The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04

existence" " - 80
ne paused as If expecting some COM
lheht from his companion, but there was
none; and presently he went on again.
IL Is not necessary that 1 should men
ZION the names of those who were o~igj
nally interested in this fortune Suf,ica If
TO say that there is no person now alive
VINO possesses, or who may possess. any
iesdi cIdim 10 this amount in gold which
- stored IN ten different compartments
81 tne wandering derelict The compart-
1 lIe We're prepared expressly for what
they now contain, and $4,000 was stored
III each one of them. / have in nv pos
session set of blueprint tracings of the
Nessel showing where each of these com
Pdrthlehts is located and how they may be
discovered and made to disgorge their
treasures. These blue prints came into
my possession in perfectly natural way
put Were delayed in transmission nearly
three years, so that when | did receive
Them there remained no possibility of full
lHllng the trust that had been imposed
upon me- and, besides, there was a saw
ing clause among the documents which
bestowed the wealth absolutely upon me
IN the event of certain contingencies hap
penlng. Every one of those contingencies
had arisen before 1 received the docu-
ments and tracings, and in addition to
that the vessel which contained the treas
ure had never been spoken or heard from
since she started on her voyage to New
York | say never heard from; that is
however, not strictly true since a part
of her crew We're picked up and saved by
a tramp steamer bound for China. These
men reported the total wreck of their
vessel, the loss of their officers and half
the crew, and their own narrow escape
from death. 1t was with great difficulty
that 1 got trace of them and subsequent
ly became convinced that the treasure
ship had gone to the bottom.
Not very long ago it happened by ac>
cdent that l examined one of the official
photographic reports, and there l saw the
name of this very vessel, as describing
one of the hundreds of derelicts which
are floating about the seas as constant
menaces to navigation"
You have thus far neglected to men,
ton the name of this derelict" interpos>
ed Darlington quietly, but not without
irony.
BE patient" was the quick response,
"for since I have chosen to relate the
story, l will tell it all. She was called
the Sallie johnson of Yarmouth. When
she entered the South American port,
from which she subsequently sailed, lad
en- with gold, but ostensibly with a cargo
of fruits and spices, consigned to my
house, of which 1 was at that time the
head, she had been purchased and fitted
up expressly for a treasure ship. Her
we'll paid for their consent to forego the
shipping articles they had signed. Tho
name of the vessel-she was a bark-was
changed to La Paloma, and under that
name she cleared for New York, although
the formality of painting out her former
name and port of hailing was neglected
and as a derelict which she now is she
is known by the name which she bore
when she left the stocks and glided down
the ways at Yarmouth. The United States
photographic office records her as the Sal
lie Johnson. Does that explanation sat-
isfy your"
quite So" Mr.. Gregory. your infor-
nation seems 10 be exact. 1t will, how
ever. be difficult to locate her, if, indeed,
she still floats. When was it, did you
say, that she was last reported?"
About six months ago"
Where was she at that time?"
The capitalist took a memorandum from
his pocket and after studying it for a
moment, read aloud as follows: Dera-
lct, Sallie Johnson, reported by Capt.
Graham of the steamer Scorpion, bound
from Buenos Ayres to Liverpool. In the
tail-end of a gale nor east by east, still
raging at number five" sighted derelict
about four bells in the morning watch,
Dec. 10. No observation except dead reck-
onng for three days. Location of derelict
probably AGO w. long, 2S15 N. lat.
Plainly saw name Sallie Johnson, Var
mouth. as she pitched in the heavy seas.
Derelict headed due west, but owing TO
tine gale making sternway almost to lee
ward Decks awash. Hull comparatively
buoyant. If gaze continues, in my opinion,
she will make the Saragossa sea and dis
appear There captain, you have a literal
copy of the last report concerning her L
have the photographic official tracings of
her supposed wanderings since she be-
came a derelict, during which time she
has covered approximately 5000 miles over
a Zig-zag course between the Caribbean
sea on the west, the neighborhood of the
Azores on east, lat 4S degrees on the north
and the margin of the Saragossa sea on
the south Somewhere within those bouu-
daries | believe that we will find her If
she is still ahoat, unless, indeed, she has
lost herself among the weeds and debris
of the Saragossa region. And, man." he
exclaimed, leaping TO his feet with more
excitement than he had yet shown. I'VE
must penetrate even there If need be to
find her"
"Humphv' said Capt. Darlington, COM
placently leaning back in his chair. and
emitting a volume of smoke worthy of
the funnel of a man-of-war Have you
any idea what the Saragossa sea is like?
Do you know how impossible II Is to PEN
citrate it, or having penetrated it, 10 es-
cape again into the open sea? If your
saIIe Johnson has found entrance there
5000 600 is too small price for her dellV-
erance or $4,000, 900 for that matter. Once
involved In that labyrinth of weeds and
wrecks, there Is only one exit for sailor
man. and that is straight to the coral beds
beneath it, However, she may not have
entered there. The Saragossa sea, al
though deadly In Its embraces, repulses
with the same power aggressions upon It's
domain The same weeds which entangle
and hold everything they grasp, repulse
with cushion-like obstinacy the storm
driven wrecks and derellcts which wind
and current force that way. derelict
wandering at the will of wind and wave
will glide for hundreds Of miles along the
edges of that dreary place and never enter
there but when one Is driven by the force
of a gale such as Capt. Graham describes,
end on against it, It is more than likely
the violence of the storm has opened crew
ices in the weedy mass, through which
the wreck may be forced and forever lost
to human knowledge. | have no doubt
that there are wrecks and derelicts In that
mysterious region now, which have been
Of