The San Francisco call., 1898-04-08
Six Explorers Flushed With Success From
 the South Seas.
Return of the Schooner Vine With Her Crew of For
 tune Hunters,
POTS OF GOLD AND JEWELS
Positive They Know the Exact Spot Where the FabuIeus Wealth
 Lies.

Early yesterday afternoon the schooner Vine sailed L. through the heads and dropped anchor well up In the bay. Her chains had hardly stopped rattling through the hawse pipes when six travel-worn passengers rumbled over the side into a waiting Whitehall boat and made for the shore. The utmost air of mystery surrounded them as they stepped up the stairs of the landing, and without word to any of the inquisitive dock loungers they started up town.
 The Vine sailed away from this port about the middle of November last bound, as her clearance papers stated, ,un q cruise to Central American ports and the islands of the South Pacific Ocean At the time she left there was much mystery about her mission. Stories were then current that she had started out upon an expedition that had for it's end the location of a treas .ure; and a treasure of, such fabulous wealth as the .weavers of fiction in the .:Wildest flights of imagination never "even dreamed of.
 Their mission. undertaken with all ;;the secrecy that envelops expeditions
 
 the. stolen gold and jewels of proud :government, that for sixty years have lain hidden upon a rock bound island of <; the Pacific
 ':s; "%Despite the multitudes of obstacles ,. that confronted them. the men of the :payty claim they were successful, that 'f-tha treasure of s18,000.000 was located, : and in less than two years from now :: $io;50O 600 of it will be divided between A .,.o1r l,fe. tfa IN ~ nam, Edward Graham, Hugh Stewart and Eugene R. Ayers. These six per sons claim they are the only people in the world who hold the secret. and without their knowledge it will be inn possible for any one to carry away the princely fortune that in 1888 was stolen by the crew of the bark Mary Dea of Boston. Mass, from the Peruvian Gov ernment and buried upon Cocos Island.
 This is the story of the robbery as they tell it:
 In 1888 the bark Mary Dea, under the command of Captain John Keaton, sailed from Boston for Callao, Peru The name of the first mate of the bark was Thompson. At that time the Peru vian Government was engaged in her bitter struggle with Chile, and the for tunes of war were such that when the Mary Dea arrived at Callao that city was momentarily expecting an invasion
 
 None of the warships of the former Government happened to be in the har- bor at the time. and in order to save the funds of the National treasury the church. plate and the wealth of many private individuals. the Peruvian Gov ernment sought the protection of the United States flag and Captain Keaton was importuned for goodly considera- tion to hide the treasure upon his ship until the crisis had passed.
 This he consented to do. and the inn mepse treasure, consisting of gold, sil- yer and diamonds was secretly brought aboard the Mary Dea and stored away A guard was posted to keep watch over 1t. The temptation was more than Cap tain Keaton could withstand, so during ; the silent watches of the night the guard was overpowered and murdered the anchor chain was slipped and the Anchor left behind, and the criminal captain and his band of fellow thieves set sail and got away undiscovered. S They reached Cocos Island eighteen ., days later and buried their treasure. -.= Maddened beyond the point of human endurance, and with their blood boiling for revenge for the theft that had been perpetrated upon them the Govern ment officials of Peru as soon as they could communicate with their warships sent one of them to catch the Mary Dea. The bark was overhauled three days after leaving Cocos Island, the crew were killed. and Captain Keaton and Mate Thompson were taken aboard the warship to be carried back to Peru to tell where they had buried the treas- ure or to suffer the penalty of death.
 While the ship was returning to Callao 1t was becalmed. and as fortune would have Ii an American whaler was also becalmed near it. For some strange reason Keaton and Thompson were allowed the liberty of the deck and they saw and recognized the American whaler. They managed one night to slip past the guards and get over the rail to the water Then they swan to the whaler and here fortune arain favored them. for before their absence was discovered breeze sprang up and the American vessel spread her sails. When the sun rose she was out of sight of the warship
 The two men gave assumed names