The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-11

| WIZ diOlIcE p46Sl, lew A1OAc
full Of earth. the crash of an axe lay bare
the glittering gold Of Captain Kidd, the
pirate king?''
OLD MR.. wHALEN'S VIEWS.
Did Captain Kidd or any other equally
considerate pirate really bury chests of
gold on Oak Island? Opinions in Chester
are somewhat divided on this point.
Your rural Nova Scotian is practical,
| hard-headed sort of a man. He is more
particularly concerned with acquiring the
big and very tangible dollars Of the Yam
KEGS than worrying over treasure that
may after all be purely mythical
| Down in Chester some OF the people are
sceptical- You see there are real gold
miles of, that are panning out hand
somely. They know that the yellow met
al is there Perhaps its on Oak Island,
too, but they haven't seen it yet.
One moonlight evening two summers
ago I rowed over to Quaker Light. just
off Chester village. The light, like a
! great red eye, blinked at intervals in fee
bic opposition to the moon. The white
| light house on treeless Quaker stood out
| likt grim sentinel. Old Mr.. Whalen. the
| keeper-he passed away last year at an
| advanced age-was smoking his pipe on
| the porch and thinking about turning in
| when 1 greeted him. A picturesque. gen.
| iaI old fellow, whom everyone liked, he
was regarded as a compendium of useful
! data about the early history of Chester.
Man and boy for nearly eighty years he
| lived there. and now bent, but still rug
| ha 0t,f
| life as the keeper OF Quaker Light.
| Have a chair-fine night" he said,
cheerily, as 1 joined him on the porch.
1t was rarely beautiful night. The glor-
ious August moon lighted up the bay and
cast deep, black shadows from the rugged
islands. Away off in the distance Oak
Island stood out prominently. 1t always
| does from any point of view. At the west
end of it the rugged oaks were shouted
sharply against the sky.
"Mr. WhaTen, do you think they'll ever
find any of Captain Kidd's money over
there?" I asked, nodding toward the ISL
and, then turning to the old lighthouse
keeper.
"WelI. dunno he said, meditatively,
after few puffs at his pipe. Some peo-
pie allow that they will. For my part,
don't know what to think about it. You,
see, when 1 was & young mana good
many years before you were born-I was
one of crew that dug over there. They
felt just about the same over the treasure
then. Some said it was there-others
laughed at the idea. But we kert at 1t
and dug away. until onet day the water
came into thepit and that settled it. We
quit, and I never tackled the job again.
I've seen many gangs at work there
since. but ISIS the same old story they get
down just so far and the water comes
in
Mr.. WhaIen pulled away for a while at
his pipe. Then he said;
Il shouldn't wonder if there was money
buried there There used to be pirates in
the bay in the old days, they say. and I
heard old men say, when I was boy.
that they knew the pirates had hidden
Their money on Oak Island Then Of course
the oak timbers and the soft earth showed
that the pits had been dug there some
time don't expect to live to see the
treasure taken out, though. and the
good-souled old man didn't.
WHAT \ SCOFFER SAID.
1t should be understood that the men
engaged in hunting for the treasure to-
day bear an excellent reputation among
their neighbors and that the directors in
thier company are men of business prom
inence in the community. Their honesty
or purpose or motive in pursuing the work
cannot be questioned.
Twenty-Five years ago A correspondent
the Herald drifted into Chester. He took
a cynical view Of the situation. His story,
published in the New York Herald of July
q, 1913, read as follows:
From the New York Herald. July 81, 1879
Chester. Nova Scotia, July Is, 1873
About nine miles from Chester is Oak
Island, notorious as the supposed burial
place of the treasures of the renowned
Captain Kidd.
Theisland itself is worth a visit and is
one Of the most attractive and beautiful
of the three hundred and ffty-five ISL
ands with which Malone Bay is gem
med. A row of mile and a half from the
mainland brings you to its low, sandy and
grass bordered beach. After ten minutes
easy walk, partly though fine meadow
land, beyond which is fine grove of tail
oak, beech and birch trees. you arrive at
the far famed Oak Island Folly. where.
it is estimated, over 100000 have been ex-
pended in sinking four huge shafts to the
depth of a. least 100 feet each. During the
progress of this work thousands Of people
were attracted to the place by interest or
curiosity, some to have their expectations
worked up TO fever heat and Others -
wonder at the creulity of the Kidd treas
ure stockholders. As the excavation pro-
ceeded various reports were put N circu-
lation; unmstakable evidence had been
discovered of the presence Of the pirate
chief and his bold buccaneers. There were
the cocoanut shells which they had
Wrought from the West Indies or South
America; there was the identical ships
block and shred Of rope in the notch Of
a tree which overlooked the deep pit in
which the untold treasure "a y concealed.
there. too. as II TO confirm beyond ar
possibility Of a doubt the wondrous tale.
was a circlet Of grass Of a wholly differ
ent character 10 the common heritage BY
which IL was surrounded. There could be
no question that this was the precise
place to dig. and tx they DID until an
amount Of money that would have added. |
II properly expended. largely to the agri- /
cultural wealth Of the country in which /
Chester Is located. as well as 20 the de- /
velopmeut Of its mineral resources. WIS /
sunk beyond recovery IN these four IN I
slightly holes. in which the tide now rises /
and falls. OF course the speculation was |
finally played ont The story ~ the dis /
covery Of foreign coin and strange in /