Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-10

Venezuela. The knowledge of the transfer
to the pirogues was locked up in his own
immediate confederates. This fact he rea-
soned. would not prevent the ultimate dis
coVery of the real truth, but il would
delay 1t sufficiently for him to get safely
10 MS subterranean retreat with his plum
der common piracy was not an idea that
anybody could entertain. No steam vessel
could keep atoat and coaed up over a week
WltAout running across cruiser. The spe-
cial conspiracy and the abandonment of
the San Pedro were therefore inevitable
deductions. The purchase OF the use of the
San Pedro. the shipment of the men at
New orleans, the landing of the men on
the southern coast. must all sooner or later
focus the search at New Orleans. But by
that time he would be out of sight
Two facts were of special import: The
ofhcer and boats crew that had boarded the
Corinthian had been photogra phed by one
of the passengers on the steamship but
while this fact had been communicated to
New York. the photographs had been car
ried to England. The other fact was that
the passengers all had the impression that
the vessel and crew were Spanish and had
gone eastward.
Two days had not elapsed before the two
pirogues, with their masts cut off, were
taken in tow by a small side-wheeler and
pulled up the river. They were loaded with
derricks and heavy timber. Hendricks had
inserted an advertisement in the papers and
1t was known he was purchasing material
for his improvements somewhere on the
Mississippi.
On the morning that the little side-wheeler
went slowly up the river in plain view of
New Orleans the United States cruiser Da-
kota picked up and identified some of the
upper works of the San Pedro in the gull
and a sensational story appeared in a New
York paper, which stated that the conspir-
acy to rob the English steamship had been
Matched in the United States Treasury De-
partment and that the San Pedro had trans
ferred her cargo in the bay of Campeachy
and the treasure was now hiding a or near
the Bancas di Sisal, off Yucatan.
Everything now depended on the pirogues
reaching the Wash bayou before the true
clue led to New Orleans. Ii was 700
mile journey and the vessels crawled along
at a pace of only eight miles an hour. Hen
bricks himself went direct to Memphis by
rail, and. after several days of intolerable
anxiety and constant expectation of meet
ing with the news that the plumber had been
tracked to the river, he had the satisfaction
of seeing his cargo from the hotel window
slowly and laboriously crawling up the
stream undisturbed.
He got aboard the steamboat about ten
miles above Memphis, and finding Capt.
Blinn aboard, he having been similarly picked
UP, they congratulated each other.
The vessels were run safely into the Wash
bayou at night, unobserved. and the whole
energy of Hendricks and his cOnfederateS
was then directed to the transportation of
the specie to the western end Of the Laran
cave.
In spite of the urgent need of haste, this
was done deliberately and method1cally,a and
the wild, deserted country favored the task
Mule teams were provided; the two journeys
were made at night under guard and In three
days after the landing there were $2,9OOOOO
In the Laran cave.
Hendricks plans for the immediate use Of
some of the money are in part known. Three
months before the robbery of the steamship
he had, by some scheme, managed to Dor
row $1,000, which he converted into gold and
darn cd in ha National
Memphis to be drawn against. He now went
to the Second National Bank of Louisville
KY, with the certificate of deposit and eX-
pressed a desire to change the specie from
one bank to another matter OF convent
ence. 1t was an ordinary business transac-
ton and created no suspicion. He then, In
stead Of drawing the $4,000 from Memphis
made a fresh deposit of $1,000 in Louisville
This gave him a bank capital sufficient for
ordinary and immediate use in currency, and
the fact that he had not withdrawn the
money from one bank to put 1T In the other
either escaped notice at the time or was not
regarded as of any significance
His next move was the formation or
supposititious syndicate to purchase the
land in Tenre ssee for national SAM
tarium This project was exploited In the
Kentucky papers with great cunning. A
CORPORATION of medical men had surveyed
the land and were about to purchase 1t and
erect a magnificent hotel, and they mad
made Mr. Hendricks a handsome offer Tor
whom Laport had met as Miss Franklin
was making purchases in New YORK, Bos-
ton and Philadelphia and shipping GOODS
to Memphis and Frankfort. Her plan was
to make small purchases at widely sepa-
rated stores. giving gold in payment and
getting currency in change. She must have
sent to Hendricks during a month of op
erations several thousand dollars in bills.
CHAPTER VIII.
During that month he remained at Laran,
as he called the place, experimenting the
improvements that he had projected. He
had purchased the land and fenced it with
an imp-egnable steel fence for several
acres around each entrance to the cave.
During his absence, Laport had gone
over the entire place with a subordinate
who appeared to be familiar with every
part of 1t. They had set out with lanterns,
ladders and other appliances, which were
loaded upon a couple of Rocky mountain
burros that Laport found in the place.
Through the alley or corridor that led
from rugged Space the entrance