The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-09-05
Vain Quests for Capt. Kidd's Gold

VISIONS of ss1. 600, 900 in gold and sill.
Y yer buried by Captain Kidd lureo
Henry Endum, Manhattan en-
gineer, to dig last week with a force NJ
men in the cellar of the Arbuckla Coffee
mills, as the foot of Bridge street
] Brooklyn. Numerous cave-ins in the
treacherous quicksands, in which soma
of the workmen nearly lost their lives,
did not dampen the ardor OF Endum.
! His own son was caught in one and was
rescued only with the greatest difficulty
but still the search continued. 1t was
| only stopped when the men had dug to
| such a depth that the safety of the
/ foundations of the building was threat
ened. Then w. A. Jamison. the head OF
] the big mills, locked the doors against
! the treasure hunters, FORGETTING S40,500.-
! 00U-the share promised to him for per
hitting the search to be made.
Endum, in explaining why ne is sure
the great treasure is hidden benearth
! the Arbuckle mills, says he had d
! dream two years ago. and in thai
dream Captain Kidd told him where the
| treasure was hidden. He is somewhat
discouraged because his work has been
stopped. but he has not lost hope.
Besides the $40. 100000 promised :"
Jamison, Endum agreed to give various
sums ranging from $500 to 100000 to
others who assisted him. When the en- :
gineer began his search he was afraid
that some one would steal his secret
that he worked only with his wife and
twelve year-old son. When the boy
was nearly suffocated Endum called in
John +. and James Frost, coal dealers
there, and they agreed to lend him
block and tackle to hoist the heavy
chests from the hole. The services of
George A Genther forman in the Ar
buckle mills, was also enlisted under
promise of 100000 in the event of sue
cess. Thomas Murray, Louis Elkman
and James Collins were employed to do
the digging. The arrangement made
with them was that they. were to be
paid IS cents an hour each and $500
apiece for every chest or hOgshead they
dug out. In addition to this they re-
ceiYed half a pint of beer each every
hour they were in the pit. Then, in
order to keep Mike Quinn, the bar
keeper in the neighboring saloon where
they were served, in good humor, he
was promised $500 when the treasure
was brought to light
I'VE had a good time of it while it
lasted" said Collins, but l am of the
ding when he put up that secret to En-
dunn.
Re that as it may. either the late
captain or the engineer had made
mistake in the figures. Kidd never had
in all his life $Sl, 100000. Soon after his
arrest in Boston in 1899 he offered to go
back to Hispaniola, where he had left
his ship the Quedah Merchant, and de-
liver her with her treasure TO the Earl
of Bellomont Kidd said that time
that the treasure amounted to about
$500 OOO Bellomont refused the offer,
however, and no one knows what be-
came of the Quedah Merchant after
that. One story is that Kids sailors
started for New York with her, ana
passing at night up the North river,
sank her under the belief that they
were pursued. and then fled 10 the
woods. Another story is that she was
sunk near the Long Island coast.
Since then thousands of searching
parties have been organized to unearth
the pirates lost fortune. The shores OF
Long Island and the Hudson river have
been dredged and all methods from
black magic TO scientific rules have
been resorted TO by the searchers. Ther3
were many stories thirty or forty years
ago as to the Wherea bouts Of KiddS
buried treasure. but all agreed on or
point. and that was that Satan pro-
tected his secret fol him.
One of the legends current in New
England was that a fortune teller had
indicated to some men where the chests
of gold might be found and instructed
them how to proceed in the quest. On
moonless night they were to go to the
spot indicated, with no light but dim
~ burning lantern. Not a word was to
be spoken. One of the company was to
carry hazel divinirg rod If they
followed these instructions they were
informed by the seer. five feet under
ground they would discover a chest
filled with Spanish Goubloons. They
carried out all the directions implicit
~, and in due time the lid of the chest
was struck by a shovel welded by one
Of the workers, and a second later the
iron top came to view. Overcome by
his emotions, one of the party cried:
Thank Cod" There was a binding
flash of lightning and a deafening peal
of thunder. The men in the pit were
throuwn out violently. and all We're
rendered sinsensible, In the course of
time they recovered, but a solid ledge !
of rock covered the place where they
had seen the chest and, dig as they