Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-14

-Four or five men kept the secret of
the island treasure, but all the Provinces of
Mexico were at last honeycombed with the
plots of broadening revolution, guided by
q master hand. The Secretary of the Vice
roy had changed in few years from
dreamer to a man of action and master of
events. At last he knew what a great des-
tiny lay before the land of New Spain.
Once separated from the mother country, it
should extend from the isthmus of Darien
TO the Russian fur settlement of Sitlla- If
the Viceroy would lead in the revolution he
should rule till the day of his death, but if
the Niceroy could not rise to the situation
he must be set aside There were other men
in the world, even he himself, the Sec
retaryi
In the midst of all this the Secretary was
stricken with so sore a paralysis that he
could neither speak nor move. The Vice
roy, already on the eve of his fatal recall,
hastencd to his side. So strange and pow
e-fUl was the look in the eyes of the man
that his master sat for hours trying to dis
cover the secret that they tried to tell
''lou have something to tell me?"
eyes! yeS.' said the agoniZed look.
'Is it the revenues?" the Viceroy asked
at last.
''Yes! yes.'' said the look of the Secre-
tarv.
My poor friend, all that you have taken
from Mexico, Mexico gives to you, and asks
no further question"
Still the eyes glowed with stronger desire
of expression and the master saw that there
was more TO tell, but he could not reach the
full solution of the problem. He only dis
covered that there was q treasure-a hidden
treasure of enormous value, and that it had
been accumulated for an especial purpose.
There the clew failed, and Reviliagigedoa a few
daws later followed the body of the Secre-
tary to his grave.
The executors found nothing for many
years. All last, among the Secretary's
papers, bit of parchment turned up,
headed IN his precise penmanship: "The
Revillagigedo Fund
Then followed item for item, as follows:
Estimated value OF YaQui gold. S IS O00,O 900
Value ofpearls and precious stones. l3,C0QO00
Value CT silver, in bars. 26O00,0OO
Value OF otnerarticles contributed
TO the luhd- ..-----.-----.----.---. 100000
7otal...................... s1le, ,0e0,O00
The Reviilagigedo family were in old
Spain, living i'll poverty on the memory Of
former greatness. The Viceroy was feeble
old man, who had lost all his ambitions
The Secretary's descendants and his execu-
fors became almost frenzied with the lust of
gold, and they it is who accumulated the
gradual narrative which, in dozen different
handwritings, has pOw become the family
romance of one of the most noted of
Spanish Californians. But by the time tka1
the story was gathered from so
many sources, and by so many mosaic
hints. the brother Of the Secretary and the
two or three men who had helped to hide
the "Rcyillagigedo Fand'' were dead this
one II shipwrecl, that one in low brawl
in a Neyicsn fonda. another the victim of
al ApN..Se raid. All were gone, long be-
fore the searcbeIs for the treasure knew that |
il lay IN the rocky islands of the coast of
Lower California
The revolution. broke up the families
that knew the stOrc, rendered them penni-
less, and made the immediate bread-and-
butter demands Of life pressing that they |
hau no tlme to think o: the forgotten poll |
tIClaH's purse OF ForHinatus in the lava |
beds OF the isle of Saint Thomas. A few of |
them sneaied over TO the islands ence or |
twice. in a half-hearted way, as fishermen or |
coast traders, but they found no treasure. |
Not thus lightly did that thief-hero, the pa |
tlent Secretary, hide his viceregal funds for 1
the equipment Of fleets and the arming of |
soldiers. = Only a man that is as great as he |
in the clements of foresight and endurance |
shall ever cieaye his way to the Reyilla- |
gigedo Storehouse,
The California representative of this old |
Gpdhln4i ian4Al once pLanheu TO nj out an /
expedition to the island, but the American |
conquest Of the province brought him TO |
poverty, ard he was never able to carry out !
MS scheme. He prefers to sit in the wine |
shop and LallI with his old companions of |
the days before the 'Gringos" came His |
old ambitions are dead, and he has no de- |
EcendantS. lie keeps the manuscript that |
relates TO the Revillagigedo treasure, as he |
keeps every scrap of paper that has ever |
come into his pCseSsion-none of them ever |
e. OH OF his hands. But ifa man has won |
his favor he will sometimes read him some |
Of these old documents, and in this way the |
story Of the Niceroy and his Secretary came |
TO MY Knowledge.
NOTE-Evcn while this account is being |
prepared Tor the press, tidings come of the |
death OF the man TO whom this last para |
graph refers. General Manuel Castro, to |
whom the writer is indebted for the greater |
part Of the information contained in the |
preceding article, died few DAYS ago in |
an old Spanish mansion near Castro |
vile. Monterey county. With him dis /
appears one of the most stately relics ef-a |
vanishing civilization. H.s.
AMERICAN SERIAL STORIES.
TEE DISPATCH has concluded arrange
naents for serial stories by noveIists of |
renoU-n, whose names are a sufficient guar