Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-10-22
and shriveled until they were OF the
size and weight of q how.


In the forecastle and cabin we found
IA. There were IA dead men and not a
living thing aboard Of the Santa Maria.
On the cabin table there were the re-
mains Of breakfast, and in the fore
castle were the kids with food still in
them. Whatever had occurred was in
conjunction with the morning meal
AS there was no fever smell aboard the
derelict, our captain came over to
try bis hand at solving the mystery.
The ships papers and log were soon
found. We got her manifest and port
and date of sailing, and the last entry
on the log had been made five days be-
fore. AT that time all was well. The
bodies in cabin and forecastle were Of
course in better state of preservation,
and after an inspection the captain
gave it as his opinion that the entire
crew had been poisoned. The attitude
of each and every man went to prove
it. Their eyes were open and rolled
back, their fingers clutched and their
knees drawn up.
That derelict was a great find for us.
Her manifest showed a cargo valued
at over 100000, and the ship was all
right above deck. AS to the water in
her hold, we manned the pumps and
had it out to the last pint in two hours.
Then we made an investigation to find
the leak, and we soon discovered that
a single anger hole had been bored in
her bottom. The oriice had become
more or less clogged with seaweed,
and it would have taken another three
or four days to have filed the ship.
We argued that the man in the boat
must have come from the ship. AS he
had got away alone and had provision
ed the boat, it must have been after
the others were dead. He it was, then,
who had brought about the wholesale
death of the crew, and he must have
had a strong motive. That motive was
discovered when some of the boxes of
treasure were hoisted out of the laza-
rette and broken open. Aside from
one or two boxes, the whole treasure
business was a fake. Lead had been
substituted for silver and gold. The
furs were a cheat and fraud, and
the value Of the dyestuffs was not
one-quarter of the sum they were in
sured for A second and closer search
of the stateroom evidently occupied by
the supercargo gave us the key to I'M
lock the whole mystery. He had left
behind him a letter of instruction sign
ed by Alvarez at the City of Mexico,
and from that we learned that the
name of the dead man was PradO.
That letter, written in Spanish, was of
no aid to us except as far as the two
names went, but later on, when trans
lated into English, it's contents were of
a nature to make a man turn pale.
The instructions were to do just what
had been done. After the Santa Maria
had reached a certain position he was
to poison the crew with certain drug
prepared and then scuttle the ship and
take his leave in small boat 1t was
doubtless figured that if not picked up
he could easily reach the coast of Chile;
but, as 1 have told you, we found him
dead in his boat. How his death came
about cannot say, as he had food and
water and had not encountered any
bad weather. I have always believed,
however, that in his remorse for the
awful deed he had done, coupled with
the terrors of his lonely situation, he
deliberately drank of the poison which
had laid the others low. 1t was before
the crew became too i'll to move about
that sail was taken off and she was
made snug against the weather.
With the anger hole plugged and a
part of our crew on board the Santa
Maria, we laid our course for the port
of Valdivia, and in due time both
craft arrived there in good shape.
The dead had been given burial, of
course. but there was no lack of other
proofs. AS soon as the plot was I'M
raveled steps were taken for the ar
rest Of Alvarez in Mexico, and our
claim for salvage was also filed. Gov
ernments move slowly in international
matters. 1t was months before they
got ready to arrest the man who had
plotted this sea tragedy. He had
meanwhile continued his career of dis
sipation and extravaganza, depending
upon his insurance money to make ev-
erything good. News got to him some
how from Valdivia of the derelict be-
ing towed in, and he left Mexico and
hid away in Bolivia. There he was at
last found, but he cheated the hang !
man by committing suicide. Years !,
later the crew Of the HomeWard got a |
few dollars apiece as salvage money. |
The ship herself was lost at sea with a
full crew. You may ask why Prado |
did not make a thorough job of scut-
Ting the Santa Maria while he was at |
it. He must have been alone at the |
time except for the dead around him, |
and he had a sharp auger to work |
with. Had he bored half a dozen holes |
instead of one the ship would have |
gone down before being overhauled, |
and in that case we could have made |