Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-12
TWO RESULTS AT GALVESTON.

One of the most curious results of the great Galveston storm.'' said gen. tleman who has lived for number of years i'll the tampe&t-swept city was the total destruction of the buZzards. From time to time out of mind the lower end of the island has been a fl- Norite haunt of these birds, and they could be seen there any day by the hundreds. After the sIorm it was generally supposed that they would flock tu the scene Of|ruin. and the ap- pearancc of the noiSoDe creatures was looked forward to as an inevitable fin ishing touch on the horrors of the great catastrophe. But. much to our surprise, none was to be seen. and since then l have been all over the island and find that they have con- pletely disappeared. A good many of the old timers said they had taken refuge on the mainland and would be back again in a few days: but weeks have elapsed and none has appeared. The only explanation is that they either perished on the spot during that terrible night or were blown out to sea and drowned.
 Tn speaking of the matter the other day an old fisherman told me of an d. most similar occurrence off the coast of Florida. He said there was small island below Cedar Keys that was for merly great resort for buzzards; in fact it was known among the natives as 'Buzzards' bay For some reason or other the hig birds made it their rendezvous and the spot was practical ly surrendered to them. One night. about ten years ago. Il terrific tropical storm came sweeping up the coast. and this little island seemed tp be directly +1,- .lr>,, any rate 1t was swept clean and the whole colony of buzzards were drowned. The fisherman told me that scores of them were washed up on the mainland, and not another one was ever seen on the cay. The new gen. eration avoided 1t instinctively. Per haps they have way of handing down such traditions
 Speaking of the destruction wrought by the storm on the lower end of Galveston ISland,' said another Texan who had listened to the buzzard story. the frightful wind that night uprooted and carried away three gi- gartic oak trees that have been known for years as 'Latitte's Grove Accord ing to tradition, the spot was one of the buccaneers numerous places Of rendezvous. and 1 scarcely need add
 he is reputed to have buried Il lot of
 treasure somewhere in the. neighbor
 hood. sThe oaks Were supposed to
 mark the place. and l am sure it is no eNaggeration to say that hundreds of people have hunted for it at one time and another, The trees them selves were largely responsible for keeping the legend alive, and now that
 they are gone, l dare say it will die out.
 If the true history of treasure-Seek- ing along the gulf coast could be writ l ten,' continued the speaker, it would make volume as big as an una | bridged dictionary and as thrilling as | a dime novel. 1 used to know an old
 negro who lived at Corpus Christi who | was a regular center of infection for
 the treasure fever. It is my private
 opinion that the old rascal was half ] crazy but he pretended to nave infor- nation that had been handed down to l him from his grandfather as to the l burying of q chest full of gold and | jewels, by pirates, on the south coast. l He never told the story the same way
 twice hand running, but when he got | hold of q fresh listener he reeled 1t off 1 in q wonderfully ,circumstantial fash
 ion. I heard him tell it once myself,
 and sitting there in his little cabin in 1 the light of q single candle, with the
 sound of the distant breakers in my | ears. I must confess he thrilled me
 clear down to the soles of my feet If
 I could have started out then and there
 nothing could have prevented me from | joining an expedition to dig up the
 chest; but when 1 thought it over by 1 daylight I concluded that the old man
 was q triple-p plated liar. A number of l others believed his yarn, however, and at least dozen well equipped parties
 went out at various times on the l strength of it. One of them was
 backed by banker noted for his hard | common sense. #fS
 { Il never heard of any of them find
 ing anything athdug Ii they dug np the
 surrounding beach until they made fl
 look like q section of honeycornb. ''-sa - l New Orleans. Times Democrat.