Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-07-31

special ltetrespondence oil Every Evening.
REnoBorH, Juy All appa,cs a ~ us II
that long sung ihtarrogatof 3 refr1in
o Captain Kiddl o Captain Kidd
Wh.re has thou thy treasure hid?
is about to be answered., Und visions Of
gold galore are running thrOu 5h tho mental
retina OF Contractor W. IL. Vlrdan beeauss
OF great and fortunate discovery
tslc) which he has mAde on the
shores of the Delaware BreakwAter
harbor. The matter has bean kept
profoundly quiet around LsWea, but your
correspondent has just come into full pos
session OF all the facgs OF the case through
the good Offices OF one who was in the
Deciet. Those wao compose this little band
OF tired men and trua-formed to search
for the greAr9St hidden treasure af lnotiern
times and banded together In sworn silence
and iidelity-wlll be surprised to read ia
cold, incredulous type revelation of thoir
discovery, watch, like Colonel Sellers, they
think has millions int.
To appease the reader's natural curiosity
and at the same time vJica his inner aus
picion as 10 the nature OF this great find, IT.
ts well to say with some defin!teness and
not little incredulity that clue has at
last been found TO Captain Kidd's buried
millions, w5leb, II found. will make the
De Braek treasure seekers, only two miles
distant turn green with envy. The discovery
was made In the following accidental man
nsr.
Some weeks ago Contractor yirden with
q force of men began work on tho excava-
tion for the new surgson's headqlaftsrs of
the marine hospital services, whioh ia to be
built near tho present marine hospital, for
the accommodation OF DIR. William A Orr,
United States marine surgeon at this port.
Workmen had eEcayated about five feet OF
sand when q sharp metallic ring was heard
as the shovel struck against something
hard. "Humph" exclaimed the workman.
there's plrt of some old wreck" aud down
went the shovel Rgain. In a abort time he
found l. to be a stone, and large one, too.
tho proportions OF which he could not tell
until he had gone systematically 10 work
around the edges. Tie more of IL he dis
cover d the more he marveled, for 1t was
smooth cut blue rock stone, SIX feet long.
two feet Wide aud two feet thick. In
the meantime other workmen had gath
sred around this strange monolIth to
comment upon it, some thinking that
It marked the grave of some long
forgotten sailor. Digging WINS continued
until the stone could be got out whea,
mirabile dictul there appeared on the
under side the deeply carved capital letter
H. Nothing elsa WAS on 1t but to every
mind came quick as flash the memory OF
the old Captain Kidd tradition to the effect
that this celebrated pirate buried his i'm
manB6 treasure OF gold coin about the year
1903 In the vicinity OF Cape HeuIopen. The
treasure has been variously estimated at
from one to two million Spanish doubloons,
each doubloon being gold cola worth
$lB. The fact that almost ever sea port
town on the Atlantic coast has similar
tradition respecting Kidd's treasure has not
seemed to detract In the least from the
strength and blindness OF the faith locally
reposed in this story. Captain Kidd him
self is not myth by any means, but his
hidden treasure has 80 long and 80 persist
entity eluded all search that many have
lost faith In both. Not 80 with Com
tractor vlrden, who has ever since
his remarkable "fnd" been much puzzled
and sorely porplexed. He is confronted by
the sad fact that he Is working upon gov
ernment land and under government con.
tract, and whatever he unearthB of course
belongs to Uncle Sam. The conclusion OF
MIR. Vtrden's reasoning is that ha hesds the
treasure and Uacle Sam doesn't, but he
seeretly suspects that the latter will not
look at 1t In this way. 50 the case stands
gnd the treasure still lies buried-some-
where on the Atlantic coast. 30 far moth
ing except the stone has been found. No
other excavations have been made In the
vicinity because the government owns the
land and all it contains. Many are anxious
to commence systematic search In the
Vicinity, but all are deferred for this
reason. The government will probably ee
asked to grant permission to local party
to seek TOR the treasure, and interesting
developments are eagerly awaited.