Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-02-04

seas. He plundered alike other pi-
rates, and the merchant vessels of ev-
cry nation. Finally, after a cruise
along the eastern coast of the United
States, as far north as the port of Hall
fax, he, for some reason, decided to
boldly make an entry at the port of
Boston as an English merchant YES
sci, under the papers originally fur
nished him in England. Before enter
ing Boston harbor, he put ashore and
concealed on Gardeners Island a con-
siderable quantity of merchandise, con-
sisting largely of bales of valuable
silks and velvets, with small amount
1 of gold and silver and precious stones.
/ These articles were afterwards discov-
cred and reclaimed by the owners of
/ the vessel, and sold for some G14000,
which was divided among them. From
the great number of vessels which he
had destroyed and plundered, with
their ascertained cargoes, it was
known that the treasure thus discov-
cred was but an Insignificant fraction
OF what he had captured known
that gold and gems of vast value we're
somewhere concealed thence
came the endless searches from Key
! West and Jekyl island to Halifax for
the treasure, which had thus far SEEM
ingly escaped human vision and utter
ly disappeared. In fact, from the lit
/ tie care taken by Captain Kidd as to
the plumber hidden on Gardeners is
land, the owners of his ship concluded
that to be merely a blind to divert
their attention from the vastly greater
wealth he had appropriated. A short
| tln1n affnr hic rri1y ~, I, &c,
arrested and sent IS England, and at
once put on trial for piracy. In two
days he was tried, convicted and
hanged. This illustrates the great
progress in civilization since that be-
nighted age, for now the most red
handed and popular murderers are al
lowed months for preparation and trial
are feted, garlanded, and made the
heroes of the day, and assigned, with
all priestly assurance, to the man
sions of the blest.
His wife was not allowed to see him.
except for a half-hour after the death
sentence had been pronounced.
They had q whispered conference,
and at its close he was seen to hand
her a card upon which he had writ
ten the figures 44106S1S. This card
was taken from her by the guards and
never restored, and every effort was
made to induce her to tell the mean
| ing of the figures, but she utterly re-
fused, and even claimed not herself to
know. The paper was preserved
among the proceedings of the trial,
and photographed copy secured by
Mr.. Olmsted. From the records of the
trial, it appeared that Captain Kidd
was the only child of his parents; that
he had been married for several years;
that two children had been born to
him, a daughter, who died. while yet
child aid before the trial, and son,
who survived both his father and his
mother. 1t also appeared that this
son, ten years after his fathers execu-
ton, enlisted as a private soldier in
the English army, and was killed in
the battle near Sterling in Ills. The
records of the English war-of1ice show
ed that the widow of this son ap-
piled for pension under the then ex-
listing law, that her affidavit and mar
riage certificate showed her to have
been married to the son of Captain
Kidd, and that no child had been born
to them, and the usual pension was
awarded her and paid until her death
in 1744. These facts settled the ques-
ton as to any claim upon the treasure
by descendants of Captain Kidd. The
records of the trial also contained a
report by experts upon the card given
by Kidd to his wife, to the effect that
they had applied to the figures upon it
the, usual tests for the reading of CT
pher-writings without avail and that
If the figures ever had a meaning, it
was undiscoverable The same con-
clusion was reached by several people
| to whom Mr.. Olmsted showed the COPY
of the card
In the summer of 1894, when Prof.
David P. Todd, the astronomer of Am
herst College, was visiting the family
OF Mr.. Olmsted at Deer Isle, he one
day amused himself by calculating the
latitude and longitude of the home,
near the cave. and gave the results to
Miss Marion Olmsted. AS she was en-
tering such results in her journal, she
was struck by the fact that figures for
the latitude, A degrees 10 minutes,
were the same as the first four figures
on the card, 4410, and that the other
four figures on the card, 6S1S, were
almost the exact longitude west from
Greenwich, which was 68 degrees 10
minutes, a difference easily accounted
for by moderate variation in Captain
Kidd's chronometer. The latitude,
taken by observation of the pole-star,
twas absolutely accurate. 1t appeared
as though Captain Kidd had told his
wife in this manner where to find the
hidden treasure, but that, inasmuch
as the government authorities had
seized the card, she preferred silence
| toward those who had pursued her
| husband to his death, and the total
loss to every one of the treasure, rath.
er than, by confession, to give it
into the hands of his enemies. The
very simplicity of the supposed cipher.
writing had been it's safeguard, since
all the experts had sought for some
abstruse and occult meaning in the
combination of figures.
By the happy thought of Miss Ohm
sted, another. link was thus added to
the chain of evidence. With the facts
given, the only point seemingly needed
to show that the Kidd treasure had
come into the possession of Mr.. Aston
was to show that some of the money
or gems sold by him had been actually
seized by Captain Kidd Even this, by
a happy chance, became possible
through the correspondence secured
from Mr.. Streeter of London. 1t an
peared that in the wear 17OO ord .nd