The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-08-12
Ne RMAN SttkS
BURIED TREASURE


There IL strange little schooner tied
up at Fishmarkot wharf About her some
odd things are saiu. iier skipper Ia cap
tain Brown. a white haired seventy three
year old man. Captain Brown has sailed
oil over the world. has been In naval
lights. mutini,s. and all sorts 81 dare
d,vil work at s,a, yet at his great age
he In now an fine a built man as one would
wish to see. His eyes twinkle when one
asks where the Herman is going and what
her mission is But his replies are mixed
though interesting. And Yet on the
memory OF this strange old sea captain
a big eastern syndicate is stalking thou
sands Of dollars and expects to get In
return millions.
Yes, milhonsl And the fifteen men on
the schooner are expected to get all this
treasure on a small island In the south
Pacific. The treasure is supposed TO be
buried on Cocos Island and IL Yariously
estimated at from $50 600 20 s6o.OD0OyJ
in money, bullion and gold utensils. In
one excavation was buried 10000 pounds
of silver and silver dollars: in another
cave 1888 bars of gold. each by two
inches thick, az well as bejeweled
swords, precious stones, and several ket-
ties filled with gold.
The story Of how this immense amount
Of treasure got on the small island In
wild and woolly one and has it's origin In
the days Of the pirates. When the pirates
in the West Indies were driven out by
English war vessels in the year 1870 they
sailed their black craft around the Horn
to find greener seas in the Pacific. In
1921, when the Mexicans threw off the
Spanish yoke, the rich Spaniards In
NJ. xico loaded their wealth on Spanish
galleons and started for Manila the pirates
captured them and buried the treasure on
Cocos island. Then they went back
around the Horn to the West Indies TO
secure what they had hidden there. Mean
time two of the crew, Thompson and
Chapel Englishmen. landed at Valparaiso,
worked their way back to England and in
formed the British Government a man
Of war was sent out the treasure in the
West Indies found and dug up and all the
pirates with the exception Of two--eiphty
in number-hung in Jamaica. The mer-
chants OF Liverpool subsequently charter
cd a small vessel which started for Cocoa
island, but after a vain search in the
Pacific they could not find IT..
There have been n score or more at
temptS within the past half century to
secure the buried treasure Of Cocos ISL
and but none have been successful. Be
sides the Herman expedition, another ~
on the way, and a certain August Gisslor,
who holds n 100 year concession from the
government Of Costa Rica 10 develop the
island and find the treasure IL making an
effort to head off the Herman expedition.
Gisslcr was in San Francisco at the time
the schooner left that port and as soon as
he heard of her destination he started for
Costa Rica to get gunbOat To go ont
and keep her away from the island. The
Iierman'S party heard this last news on
their arrival here yesterday and Will now
wait here until the COptic arrives on the
10th from San Francisco To see II the east
ern syndicate sends any news of the at
fair.
Besides Capt James Brown, the head
Of the party and whose memory Is cX-
Wcctcd To tell them where he helped to
bury the treasure, after It had been once
dug up many years ago. there are I'VE
passengers on the Herman. one IL doc
tor another lawyer, one u man learned
, In mining affairs, and the other two al
though sailing under American names
are said To be English noblcmen.
Capt. Brown stoutly maintains that his
vessel Is on simply a pleasure cruise and
that he has no idea Of looking for treas
urc, but he says that II he meets the
Costa ltican gunbOat he Will very likely
hitch a line to her and tow her around
the world with him.
Many old salts along the water front
visited the sailors on the Herman last
night Most Of them were skcptical about
any treasure being found yet from what
! the men on the Herman said there In
! no doubt that the mysterious men who
eat OFF the little table In the cabin and
spend the days at sea seated In coy
deck chairs with long Hayanas between
their teeth and dreamy far away look
In their eyes are thinking Of treasure.
They say nothing to the sailors, yet the
sailors have formed their own opinions
and have an idea OF what the equipment
carefully slowed away in the vessels hold
In for. The crew IL signed for n year
and the schooner IL proyisioned for that
length OF time.
After the arrival OF the Coptic the Her
man will sail for Tahiti and then 80 of
1 10 the treasure island.