the
leadership of Peck to find the pirates plant
of gold is told an EVENING WORLD reporter
by MIR. Horne. lie says:
" In September. 1887, ! was sojourning in
Ohio, when | received word from Lawyer
| Charles s. Beardsley. of this city, to come on
and JON IA party of experts who were to in
v~estigate M alleged find of silver ore at BuZ-
Yards Bay, Mass.
On my arrival in New York | was Intro
duced to Special Treasury AGENT John Is.
Peck. and was told that he was to he the
| commander of the expedition which was
gong to search for buried treasure, IN the
! Earihhean Sen instead of silver on tln MnS-
sachusetts coast.
II didn't think much Of the expedition. but
Mr.. Beardsley. who was an old friend, re
quested me to go with the party to represent
his interests. and / consented.
The necessary tools for eXcavatlng and n
Golfer dam were procured by me. and twas |
who selected the yacht Maria aud effected
her purchase from Broker Bliven.
THE CRUISE OF THE MARIA.
We got nfoat Oct. 10. There were be-
Barrett md the crew, John Il. Peck. COM
mnnder Of the expedition; Prof. Barker. at
one time teacher of mathematics Mt Annapolis
Naval Academy; f., /. Richar'S of Mobile,
Ala.; JOIN Nj. Davidson. the on" oce of the
party who possessed the secret of the treas
ure, and myself.
"Soon after we got under way il was evil
den that we had too much whiskey aboard
to have any discipline and there was none.
No attempt was made to keep the yacht ship
shape. The pumps were not tried for three
days, and then it took several hours to clear
her of water.
tered very heavy weather, and the Maria,
which was n light pleasure Yacht. Eavo way
III sails and rigging to such an extent that
she was rendered unseawOrthy.
AFTER II consultation it was decided that We
should try to make Turks Island aud repair
damages.
Peck was secretly opposed to this. He
wanted to make Kingston. and as he held the
1--l. al.N. -..rlA lao anraAl RIA ,.-,,n L..
run off three points. SO that by morning il
was found impossible 30 make Turks Island
with the yacht in her then ~unseaworthy con,
dition.
Kingston, where he would get n draft cashed
and send the crew home If necessary.
He tried TO exclude NE from n consultation
over the matter, but | said ns | was the per.
sonal representative of the heaviest investor
in the undertaking l should have my say.
I'VE did finally force him to make Great
I%nauqua in the Bahamas. We We're in the
roadsteud five days and here it developed 10
the satisfaction OF Judge Davidson nm / my.
self that there was n private agreement be.
tween Peck, Capt. Ward, the mnte and Prof.
Barker, and ] threatened to leave the eXpcdi-
ton. Richards and Davidson agreeing to fol
low me.
hailing n boat to so ashore when Peck, whC
knew that he could not get along without
Davidson and me, proposed II compromise.
lie would sail TOT hlupStOn, discharge
Capt. Ward. make the mate sailing master
and give over the of the expedition
10 Davidson.
Arrived Mt Kingston, Peck refused t.
carry out his agreement.
THE BOATS uNsEAwoRTHY.
THE yachts i oats had become unsea
worthy. She was i'll n terribly filthy condi
ton, and commander and crew did not seen
to have anything else to do but drink an,
get drunk.
AT Kingston there was liquor again ga
lore. and Davidson, Richard, and | quit il
disgust and returned TO Baltimore.
Deprived of the services of Judge David
son, the only man who possessed any knowl
edge of the location of the buried treasure
Peck had to make a blind hunt for it.
The story that he ranSacked the Judge
papers and founda an explanatory chart locat
: ing the place of the treasure, is all stuff ant
l CANNON IL is too simple n matter toned Il
be exploited on paper. There never existe,
a chart of this nature among Judge Davidson
effects.
\ Not knowing how to get at the treasur
on Turnetfe Cay, Peck had a ready ear 10
the story of two men he met in Kingston
about buried treasure in the island of SAINT
Catalina, near the lsthmus. aud he wentther
, with them.
"Of the voyage of the Maria after l left he
! knew nothing until / saw her at Belize il
=. January, 1888.
RETURNED TO NEW YORK.
- returned TO New York in November
I 1887, thinking TO have nothing more to d
with this buried treasure, but Judge David
n son proposed to me that We 90 TO Belize
visit Turnete Cay. look over and survey tn
ground, estimate the cost of excavation an
e make terms with the British Colonial Coy
eminent for the right to dig for the treasure
Judge Davidson had weakened my scep
il ticism regarding the existence of the treasur
by his circnmstantial and straightforward
story, and ! agreed TO accompany him.
y We went TO New Orleans by rail an
n Dallas, Dec. Is. Two days after our arrivi
were hired o boatman to take us to Turnetf
Cay and arrived there after three days.
: At THE TREASURE SPOT.
There we found the old ruined corr
structure ana the place where the Judge la
exhumed the skeletons seven years before.