The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1904-10-07

State Department official in Wash
ington not long ago.
Valparaiso, Chill, August 8-Tha
British yacht Cavalier, owned by Ma
jor Maude, a member Of the Royal
Army Reserve, has left Coquimbo
for Galapagos Islands, where
search will be made for the treasure
which is said To have been hidden
there long time ago The Cava-
liar met very rough weather near
Mocha Island, where the crew temper
arily abandoned the vessel and surfer
ed great hardships. The yacht car
ries two guns and 100 rifles.
"Stn after the Galapagos treas
ure. eh?" he remarked to your cor
respondent on reading this We'll
| hope they get it tits time They
are taking two guns and 100 rifles
along to XIII tortoise, / presume. You
know the Galapagos Islands swarm
with huge tortoises, some OF them
coo pounds III weight. No doubt, too
any of these monsters would hlnder
the work of treasure digging.
but why make fun Of these treas
ure hunters? They are ON a quest
that to my mind is the most fasclh-
ating in the world. What's more !
believe the treasure is there. ! have
kept track of il little myself, and
if I had a few thousand to spare ana
six months leave Of absence, mlSht
be there myself.
"Iu tell you about this treasure,
how ii came there, and VINO buried it
there. if you will guarantee not to go
down and get it before | do. 1t was
the rich spoils of years OF piracy III
the West indies. and was taken round
the Horn in 1920 and 1921, when the
English war vessels stamped out pr
racy in the Spanish Main. The Gala
pagos group lies right out under the
equator The treasure was taken
there. and buried ON Commander Is
land, one of the group, The spot was
well chosen. in a. canon which cleayes
the mills running down to the beach
The pirates, who were pretty hotly
chased. scattered as soon as they had
disposed Of their loot Two Of them,
Englisnmen of the names of Thomp-
son and Chapel, landed at Valparaiso
and worked their way back to Eng
land. They informed the British Ad-
miralty of the treasure, and on prom
Use of immunity from punishment
they furnished maps and even accom-
panied mHa -of-war that was sent out
to recover the stuff and apprehend
the pirates. That part of the treas
ure deposited in 1920 was dug up and
taken back to England, and the eX-
petition captured eighty of the pi-
rates in small boats along the west
coast took them to Jamaica and,
hanged them.
Thompson and Chapel were misty
as to the location of the treasure
hidden in 1921. This was the bigger
lot as it contained all the loot left
in the West Indies, That is the
treasure which still lies under the
sands of Commander Island. A syn
dictate of Liverpool merchants sent
out an expedition to get the treasure,
but it was not found, Since that time
many parties have searched for it. In
1886 a man named Keaton, who was
said to be descended from one of the
pirates, went to Galapagos and re-
covered $4,000 of the treasure He
was accompanied by a sailor named
Bogue They had two Chilians with
them. who afterwards disappeared.
Keaton himself also disappeared, but
Bogue turned up in ST. Johns, New
Brunswick, where he was charged
with the murder of Keaton, and mar
rowly escaped the gallows. Several
expeditions were fitted out after that,
at San Francisco and Victoria, B. G..
by persons VINO had been associated
with Keaton. The brig Blakely was
fitted out a couple of years ago, AID