The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-14
SEEKS HIDDEN RICHES
w. II. HAsLIP, OF PHILADELPHIA,
SEARCHING FOR BURIED FORTUNE.
WILL DIG FOR IT ON WARSAW
OVER $4,000 IN GOLD AND SILVER
PLATE.

ing the Civil War-Is Here Now
and Thinks He Has the Exact Spot
Located-Win Commence Digging
To-day.
After the rush and excitement of
! the search for the buried treasures of
Capt. Kidd, the world famous buc-
| cancer, a man is now in Savannah
| with a map with accurate details
showing the exact location of a large
amount of gold coin and silver plate
said to be buried on Warsaw Island
during the Civil War.
Several days ago a quiet little man,
accompanied by his son. came to Sa-
| vannah from Philadelphia. He made
! his business known to no one, but set
about gaining information concerning
the location of certain islands and
rivers around Savannah. frequently
consulting a piece of goat skin on
which was distinctly drawn a map
with various notes and points located
| on it. This little man is w. H. Haslip,
who for the past fifteen years has been
| engaged in the junk business in Phil
adelphia, and after all these years he
has become the custodian of a map
of an old friend named Berrien who
died at Haslip's house in Philadelphia
a few days ago, which locates the spot
where treasure to the amount of sew
eral thousand dollars lies buried on
| Warsaw Island.
Searching on Warsaw.
Mr.. Haslip left for his second trip to
Warsaw yesterday, and before going
he evinced much inward excitement,
and made several remarks that led by
ISLANDERS to inquire the occasion of his
citation. On learning that one of the
party was a representative of the
Morning News he called him off and
related a story that outriVals any of
the Dime Library" series.
For the last ten years said Haslip,
Il have had Amos Berrien, an OLD
Confederate veteran in my employ in
the junk bushes. He was in feeble
health most of the time, and constant
ly referred to a great secret that he
had. 1 paid all of his expenses for his
| services were really of little value to
me, and l was constantly with him
home in Philadelphia
Just before he died he entrusted to
me the great secret that he had SO
| long carried with him, and directed
me to go to his little old trunk and get
| a certain roll of papers. l carried the
roll to him, and untying several
| strings, he unwrapped a piece of goat
skim which had evidently served as
drum head. on which was a map.
,Sat he ff,1rsII g.
an island near Savannah, Ga, where
1 was forced to leave a large treasure,
! consisting of silver plate and gold coin
in 1868.
On a Blockade Runner.
was first mate on the blockade
| runner Lucy Verne, out of Baltimore.
| Two days after we left Baltimore we
| discovered that we were being chased
| by a three-masted bark, which f1oated
the Union flag. She seemed to be
gaining on us steadily, and it was not
long before it was evident that we
would be overhauled. We'had a cargo
! Charleston, and on arriving at the
| Charleston bar we saw that the delay
| in making port would give our pur-
suers time to overhaul us.
I'VE set additional sail, and just be-
fore dark a heavy gale came up. After
several hours run before the wind a
| consultation was held as to whether
or not. We had on board a family
/ from Virginia named Starke, who
| were evidently wealthy, as they came
| on board with considerable baggage
and with personal letters from Presi-
| dent Davis. The elder Starke joined
in the consultation and advised that
! we wait until daylight to decide on the
course to pursue.
In Close Quarters.
"Just before day rain commenced
| falling, and as soon as the first faint
| glimmer of dawn showed over the
eastern horizon the man in the top
mast shouted ship ahoy," and there,
| right on our starboard quarter was
our pursuer of the night before. No
time was lost in setting sail and we
had hardly gotten in motion before
we were discovered and all was ac-
tivity on the other craft.
| "All day long we managed to keep
a safe lead on our pursuers, and
would have escaped had it not been
for an accident to our steering gear
] just before dark of the same day.
| When the accident was announced the
| Starke family was panic stricken, and
there was general alarm for the
safety of several bags of gold that we
had on board, as we'll as the precious
cargo that we carried. 1t was out of
the question to save the provisions.
but there was a possibility that we
could send a small boat to an island
that our pilot located near where we
We're then drifting, and l. in company
| with two others, volunteered to make
the trip. All of the silver plate and
gold was hastily put into bags, and
the boat manned for the trip
Made n Map.
1--WE were instructed to make a de-
tailed map of the location of the point
where we buried the treasure, which
amounted to something over ten thou
sand dollars in gold. We made the trip
| successfully, and by measurement from
| the beach. and several immovable
marks, l located the point where the
| treasure was buried. We then hurried
| back to the ship to find that in our
absence the damage to the steering
gear had been repaired, and as soon
as we were on board, we set sail in
the night, and on the third day went
! into port at Brunswick Ga
we never saw anything more of our
pursuers. While trying to make port
two weeks later at Baltimore I was
taken prisoner together with seven of
our crew, and sent to New York and
| from there to Libby prison, from
whence ! was exchanged a few months
later While in prison 1 gave a hand
| some pocket match box to one of the
guards to get me a piece of sheepskin
He could not get that. but brought
me the head of a drum. on which I
made an exact CODY with added do