The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-21
U A GOLD.
Treasure Brought to New Or
leans N Chest of Bullion.

Columbus CO) Special to New York Herald.
The yacht Kwasinel. sixty-seven tons.
of New York, last Saturday a week ago
dropped anchor at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi, after a voyage of four months and
nine days. 1t had on board a small iron
chest containing gold and silver bullion
which had been recovered from a small
coral island off the west coast of Africa.
The contents of the chest were a pirates
treasure. and had been buried for about
thirty-five years. The expedition which OBJ
tanned the chest was backed by l.. Beck
%enstein of Baltimore. f.. p. Haring of Gin
cinnati, and Charles A. Spenny of this city.
Mr.. Spenny is secretary of the Ohio De-
benture Company and of the Wyandotte
Savings and Trust Company of this city.
When seen this afternoon Mr.. Spenny
talked very entertainingly about the vow
age of the Kwasinel.
about the 1st of October last" said Mr..
Spenny, 1.-The men interested in this expedi-
ton met and formed a small syndicate TO
hunt for treasure which we had been in
formed was buried on a small island off the
coast of Africa. Mr.. T.. b. Campbell, of
Cincinnati, knew an old sea captain who
had formerly been a pirate who knew of
the hidden wealth.
A one time the coast of Venezuela was
INFESTED with pirates, and during one of
luti idluS al large dI1OQnl Ol ROiU, SILVER,
pearls, diamonds and other precious stones
was carried away. The old sea captain
was the successor of a captain who carried
off the booty, and as such was entitled to
and subsequently had buried on the same
island a smaller amount of bullion.
Our expedition sailed on Oct. q last on
the yacht Kwasinel, in mman of Cap
tain {. W.. Henderson. The syndicate was
represented by my cousin. w. c. Spenny,
and Mr.. Campbell, of Cincinnati. who, with
the captain, were the only persons outside
Of the crew aboard the yacht.
THE expedition was gone a little over
four months, and reached New Orleans In
safety a week ago. | have just returned
from there As the treasure was all in
bullion, we had no difficulty i'm disposing of
IL. L am not at liberty TO say how mucn
l. was, but we made enough to pay all ex-
penses and have a good profit for each OF
US. including the captain"
Mr.. w G. Spenny, who went on the ex-
petition as one of the representatives of
the syndicate, was present, and said:
sailed first in Flushing bay. where
we anchored for six days. We then lifted
anchor and bore out to sea, but encountered
seven days of terrific weather, during which
we lost a topsail and suffered other dam
ages.
The Kwasinel is a magnificent sailor,
and weathered the storm splendidly. We
put into the Bermudas, where we remained
two weeks making repairs. We sailed
southwark. crossing the line about So min
utes west longitude, a few days before
Christmas.
I'VE continued southwark, sighting the
island of Fernandez de Noronha. ninety
miles off the coast of Brazil, on Jan. 1. Al
latitude p minutes 80 seconds south W.
turned directly east and crossed the Allan
tic. We had little difficulty under the di-
rection of the captain in finding the island
where the treasure was buried.
1T is about six or seven acres i'm extent
one of the small coral islands off the Az
rican coast. IL is rather dangerous to ap-
proach, but when we arrived the captain
led the way, and Mr.. Campbell and / fol-
lowed. We first went TO the spot where
the booty of the predecessor of the cap
tain was buried, but found that some one
had been there before us, and removed it.
Il have understood since returning home
that relatives of the former pirate captain,
who now live in Philadelphia. organized an
expedition six or seven years ago and re-
covered the booty.
"Of course. we were disappointed. Then
we proceeded over TO the other side of the
island, where our captain had buried a
chest of bullion thitry-five years ago. The
ground here had not been disturbed. When
the chest was buried in a hole the top was
sealed will Trinidad cement. Then the
earth had been covered over il. We found
the chest, and soon removed il to the yacht
The homeward voyage was devoid of in
cident."
Mr.. Spenny says 1.-The captain knows OF
another large fortune buried on Nightingale
island, off the African coast. but that re
does not know the spot where it is hid
den.