The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-16
mouth with passion ana threatened them

mouth with passion and threatened then
with his rifle.
After two days hard digpinCs they
found a big sea chest, 80 heavy that the
three OF them could hardly drag it to the
boat. They rowed back to the schooner
| and as soon as the chest had been hoisted
aboard the American weighed anchor
and sailed away north
lhere IL much speculation in West Caicos
ana throughout the Bahamas as to who the
American was, what he found and how
he learned that it was there. II is sup.
posed that he got big pirate treasure
ana some people even think that he secured
the famous hoard of Capt. Kidd. But no.
matter
One Of the queerest West Indian treasure
stories was told by the skipper Of Grand
S,.syman schooner in Kingston, Jamaica
mo story is too wildly improbable for any
writer OF fiction, but its absolute truth can
be attested 10 by hundreds of people in
Jamaica and Grand Cayman.
Dark had been wrecked on a reef near
the Cayman Islands, and, the skipper had
taken his schooner there to hunt for sal
wage. While his men were busy on the
bark he looked over the side of his vessel
and saw, about eight feet below the water
on shelving ledge OF the reef, a curious
yellow CLEAN.
lie Thought it was piece of copper sheath
ing, and told one of his men to dive for IL.
Inc man came up with his hands full Of gold
coin-Spanish doubloons ond pieces Of
eight dating back to the early days OF the
conquistodores. The ledge was simply
covered with loose gold.
All day the crew Owed for il, and when
they had skinned the place bare they found
they, had over two thousand gold pieces,
besides few score of silver coins, all Span
ish. The skipper showed several of the
coins to prove his story. They were all in
q remarkably fine state Of preserve ton
He sold the lot afterward for nearly $40 900
How the coins came on the reef nobody
knows. hundred explano tions have been
suggested, but none of them quite meets
the case
There is an Englishman now living In
fishing hamlet in Kent, England. who was
driven mad by his vain search for treasure
in the West indies.
Formerly he was Colonel in the British
Army and served with distinction in several
wars. Late in life he caught the treasure
TO tit out yacht and hunt for n hoard
buried, so legend says. by Mansvelt the
famous buccaneer, on Anguilla Island;
He searched for years. until in the end
disappointment turned his brain.
In the British West Indies. more especially
in Barbados and Grenada, large holes
dug in the earth apparently for no purpose
of them, the reply is that they have been
made by the blacks digging for buried
money.
1t is a curious fact that a West Indian
negro rarely, if ever sets about looking for
treasure of his own accord. An Obeah-
man or witch-doctor comes to him and
SAYS:
4Obi, the all-seeing has told me in
dream there is money buried beneath the
roots OF the old cottonwood tree, which
you are to dig up and keep. You must go
there at midnight to dig. But hearken
to nv warning.
when that treasure was buried the
owner killed the slave who dug the hole
and buried his body on top Of the gold.
obeah on the ground, the duppy [ghostl
of chat slave will go on sinking the money
deeper and deeper into the earth so that
you will never find it."
II has been said that a West Indian
negro will believe anything except that
which is true. At any rate, he believes
the obeahman and parts with his ten dol
obeahman is the only person who gets
anv treasure.
J This is a common incident. 1t happens
every day in some of the West Indian
colonies
There is another kind of swinder who
sometimes makes rich haul out of the
cupidity of a higher grade of society. He
is the man who has chart showing tho
location Of some pirate treasure generally
Can't. Kidds.
He knows just where to lay his hands
on it, but he wants capital to equip n
schooner and fit out n small expedition.
If you will find the capital he will divide
the treasure with YOU when found
II seems an obvious swndle OF course
If you do part with your money. YOU never
see it again, or the treasure either. Buy
ing n gold brick is a better speculation
And yet shrewd merchants in the West
Indies have allowed themselves to be
swinded in this way SO greatly have they
been excited bv tales of treasure trove
and by the desire to get rich quickly