Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-26
HIS BURIED FORTUNE.

In 1865 | went to Hong Kong in
the interest of certain English man
ufacturer, says a writer i'm the New
York Sun, and it was year and a half
later when one day received
strange visitor and stranger propo-
sition. was in charge of a large
warehouse, and one of my Chinese
employees brought in the stranger and
exclaimed:
" / told him you would have moth
ing to do with him, but he insisted on
coming"
The stranger was a half-breed of
some sort, gaunt, ragged, and evil
IDENTIFY hard up. As soon as we were
alone he introduced himself as Semyo
and stated that he was from the Island
of Luzon, one Of the group composing
the Philippines. He belonged to the
native population, but had Spanish
blood in his veins. He had once been
a man of Importance, but the Span
ards had robbed him of his power,
and afterward feared his influence to
such a degree that he had hrst been
imprisoned and afterward banished
He had been carried on a native craft
to Japan, and left there ragged and
penniless. and had been more than a
year reaching Hong Kong. While he
had only few shillings in his pockets
he had neither come to solicit charity
nor place to work. He had a
straight, square business proposition
to submit. If / approved of it, well
and good if | did not, then he would
be no worse off When he realized
that Spanish influence was plotting his
downfall, he made such preparations
as he could to meet the inevitable.
He was a very wealthy man, and he
quietly went to work and converted
everything he could into money, gold
dust and jewelry. He had got about
$50, 600 together when the ruling
power .,ounced upon him, but not
quick enough to get it. He had
cached or buried his fortune, and.
though he was abused and threatened
oy the Spaniards for months. he
wouldn't betray the secret
To get that money by his own indi-
vidual efforts was utterly impossible
The moment he set foot on Luzon he
would be arrested. He must have
partner who would furnish ship and
crew. ard he would go along to mark
she spot where the treasure was
buried.
! looked upon the man with pity
and upon his project with contempt
when he first began talking. When
he was through | had agreed to think
it over. There is fascination about
buried treasure or a sunken wreck that
will enlist capital to the detrimcnt OF
honest speculation. / was noted as
being conservative man and the
idea of my going into any such ven
ture would have been regarded by my
friends as evidence of approaching
mental calamity. | went to the
American consul and in roundabout
way he confirmed part of Semyo's
story He had heard of him and
heard of his being dep0sed and ban
ished. Then | went down to the
wharyes and almost the first man /
ran against was the Yankee captain
of a brig called the John, which was
then having some repairs made. She
had been running in the tea trade up
and down the Yellow sea, but now,
queeily enough, the captain informed
me that he thought Of taking run
over TO the Philippines and try for
cargo on his own account The nro-
ducts of the islands are ebony, log
wood. gumwood, bamboo. cocoanuts.
all sorts of fruits, cotton, tobacco, i'm
digo. coffee ETC., and many trading
vessels are employed in the traffic.
His craft was manned by mate and
four sailors, and l found all of them
TO be Americans. When l came to
express my surprise at this he ex-
planned
1en see they are runanays from
American war vessels, mate and all.
/ have picked them mp one at q time.
and as none of them has wife back
home they are content to stay with
me- I've got a Chinese cook. but
outside of him | want no truck with
foreigners
outlined my story to Can't.
Wheaton, - he introduced himself.
He heard me through without inter-
ruption. and then quietly said:
Don't sound 90 very fshy. but
won't tell y0u what / think 81 it until
hear the heathen 90 over Il himself.
When I'm l0okinR square At > man J