The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-27
YIyErY-siyE,s CAVE.
The Legendary Treasure That Three Gen. erations Have Tried to Find.
 A,a


 The Legendary Treasure That Three Gen.
 erations Have Tried to Find.
 From the New York sun.l
 There has been for more than hun dred years legend prevalent in my native village and in the country round about it," said a former resident of Port Hickson, that somewhere in the Shawangunk Mountains in that vicin- ity there is a cave or mine containing deposits of untold wealth in gold and silver coin and jewels; and. in spite Of the long, tedious and unproatable searches that have from time to time been made for the treasure trove. and the very apparent impossibility of the story having any basis of truth. there are stnl people living who have such great faith in the existence of the cave and such implicit confidence In It's even- tual discovery that If they had any money, or could raise any money, they would be willing to invest every dollar in searching for this cache of fabulous wealth.
 That they have no money is because all they ever had has been used in idi- otic efforts to locate this legendary cave, and even now they spend much of their time delving among the rocks in the hope of at last coming upon the entrance to this hidden store-house and rolling in wealth and luxury all the rest of their days.
 ''The legend Is so shadowy and ridic- ulous that 1t does not seem possible that even the most credulous and shallow minded would ever for a moment have accepted 1t seriously, but some of the leading men of that region have, in years past, spent largely of their means in seeking for the treasure the legend Is based upon. Only a few years ago a company was formed, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, the pur- pose of which was to engage. in exhaus- tive and systematic efforts to locate the hiding place of this mysterious wealth. The men who were interested in the scheme were from Orange county, N Y, and Passaic county, N. J. They never carried on their work. however.
 "The only exhaustive work done was by the treasurer of the company. He did it on the company's treasury, in which there were $12,50O when he be- gan When his work was done the treasury was exhausted and he had gone somewhere. The company turned its attention away from hunting for the lost cave and went to hunting for the lost treasurer.
 But his hiding place proved to be as hard to find as the hiding place of the legendary treasure has ever been, and it is still unknown.
 This legend of the hidden coin and jewels Is, in effect, that years ago, mo- body knows how many, an old Span- iard or an Indian-the legend doesn't commit itself as to which he was-lived somewhere in the Shawangunk Moun- tains, but whether 1t was near Port Ben, Port dickson or Port Ewen the legend leaves in equal uncertainty. This person went by the name of Nine- ty-nine Why Ninety-nine the misty record does not pause to say. But of this thing the legend is positive: Nine- ty-nine was over partial to whiskey, and it was his favorite pastime when he was drunk to scatter gold pieces ga- lore about the settlements, to pull a handful of diamonds from one pocket and a string of pearls from another, and from other parts of his opulent person clusters of rubies and glittering lots of other precious stones, and pa- rade about among the Dutch settlers an animate and inebriate Golconda. "No one, could ever find where Nine- ty-nine lived. He never permitted any one to accompany him from the settle- ments except once, and that was a short time before he disappeared for ever from those merry scenes.
 "One Benny Depew, of Mamakating, was favorite of Ninety-nine. Benny was somewhat of prototype of the im- mortal RipNan Wrinkle, and loved well his bowl, his pipe and his dog. So when the man of mystery came down from his home among the shawan- gunk rocks, always with abundant price, he and Benny had great times, On one of ffthese occasionse Ninety must have taken on a jagNof peculiar kind, for he unloosened his tongue to Benny and said such things about the cave where he lived, and the contents of 1t, that Benny almost became sober, so startling were they. Moreover, Ninety-nine told Benny that next day he would give( him sight of the won- ders he had described. Next day, though, having become sober, Ninety nine tried to beg off. of his promise to Benny, but Benny wouldn't have it that way, and insisted that he be taken to the cave, of fabulous riches forthwith. And so they started off into the moun- tain together, ,r .,. ~. -v.
 1.-TWO days passed away, and Benny had not returned. Then every one said they would never see him again, for of course Ninety-nine had killed him. But toward night on the third day Ben ny came dragging himself into the vil- lage, footsore and travel-stained.
 ''The village gathered to hear his tale.
 "He said that Ninety-nine had con. ddeted him into the very heart of thE Shawangunks, At the end of the first day they came to the shore of large lake, where they slept The next day they traveled up a steep ravine until noon. Then Ninety-nine told Benny he would have to submit to blindfolding, and Benny submitted. They travelled on, and when, after an hours rough and devious march, the bandage was removed from Benny's eyes, he stood in the middle of a cave. It was some time before his eyes could bear the sight, so1 dazzling was everything ,,S,I hiySo at l. r& r~-i